Isaiah 64 -- God's Anger vs. God's Disappointment

The disadvantage of having an “oceanview” room is that the ocean pounds against the rocks on the beach all night long.  It was especially loud last night, and I think God used some of those 10’ waves to get me up this morning for a normal quiet time, with the boys still asleep.  Those powerful waves crashing over those rocks seem so powerful, yet Isaiah’s description of God overwhelms even them:

“Tear open the skies and come down to earth so that the mountains will tremble before You …. Let Your enemies know who You are.”  

We’re supposed to go see mountains that tremble tomorrow as they belch lava.  It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that happening.  The tone of that second part though doesn’t seem evangelistic.  It sounds vengeful.  But it changes in verse 4: 

“From long ago no one has ever heard of a God like You … who helps the people who trust You.  You help those who enjoy doing good, who remember how You want them to live.  But You were angry because we sinned.  For a long time we disobeyed, so how can we be saved?  All of us are dirty with sin.  All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth.  All of us are like dead leaves, and our sins, like the wind, have carried us away.”

Man, it’s so important to get to the stage where we openly admit that to God! 

Isaiah had come to know God better than most anyone else at that time (because God allowed him to know Him).  And he signaled something important with that key red flag I always watch for:  “But God…”

“But God, You are our Father.  We are like clay and You are the potter; Your hands made us all.”  Having been shaped by God, then there’s no doubt that He can continue to shape us.  He’s never done with us.

“Lord, don’t continue to be angry with us; don’t remember our sins forever.  Please look at us, because we are Your people.”

We tend to think that we disappoint God.  Isaiah said they ANGERED Him.  The difference has to be because we’ve accepted the sacrifice His Son made for us on the cross, for when He looks at us, He sees His Son.

Father, I’m in need of continual reshaping.  Knock off my rough edges.  Polish me and make me into a reflection of You.  I don’t want to be like those rough, stubborn rocks on the shore below that minute after minute are blasted by those powerful waves yet never seem to respond.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 63 -- Maybe A Difference Between Us And Them?

It’s tough to get going on my q.t., needing to work on it at night because of our schedules while on vacation.  And without my commentary, I’m at a disadvantage when I don’t quite understand some passages.

God said in verse 4, “I chose a time to punish people, and the time has come for Me to save.”  God had earlier been described as covered in blood, as if from a winepress.  The people had known Him as a punisher, yet now He says He’ll be their Savior.

This causes Isaiah to praise god by telling about God’s kindness in giving many good things.  He said that when the people of Judah suffered, God suffered also.  And because of His love and kindness, He saved them.  When they turned against Him, that made His Holy Spirit very sad, it says.  Knowing they were alienated from God, Isaiah prayed, “Lord, look down from the heavens and see; look at us from Your wonderful and holy home in heaven.  Where is Your strong love and power?  Why are You keeping Your love and mercy from us? … Lord, why are You making us wander from Your ways?  Why do You make us stubborn so that we don’t honor You?  For our sake, come back to us…”

As far as the Israelites go, we know they’d been given judicial blindness by God, which won’t be removed until the second Advent of Christ.  But how would this apply Christians?  Yes, He did show great mercy to us.  Yes, He has been very kind to us.  Yes, He saved us, and yes, when we suffer, He suffers with us.  And we did cause His Holy Spirit sadness by our sins. 

But I think as Christians we do still see His strong love and power.  He doesn’t keep His love and mercy from us unless we have distanced ourselves so far from Him that it becomes His best way to get us back to Himself.

Father, thank you for not visiting us with judicial blindness.  Thank You for continuing to love us and show Your mercy to us.  Guide us with Your Holy Spirit, and help us not to make Him unhappy by our sin.  Like Isaiah, I praise You and will tell of Your kindness.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 61 & 62 -- A Little Mindbending Today

It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus is doing the talking in verse 61 – that Isaiah was hearing Him and quoting Him as an adult, hundreds of years before He appeared on this earth as a baby in Bethlehem.  My commentary said, “We know that the Lord Jesus is the speaker here because He quoted verses 1-2a in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21) and added, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing …’ “

In Isaiah’s time, His words spoke of hope and freedom to those in captivity or about to be in captivity.  They spoke of restoration of the land in the years to come.  Farther along in time, they heralded His incarnation as a baby to Mary and Joseph.  But most importantly, He is also telling us about events during His second coming – particularly how God will redeem His chosen people, will draw them to Himself after lifting the veil of judicial blindness that will have existed for 2,000 years!  The reproach of the world will be removed and in fact the world will readily come to serve Israel in any and every capacity – hungry to be a part of what God will be doing with His chosen people!

To imagine Jesus straddling the millennia, speaking as One Who existed before time, before Creation, and Who will reign forever, equally at home in a manger, with His disciples in a fishing boat, or crowned at the right hand of God, is something our minds have to bend to accept.  There is no uncertainty about anything He says.  He knows and He narrates the future because He is outside of time and has witnessed and is witnessing it all at once.  That certainty on His part and His Father’s part is what drives our faith and helps us “know that I know that I know.”  Our future is in His hands.  He’d already seen it thousands of years ago and spoken of it.  How could we even consider doubting that what He says might fail?  No way!

Father, Your word encourages us about the future at a time when things are looking less and less certain.  Thank You for being my Rock and for providing us a Cleft to hide in – Your Son.  I’m so thankful that You’ve shown us the future.  You win!  And Satan doesn’t just fade out of the picture – He’s whupped, soundly thrashed, and OUT of here!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 60 -- What's Coming For Israel

For all the grief that Israel has been put through since it was carved out of Palestine over 60 years ago, and especially for what it’s been going through in the last year, these verses herald a true miracle from God coming hopefully in our lifetimes.

Planeloads and ships full of people will be moving to Jerusalem.  Nations who were formerly enemies will give more-than-generously to her, singing praises to God as they do!  Foreigners and their kings will direct rebuilding efforts.  So much wealth and so many goods will be arriving that shipments will be accepted around the clock!

“The nation or kingdom that doesn’t serve you will be destroyed; it will be completely ruined.”  God says it and promises it.  So what’s there to discuss about it?  We’d be idiots to do anything besides supporting Israel!  Her enemies will willingly bow down before her.

As all of the this happens, God says He’s going to remove the judicial blindness that He’d placed on the Jewish people centuries ago, and they will realize through all of these events “that it is I, the Lord, Who saves you.  You will know that the Powerful One of Jacob protects you.”

As if all that wasn’t enough evidence, God also promises, “The sun will no longer be your light during the day, nor will the brightness of the moon be Your light, because the Lord will be your light forever.”  And about His people, God says, “They are the plant I have planted, the work of My own hands to show My greatness.”

Father, this will all be an absolutely awesome sight and proof that You are sovereign over everything and everyone.  Thank You for planting me and for allowing me to see that I am the work of Your own hands to show Your greatness, too, Help me never to disrespect You and Your Name by any of my actions.  I want to be part of all that honors You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 59 -- God Suits Up & Takes The Field -- Pay Attention To His Uniform

After enumerating so many of the sins of the people of Judah and Israel, God looked but could find no one to help with all of the injustice running rampant there.  So He suited up to take the field and take care of it Himself:

“He covered Himself with goodness like armor.  He put the helmet of salvation on His head.  He put on the clothes of punishment and wrapped Himself in the coat of His strong love.”

I found that so interesting, in light of what I was reading last night in a new book entitled Tactics.  It spoke of how we see the Father from the middle of our sins.  Some would see Him as a condemner and punisher.  But He is primarily for the believer Abba – Daddy – and we are His precious children.  He loves the one who fails just as much as He loves the one who obeys.  And when we fail, He rushes to pick us up, love on us, and help us through the failure, if we’ll let Him.

Here, we have goodness and salvation as base layers of clothing, punishment covering that, and strong love as the outer shell.  I noticed that punishment was sandwiched between goodness and strong love, sort of like the cream filling of an OREO cookie.  God’s goodness and His strong love for us lead Him to use just the amount of punishment necessary to get our attention and to draw us back to Him when we sin.  If He failed to punish, we wouldn’t respect Him.  If He punished too severely, we’d give up trying.  It’s that strong love that motivates us to return to Him and try again.

