I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 52-56.

    Starting in chapter 52 verse 13 through the end of chapter 53 is the passage that is often referred to as the “Suffering Servant” passage. It is one of those clearly messianic passages which as a Christian I see as a reference to Jesus. However, there is a lesson not directly related to the Messiah for us in this passage. It tells us that God’s Servant had nothing about him to attract us to him, that he was despised and rejected. No one cared that he died. Yet, it was because of Him that we are counted as righteous. How many other people do we treat as the prophet tells us that the Messiah was treated? How many of them are, also, God’s servants? Truly understanding this passage should cause us to seek to be friends with the outcasts, with those whom society says are “untouchable”.

    Isaiah 55 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. I absolutely love the way it reads in the NIV. The first couple of verses are a foreshadowing of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:6. Actually, I suspect that what Jesus said there is partially derived from the beginning of Isaiah 55. However, the key part of Isaiah 55 begins with verse six. Each one of us has a window of opportunity to turn to the Lord. I will not pretend to understand how it works, but if we choose to turn away from God when He makes His present felt by us, we may never get another chance to turn to Him. Never pass up an opportunity to do God’s will, you may not get another one.

    I am hoping my thought processes here make sense to you. There is a connection between what I wrote in the first paragraph of yesterday’s blog and chapter 55 here. We often think that we know better than Scripture how to do God’s will.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

The idea is continued and expanded on through the rest of the chapter. God promises that if we stay true to His word, listen to His word, and preach His word, as He has given it to us in Scripture, it will accomplish the purpose for which He gave it. It is important to remember that this means actually reading and teaching what is actually written, not what we think what was actually written means. It is OK to do the latter, but only as long as we start by recounting what it actually says. I cannot emphasize that enough, we need to make sure that when we teach God’s word we refer to the written word and not rely on what we think it says.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 48-51.

    God has given us the prophetic words in Scripture so that we would know when they came to pass that He is God. This prophetic word is more than just predictions about the future. He has done this because He knows how stubborn we are, how determined we are to deny that He is God. I remember reading “The Road Less Travelled” by M. Scott Peck. In the book he discusses how he was working on his research into the role forgiveness plays in mental health. At the time, the idea that we needed to forgive those who wronged us was a new concept in psychology. Modern psychology was just discovering how devastating refusing to forgive was to mental health. Dr. Peck wrote how he was surprised to learn that the New Testament spoke of this very things, 2,000 years earlier than modern science had discovered this truth. It was this revelation which led him to come to know the Lord. There is a cycle which mankind goes through time after time: we reject God’s teachings, we suffer the consequences, we discover that the teaching we had rejected was right, we claim to have known that all along, we use a misrepresentation of this truth as an excuse to reject another of God’s teachings…and the cycle repeats.

    At the beginning of Chapter 49 there is a passage which is, correctly, often seen as a prophecy about Jesus’ ministry, but, like so many of the prophetic writings in Scripture, there is more to it than that. It is a prophecy directed at each and every one of us. God called you before you were born. Not you in a general sort of way in which He might have called anyone who would answer. No, He called you specifically, by name. He said, “You are my servant and you will bring me glory.” Further, the prophet reminds us that we are not alone in thinking that our work for the Lord is worthless. The prophet felt the same way. Yet God declared that the prophet would bring His salvation to the ends of the earth. In between those two parts is the thing which we must do: we must leave it in God’s hands.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 43-47.

    This passage is so chock-full of things I want to write about that I do not know where to start. So, I will start with the first thing that came to me as I read it through for the first time (I usually read the passage at least twice before I start writing). The writer begins today’s passage by telling the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, that God has told them not to be afraid because He has ransomed them. God will gather them together from the distant corners of the earth. He will instruct the earth to gather them together for Him. Then comes the interesting part, God tells those gathering His people together to gather everyone who claims Him as their God. Throughout today’s passage this theme keeps coming up, the prophet refers again and again to the fact that God will welcome all who claim Him as their God. Through this prophet, God predicted that people from every nation and ethnicity would claim Him as their God and this has come to pass.

    The main theme in today’s passage, around which several other themes wind (such as the one I mentioned in the previous paragraph), is that there is no god other than God. Nothing and no one is comparable to Him. The prophet goes on to write about the different ways in which people make their own gods from wood or from precious metals. The writer does not list this out, but there is another way in which people create their own gods, they do so by the works of their minds. Some people become enamored of the products of their mind. They begin to worship their own thoughts, or the thoughts of others. Throughout history various people have come up with ideas which they believe will allow them to predict the future. In modern times, we call these ideas “science”. While there is some utility in using science to predict the future, whenever we become convinced that we understand this world well enough that we no longer need God, God shows us how limited our science truly is. Those who put their full trust in science rather than God will soon discover that it is no more reliable for what is important than an image made of wood, or one made of precious metals.

    The final theme in today’s passage which I want to touch upon is the writer’s disdain for those who believe that, when He made them, God got it wrong. Whether it is those who believe that their hair is the wrong color, or their nose the wrong shape, or their sex the wrong one, in every case what they are truly saying is that God got it wrong. We are to God as clay is to the potter. If God decided to make us a “vase”, than a “vase” is what we were meant to be. It gains us nothing to argue that we should be a “pot”. We are what God has made us and desiring to be something else will only result in unhappiness. However, if God made you a “vase”, He made you one according to HIS specifications, not according to any human’s. So, if God has created you a man, or a woman, listen to what He tells you that means. Do not allow the people of this world to define what it means to be a “man”, or to be a “woman”, not even if they go to the same congregation you do. This is where it gets complicated because those who are seeking to serve God may provide an avenue through which God will tell you what it means to be what He has made you. But listen closely for His words and seek what He has to tell you and reject those who speak only with human wisdom.
    As a Church we have become lost because we did not talk about this when people started to be unhappy with the shape God made their nose, or the color He chose for their hair, or the myriad other ways in which people objected to the way God chose for them to look. God has a purpose in the way in which He shaped us, rather than reject it, let us embrace it.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 39-42.

    My first thought when I read where this passage talks about Clearing the way for the Lord and how transient people are was about how so often we set aside God’s directions for human ideas. Time and again I have heard people in the Church say that a particular passage, which they do not like, was written in a “different time”. They will say that life was different then, or the culture was different. Those passages no longer apply because people have changed. However, God knows how people change over time and His commands and instructions cut through the mountains and valleys of culture. God’s word will straighten the curves and fill in the rough places of human culture. If we follow the Scripture we will see that they clear a path through the wilderness of the culture around us.

    What I wrote in that previous paragraph is a bit of a stretch from the message I think the writer meant to convey, but it is consistent with what he wrote later in this passage. He tells us that the words of Scripture go back to before the world began. I do not think he means that literally. What it means to me is that the commands given in Scripture, the instructions in those passages which some of us dislike, are expressions of God’s intent from before He made the first human. The author addresses the idea that people have changed, that culture has changed, so that those passages no longer apply in chapter 41 verses 21-24. Those “changes” that supposedly invalidate the words of God are no more than idols. They are unable to tell us what is going to happen in the future. In fact, their very premise is that they cannot tell us what is going to happen in the future. Worse than that, those “new” ideas are unable to make things better now. They fail to show us a path into the future, and they fail to aid us today.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 36-38.

    The official message given by the Assyrian chief of staff contained a modicum of respect. It lays out the reasons why King Hezekiah and Jerusalem cannot withstand the Assyrian army: Egypt is too weak to defend them, King Hezekiah had insulted God by forcing everyone to worship Him in Jerusalem (indicating a lack of understanding about God), The King of Assyria had more spare warhorses than Hezekiah had soldiers, and God Himself had told the Assyrians to attack Judah. While this is somewhat arrogant (claiming that God had sent them to conquer) and demonstrates a lack of understanding of God’s will (not realizing that centralizing the worship of God in Jerusalem was God’s will), It is not blasphemous, or something which would otherwise anger God. However, when the Assyrian chief of staff went “off script” and revealed what the Assyrians really thought he went too far. In his address to the people on the walls of Jerusalem, and then Sennacherib’s letter to Hezekiah a short time later, they revealed what they truly thought of themselves and of God.

    The Assyrians did not believe that God was any more than the gods of the other nations. I believe that the Assyrians did not believe that there truly were any gods. Or, at least, the ruling class of Assyria did not believe there were any gods. They believed that they themselves were gods. They were convinced that nothing and no one could stop them from doing whatever they pleased. As this passage demonstrates, whenever people begin to believe that they cannot be held accountable, that they are the sole arbiters of what they can accomplish, God is prepared to show them that they are mistaken. There can be no doubt that no human agency was involved in preventing the Assyrians from conquering Jerusalem. There was no human agency that was capable of preventing the Assyrians from conquering Jerusalem. Nevertheless, not only did the Assyrians fail to conquer Jerusalem, they never even laid siege to the city. I am sure that, in the day, many people said that Jerusalem got lucky because plague struck the Assyrian army before Sennacherib could turn his army to attack Jerusalem. However, those with the eyes to see and the ears to hear knew (and know) that this was the hand of God, not just coincidence.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 32-35.

    I hear people complain about the corruption of government all of the time, but they never think about what sort of society is required in order to have an honest, just, and righteous government. In this passage Isaiah describes those conditions. We will continue to have a corrupt, and even evil, government as long as ungodly fools are held up as heroes and people have respect for scoundrels. As long as we hold up people who lie to convict the poor as people to be emulated we will have corrupt and evil government. Until the complacent among us begin to beat their breasts in sorrow over the evil being done around us, and not just by government officials, nothing will change.

    Later in the passage, the prophet reminds us that most people do not really want an honest and just government. The godless find such a society unbearable. Living in it is like being in a devouring, all-consuming fire for them. Only those who are honest and fair, who do not attempt to profit from fraud and deception will find a society with an honest, just, and righteous government to be a comfortable place to be. If you do not avoid all enticements to do wrong you are kidding yourself if you say that you want an honest government. All too often what people mean when they say they want a less corrupt government is that they want a government corrupt in their favor. However, the day is coming when God is going to bring about His rule upon all of mankind. In that day, only the honest and upright will thrive. Are we preparing ourselves for that day>

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 29-31.

    This passage says some things that are often misused and misapplied. In chapter 29 verse 13 the prophet accuses people of following worship practices which are nothing more than man-made rules learned by rote. This passage has often been used to attack those who believe in a traditional interpretation of Christianity. There is something to this. All too often we get caught in the rut of doing things because we have always done them that way. There may have been good reasons for doing things the way we do them, but we have forgotten those reasons and do things that way because that was how we were taught to do them. When that happens we are in danger of following practices which result in the exact opposite of the purpose for which they were created. On the other hand, many times this passage is used to argue for throwing out practices and beliefs which still serve a useful purpose in favor of rules which themselves were created purely in human minds.

    In both cases, the key part of the verse comes before the part which is most often referenced. The prophet tells us that it is not enough to honor God with our lips. We may utter the most pious platitudes and sayings, we may give God credit for every good thing we perceive to have happened, but if our hearts are not aligned with Him, if doing God’s will is not our heart’s desire, then we are hypocrites. No matter how wise we are, no matter how smart we are, we are not wise enough and we are not smart enough to make better plans than God’s plans. If you do not understand why God gives the commands He gives, do not assume that you know better. Study the traditions you follow, make sure that they are truly God’s commands and not just man-made rules. Seek God and you will find Him and His will. Of course, if you instead seek justification for doing your own will, you will find that as well.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 26-28.

    The key element of today’s passage comes to me in verses 7-9 in chapter 26. God smooths out the way ahead of those who are righteous. It may not always seem that way to us, but the prophet tells us how it works. Those who are righteous will trust in God because God not only is God righteous, but HE is the source of all righteousness. Those who trust in God keep His commandments, not because they are commandments but because they trust that God knows what He is doing. God gives us the commandments He does because He loves us. Those commandments are designed to lead us onto the path which God has smoothed out for us. In the long run, Life becomes difficult for us when we try to take the “easy way” of not following God’s commands. When we do that we are demonstrating that we do not trust God.

    I got to the end of that and realized that I had not properly set the stage for the observations in the previous paragraph. Part of what makes the path smooth for the righteous is that their heart’s desire, the thing they desire more than anything else, is for their actions to glorify God. They seek God and His will morning, noon, and night. They actively seek to bound with God and to do His will. Life becomes much easier if bringing glory to God is more important to us than gaining glory, or wealth, or pleasure for ourselves.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 22-25.

    I am not able to fully extract the message of this passage. However, part of that message is a warning to those who see the invaders coming and plan their defense without calling on God. I see it all around me, people who see how the degradation of our culture is leading to the collapse of our civilization, but fail to turn to God. Instead, they seek to implement their own defenses against the disaster they see coming. I, also, know people who see the oncoming collapse of our civilization and, rather than mourn the suffering which will follow, party while times are good.

    And this is where I am missing something. The prophet tells us that those who mourn the suffering that is coming for those who do not follow the Lord will rejoice when that judgment comes (or perhaps at some time after that). In chapter 24, verse 11 the prophet tells us that gladness will be banished from the land as a result of God’s curse. Yet in chapter 24, verse 14 he tells us that all who are left will shout and sing for joy while they praise the Lord’s majesty. The prophet tells us that God is going to be bringing a disaster upon the entire earth, suffering for all. And yet, He will, at the same time, provide refuge for the needy.
    Let us mourn now for the suffering those who reject God will experience. Perhaps by doing so we can convince others to turn to Him, so that when that disaster strikes, they too will be able to say:

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 17-21.

    I am not sure that my title today quite captures what this passage says to me today. The prophet predicts the downfall of Damascus, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Egypt, Cush (Ethiopia), Babylon, Edom and Kedar (Arabia). The writer describes how when the disaster he is predicting comes to pass, the people will turn to God. The disaster will come because people have forgotten God, they no longer honor or worship Him. As a result of this failure to honor God all of their efforts to obtain wealth are futile. While the prophet initially refers to the people of Israel coming back to God after disaster strikes, he later predicts that the people of other nations (Egypt and Cush in this passage) will come to God after disaster strikes their land.
    There are two points I want to focus on. Let us not forget God when times are good and thus bring disaster upon ourselves and those around us. And, let us remember that sometimes God allows disaster to strike in order to give us the opportunity to show Him to those who might never otherwise be receptive to His love.