THE LORD SPEAKS (PART 2)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—a people who continually provoke Me to My very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.

Isaiah 65:2-3

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How does the Lord view the people of the world when He evaluates them today? What would He say about the way we’re living?

This question is at the heart of the second devotion in this seventeen part series, The Lord Speaks, as The Christian Walk Ministry finishes the study of the Book of Isaiah.

So what view did the Lord have of the Israelites in the time of Isaiah?

He tells us as He speaks in verses 2 and 3 of Isaiah 65. Look again at His words here:

All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—a people who continually provoke Me to My very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.  Isaiah 65:2-3

It isn’t exactly a glowing assessment, is it?

Frankly, it’s a failing grade on the marking scale of obedience to the Lord that they are to serve willingly and willfully. They have flunked the test administered by their Maker and Master.

Where were they going wrong? The Lord details the errors of their ways as follows:

1. They were an obstinate people.

Obstinate is just a fancy word for being stubborn. In other places in the scriptures, you will find the Lord using the word “stiff-necked” to describe His people and it was true. For over and over again in the Old Testament, we find the Israelites choosing to violate God’s commandments, particularly when it came to their worship practices. They lived among pagan communities that worshiped many different gods and idols, and the people of God found themselves tempted into adopting those practices themselves. God sent consequences onto His people on more than one occasion and, after they had repented and changed their ways, He restored them to His favor.  But then, they would backslide right back into the old habits that got them in trouble in the first place. Indeed, they were an obstinate people.

2. They worshiped in ways that angered the Lord.

False worship is really no worship at all.

That’s the way the Lord sees it and we need to see it the same way.

All the Israelites accomplished through offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on brick altars, both pagan rituals, was provoking the Lord they should have been fearfully obeying.

Only a fool would intentionally do something that they knew would incite the Lord’s wrath and we can definitely say that the people of Israel were fools. They knew they weren’t supposed to do the things they did but they did them anyways.

Did I mention they were stubborn?

3. They walked in ways that weren’t good.

This is biblical code for simply saying they walked the path of sinfulness. For there are only two paths we can travel in life. One is the narrow path of righteousness that leads to life today and for all eternity, the path that Jesus told us to travel, the path that we enter through Him and a life modeled after Him. The other path is the wide path to death and annihilation and the scriptures tell us that many will travel it (Matthew 7:13-14).

It’s this wide path to destruction that the Israelites were walking on. We know it because the Lord tells us that they were walking in ways that weren’t good.

4. They pursued their own imaginations.

We have no idea what was in the imaginations of the people of God but we know that the Lord wasn’t present there. Had they had Him in mind, they would not have exercised lifestyles marked by wickedness and actions that made them His enemies.

If only the Israelites had made the Lord their number one priority, their sole treasure and object of focus. Their story would have been so much different.

Friends, let’s go back to the opening questions for the world in the here and now.

How does the Lord view the people of the world when He evaluates them today? What would He say about the way we’re living?

I hate to say it but I believe He might see a people much like the Old Testament Israelites of more than 2,000 years ago, a people who are obstinate, worshiping things that anger Him, walking in ways that aren’t good and pleasing in His sight, and pursuing their own imaginations.

We had better wake up. For the Lord has spoken and here’s what He had to say to the Israelites of old and to us today:

“I despise obstinate people who choose to walk in sin and chase after their will and desires, those who have no problem with provoking Me with their disrespect and disregard.”

Are we listening?

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

THE LORD SPEAKS (PART 1)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

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

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’”

Isaiah 65:1

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It’s been a great journey.

Last August, I started to write from the Book of Isaiah and nearly a year later, I am ready to come down the homestretch and finish with a seventeen part series titled “The Lord Speaks,” drawn from the last two chapters of the book. As the series title indicates, this book named after one of Israel’s most prominent prophets, ends with the Lord having the last say on a variety of topics. Today, in part 1, we find the Lord reminding us that He is always revealing Himself to creation, even when His creation is necessarily looking for Him. Look at today’s scripture verse, the opening words to Isaiah 65:

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call on My name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’”  Isaiah 65:1

Note here that in the Old Testament period of this book, it was believed that only the Israelites, also referred to as the Jews, were entitled to a special, exclusive relationship with God and thus gain His salvation. Anyone who was not a Jew and outside of the Jewish inner society circle was considered a Gentile, one unclean and unworthy of receiving anything from God. God solely favored the Israelites and one else. They were considered His people and He their God.

This is why this single verse from Isaiah 65 had to raise a few Israelite eyebrows because when the Lord speaks here, He’s not speaking about them but rather the Gentiles, the non-Jews who were considered outsiders with God and without hope.

As we find prophesied, God would reveal Himself to the Gentiles, even though they did not ask for Him, seek Him, or call on His name. God didn’t need an invitation to reveal His glory to anyone and there was a day ahead where He would swing open the gates of eternity for all to have the chance to dwell with Him forever through His Son Jesus, the coming Savior. One’s religious social status, whether Jew or Gentile, had no bearing on finding salvation. All one had to do was profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior and believe that He was resurrected from the dead. The Apostle Paul would say as much and use these words from Isaiah too:

What does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:8-13

The good news from the Old Testament was that salvation was coming to all people out of love from the Lord who was, is, and is the Lord of all. The Gentiles were certainly not considered God’s people at the time nor were they seeking God but they would one day have as much right to the kingdom of heaven as their Jewish counterparts.

But how can we see this speaking to us today, some two to three thousand years later?

Well, I think it’s simple for although salvation has been offered to all people since Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection, there still are so many people who are not asking for Him or seeking Him. Yet, although they fail to call on the name of Jesus, He is still revealing Himself to Him each and every day with the hope that they will have a change of heart, receiving and accepting His salvation offer.

That’s where Christians all around the world come into play today, Christians called by Jesus to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey all He has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). These workers in life’s harvest field are to reap a bounty of souls, helping others to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus, and through their work, revealing Jesus to those who still have not come to Him, those who were just as lacking in their knowledge and faith in God and His Son as the Gentiles of the Old Testament days.

Friends, the Lord speaks to us today and has a simple message, reminding us that He is forever revealing Himself to everyone, making Himself known and offering eternal life to anyone who would call on His name.

If you’re not a Christian, today is the day you can change your life forever. All you need to do is confess and repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your personal Savior, knowing that He died to pay the price for your sins to save you. From that point on, as a Christian, you are then to strive to live as Jesus did in all that you do.  

If you’re a Christian, then you are to be partnering with Jesus in carrying out His Great Commission and bringing the message of eternal life through Him to all you meet. In other words, you are to be aggressively helping others to have the same eternal hope that you have in Christ.  

There is no greater gift you can give anyone than that.

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

IN THE HANDS OF THE MASTER POTTER

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

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

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all Your people. Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland,  Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.

After all this, Lord, will You hold Yourself back? Will You keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

Isaiah 64:8-12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever held a ball of clay in your hands before?

In and of itself, it looks like nothing that could be of much use in that state and that’s absolutely true. But put that ball of clay in the hands of someone skilled and what appeared once to be useless can be formed into something of use.

For example, my wife and I were out shopping recently and she fixed her eyes on three bright, shiny planters, each matching in color but of different sizes. The plan was to fill them with soil and then place some beautiful, colorful plants within. Of interest for this devotion, they were all made out of clay and some master craftsman, a potter, had taken mounds of the material and shaped them into the pots my wife would use to display her flowers.

Given this as an introduction for the concluding scripture verses from Isaiah 64, let’s see how God’s word uses this real world act of mastery with clay to make an important point to us about our lives and the relationship we are to have with God, our Master and Maker. Look again at these words here:

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all Your people. Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.

After all this, Lord, will You hold Yourself back? Will You keep silent and punish us beyond measure?  Isaiah 64:8-12

The people speaking here are none other than the people of Israel who were enduring a harrowing seventy year exile at the hands of the Babylonians, an imposed penalty by God for their unfaithfulness as evident by their disrespectful worshiping of false gods and idols. The God who had once always been there for them, now seemed distant and absent as they lived in a foreign land under the oppression of a foreign people. It would be enough for anyone to find themselves turning back to God and seeking His restoration and renewal.

So how did the Israelites go about doing that? How did they petition God to take them back and return them to a place of favor with Him?

Note that they started by committing themselves to the hands of God, the only One who could turn them into the people they needed to be, a people who lived in a way that was pleasing in His sight.  

Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

The Israelites, once a people useful to God had made themselves useless to Him through their blatant disobedience to His commands. Hauled away from their homeland which was then desolated, burned into ruin, and turned into a wasteland, the people of Israel each became that lump of clay that needed reformed into something of value again and they knew just who could do it.

And so they turned to the Lord, the Master Potter, and committed themselves again to be the work of His hands. This meant they had to surrender their will and way so that His will and way could reign supreme for that’s the only way that the Master Potter could mold and shape them to be something special, to take something ordinary and change it into something extraordinary.

Friends, God’s word is speaking forcefully to us today and asking us to examine our lives and how we are allowing them to be shaped.

Are we allowing the world to mold us into a vessel of sin and wickedness that will only gain the Lord’s wrath and consequences, like the Israelites who ended up in a seventy year exile?  

Or are we submitting ourselves as clay to the hands of God, the Master Potter, allowing Him to mold and form us into something blessedly beautiful, something righteous that reflects His image in all we do as we serve Him and carry our His purposes for our lives?

I’m not sure where you stand but I’m grateful I can say with confidence that the hands of the Master Potter are on me, transforming me to be the man He wants me to be as I seek to conform to His will and way.

There’s no better place to be.

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