Father, thank You for showing me how to be a better father through what I’ve read, and thanks for disciplining me with love when I fail You as a son.  Don’t ever stop.  I need your love and support and Your discipline so that I’ll be able to live in peace in this life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 58 -- "Independence From Sin" Day

God left no doubt that He didn’t like what His people were doing.  Even their efforts to be religious had selfish motives, my Bible’s sidebar said.

This chapter has God telling them – and us – exactly what they weren’t doing right, why that was the case, and the things they could be doing with the right motivations, to honor Him.

He scolds them (and us) for doing these things on “worship” days:

·         Being solely concerned about what pleases ourselves

·         Arguing and fighting with other believers

·         Simply bowing our heads like plants, rather than meaning it

·         Showing sadness for appearances only

·         Making trouble for others

·         Using cruel words

·         Pointing fingers at other believers

He wants these types of things done instead:

·         Freeing those unfairly imprisoned (including those we imprison emotionally by our scorn or disdain)

·         Sharing food with the hungry

·         Giving homeless people a place to stay

·         Sharing our clothing with those who need them

·         Helping our own family members rather than depending on non-relatives to do so

·         Feeding the hungry (must be important since He mentioned it twice!)

·         Taking care of the needs of the troubled

·         Honoring the Sabbath with our attitudes

God then tells us that we aren’t doing this just to score points.  He loves our obedience, and He mentions what He’ll do when we obey:

·         He will make “our light” shine like the dawn

·         Our wounds will quickly heal (both physical and emotional wounds)

·         He will walk before us

·         His glory will protect us from behind as well (what we can’t see coming)

·         When we call out to Him, He will say, “Here I am!”

·         He will always lead us

·         He will satisfy our needs in dry lands

·         He’ll give strength to our bones

·         We’ll resemble a well-watered garden

·         We’ll rebuild and repair, and be known for doing so

·         We’ll find joy in the Lord

·         He’ll carry us to the high places above the earth

·         He’ll let us eat the crops of the Promised Land

The sidebar in my Bible, from Loving God by Charles Colson, says we often expect God to do the sin conquering for us.  But there’s a problem with thinking that way.  “The Christian life begins with obedience, depends on obedience, and results in obedience.  We can’t escape it … Really loving God means living out His commands no matter what the cost.”

Father, I came to this very realization yesterday.  I was wanting You to do all the work.  I didn’t want to be responsible for obeying You.  Thanks for Your incredible timing in pointing that out to me this morning!  You knew I needed to hear it!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 56 & 57 -- God's Promise Of Spiritual Healing And Peace

These words had to be shocking to the Jewish people of that time.  God would actually allow foreigners and eunuchs to be found acceptable in His sight!  They had never been allowed in the Temple area.  Eunuchs were seen as “defective”.  Now, God says through Isaiah that their names would be remembered within the Temple!  Ashamed of not being able to have children, they instead hear God saying that He will give them names that will last forever, never to be forgotten, and that honor would be better than fatherhood to them!

Rather than being excluded as non-Jews, “foreigners will join the Lord to worship him and love Him, to serve Him …”  God promises to bring them to His holy mountain and to give them joy IN His house of prayer.  He will accept their offerings, and the Temple once accessible only to male Jews, will become “a house of prayer for people from all nations.”

God then takes on the task of informing His own people that they are living godless lives, lying and turning against Him.  They somehow believe that God will not see what they do in secret, and they’ve lost all sense of shame about it.  “Whom were you so afraid of that you lied to Me?”  He asks.  We should fear no one more than God when we sin.

God’s tender mercy is revealed again.  “I have seen what they have done, but I will HEAL them.  I will guide them and comfort them and those who felt sad for them.  They will all praise Me.  I will give peace, REAL peace, to those far and near, and I will HEAL them,” says the Lord.

Even in our sin, He wants us back!  Even at our most unloveliness, He desires us.  We will never find peace in our sin – only in His arms.  How amazing is His promise to heal us when we are His enemies in our sin!

Father, why do You love me so?  I am so unworthy of Your love and Your watchcare over me.  I sin, yet You bless.  You promise new life and You promise not to accuse forever.  I treasure Your healing and crave it, Father.  I want the blackness of sin surgically removed from my heart by the Great Physician.  Do all You say here, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford