Can I pray for you in any
way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian
Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend
requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of
The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Return
for the sake of Your servants, the tribes that are Your inheritance.
For a little while Your people possessed Your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down Your sanctuary. We are Yours from of old; but You have not ruled over them, they have not been called by Your name.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens
and come down, that the mountains would tremble before You! As when fire sets
twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make Your name known to Your
enemies and cause the nations to quake before You! For when You did awesome
things that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled before
You.
Isaiah 63:17b-19,
64:1-3
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
When we’re in the midst of God’s correction, we can find
ourselves with time to think about the way things are currently and the way
things used to be when we lived in better days, days we basked in the glow of
God’s blessing and favor.
As we reminisce, we remember God and how good He truly is.
We remember His power and might as it moved in and around our lives while we
lived in His righteousness. We remember that we are His children and we are subordinate
to Him, and in remembering that, we recall how it was our insubordination that
got us in trouble in the first place. And we yearn for renewal and a return to
a good standing with Him
This is the mindset the people of Israel were in as their
seventy year exile in Babylon plodded along. That’s a long time to have to
think about what you’ve done and build a desire for having your relationship
with God restored. Look at these words from the end of Isaiah 63 and the
beginning of Isaiah 64:
Return for the sake of Your servants, the
tribes that are Your inheritance.
For a little while Your people possessed Your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down Your sanctuary. We are Yours from of old; but You have not ruled over them, they have not been called by Your name.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains
would tremble before You! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to
boil, come down to make Your name known to Your enemies and cause the nations
to quake before You! For when You did awesome things that we did not expect, You
came down, and the mountains trembled before You. Isaiah
63:17b-19, 64:1-3
Can’t you sense the deep craving in the tone of God’s
people for His return and their subsequent renewal?
In their time to reflect, they remembered that God was
their God and they were His people, just as their ancestors had been. God had
never changed who He was. It was the people who had changed and disrespected
Him to the point that He had to render consequences.
The people remembered how they had once inhabited a holy
city where God’s holy temple resided. But because of the sins of the people of
Israel, the Babylonians were sent by God to destroy both Jerusalem and His
temple. These marauders were not believers in God, before or after they were
used by Him as an instrument of His judgment, and eventually they too faced
their own penalty as God sent the Persians to overthrow them. Thus, God
fulfilled what His people hoped for, that He would once again return in power
to make His name known to His enemies, to make it known for certain that He was
God would not tolerate injustice or wickedness in the world He created.
In the end, the people wanted to once again live in a way
that was pleasing in the sight of the Lord and after their seventy years of
captivity, God did just that, returning to deliver and rescue them just as He
had done their relatives before, renewing and restoring them to their homeland
of Judah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and His holy temple where He would
again abide with them and receive their worship and praise.
Friends, what are you going through in life that may
indicate you are in the midst of God’s correction? Where do you need God to
return and renew and restore you? Are you willing to maintain your trust In
him, knowing He is your God and you are His child, and that He is working
things out for your good, to bring you back to a place of His favor, where you
can learn from your mistakes and rebuild what’s broken with a renewed faith
that God is helping you every step of the way?
The people of Israel did and it worked out well for them
for they served a God of mercy and grace and forgiveness of love, the same God
we serve today.
In the end, they yearned for and received God’s return and
renewal. And we will too when we repent and once again make God the object of
our absolute attention, desire, and service.
Return to Him with all your heart and you will again find
Him return to you to fulfill your heart’s desire in accordance with His will.
Believe it.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment