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Daily Bible thoughts 736: Wednesday 29th October 2014:

Isaiah 45:14-25

‘’Foreseeing the great influx of the Gentiles, these verses leap far beyond the liberation. Chs.60-62 will take up the theme more fully. Here it is expressed first in an address to Israel (14-19) and then in an appeal to mankind to acknowledge its Lord, as one day it must, and thereby find salvation in company with the nation it once despised (20-25).’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.659

The words in (14) are similar to Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 14:24, 25. In fact, Paul may have had Isaiah in mind when he wrote that letter. God was speaking through the prophet about a more distant day when Israel’s former enemies will be gathered into the Messianic kingdom (see Isaiah 14:2). These people will submit to the rule of Israel’s God. They will come ‘’in chains’’; but they will come willingly. Because they know that ‘’there is no other god.’’ We are seeing this worked out now in the global extension of the kingdom of God. When people come into Christian gatherings and they fall down in worship, and say, ‘’God is really among you!’’ this prophetic word is still coming to pass. (See also 20 and 23-25 for this global vision).

The opening of (15) reads like this in The Message: ‘’Clearly, you are a God who works behind the scenes…’’ Someone said that God moves behind the scenes and He moves all the scenes He is behind. Verses 15-17 contrast the destinies of those who make (and, by inference, trust) in idols, and those people of Israel who will trust in God.

There is a paradox in this chapter. In one sense, God ‘’hides’’ Himself. As we saw yesterday, His ways can be mysterious, and He doesn’t owe us any explanations. But He is also the God who reveals Himself (19). He shows us what He wants us to know. There are secret things that are only known to Him, but there are also many revealed truths that we can enter into by the Holy Spirit’s illumination. One of those is that God’s people will never seek Him in vain (19b). This truth has helped and sustained me through many years. I know there are mysteries to God’s ways; nevertheless I also know He answers prayer. He is ‘’the Lord’’ (18): the Creator of all things. We are not ‘’praying for help to a dead stick’’ The Message (20b).

In (20, 21) God tells the world’s unbelieving nations that because He has predicted future events accurately (such as the role played by Cyrus in freeing the Jews) He has established His claim to be the one and only God and Saviour (see Isaiah 43:8-13; 44:6-8). Because of who He is; His uniqueness, God issues this heartfelt appeal to all people everywhere, to ‘’turn’’ to Him ‘’and be saved’’ (22-25). The words in (23b) are picked up in the New Testament by the apostle Paul and applied to the Lord Jesus (Phil.2:10, 11; Romans 14:9, 11). Take time to reflect on this and allow its significance to sink in.

‘’The concluding verses are remarkable for their picture of world-wide and heart-felt conversions, and secondly for the bold use the NT was to make of vs 23-24, applying them directly to Christ in Phil.2:10-11 (and indirectly in Rom.14:9, 11).

Prayer: Lord Jesus you are truly wonderful – the only God and Saviour, and Lord of all. Help me to know you more, and love you more, and serve you more.

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Daily Bible thoughts 735: Tuesday 28th October 2014:

Isaiah 45:8-13

There is a picture of ‘showers’ of ‘’righteousness’’ falling down from the sky in (8). How we want such holy rain to fall on the nations of our world! This verse speaks of heaven affecting earth. God pours out something good that causes ‘’salvation’’ to ‘’spring up’’ and ‘’righteousness’’ grows with it; for God saves people to glorify Him by right living. That way this sin-cursed earth gets ‘flooded’ with righteousness. Salvation, of course, is God’s idea. It is His invention. It’s all of Him. People can’t be saved and live righteously without a sovereign work of God’s grace in their hearts. (By the way, salvation and righteousness are closely linked in Isaiah: 46:13, 51:5, 56:1; and, indeed, throughout the Bible.) ‘’Open up, heavens, and rain. Clouds, pour out buckets of my goodness! Loosen up, earth, and bloom salvation; sprout right living. I, GOD, generate all this.’’ The Message. I really would like it to rain heavily today if we can have this sort of cloudburst!

The salvation spoken of in Isaiah 45 mainly concerned the captives being saved from exile in Babylon. (But when we take the Bible’s big picture we know that there is a greater dimension to the doctrine of salvation, finally and fully revealed in Jesus.) Maybe it would seem strange to God’s people that He would use the fearful pagan emperor, Cyrus, to deliver them (9-13; see Isaiah 29:16 and Jeremiah 18:1-10). Perhaps they would want to question God on this matter. Maybe there would be a sense of God fumbling His work. So the exalted, sovereign Lord of history, the Creator of the universe, reminds them that He is God and they are not! He knows what He is doing, even when others may not understand. The object lesson from the starry universe has been similarly, if more gently, used in 40:26-31. ‘’Does clay talk back to the potter: ‘What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!’…Are you telling me what I can or cannot do? I made earth, and I created man and woman to live on it. I handcrafted the skies and direct all the constellations in their turnings. And now I’ve got Cyrus on the move. I’ve rolled out the red carpet before him. He will build my city. He will bring home my exiles. I didn’t hire him to do this. I told him. I, GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.’’ The Message. God was going to raise up Cyrus in His ‘’righteousness’’ (13). It was not wrong for the Lord to use him; He would employ him to bring about right. All the time this powerful man would be under God’s control and not realise it!

There may come times for us when we do not understand what God is doing, and we are tempted to question Him. How appropriate, then, are these words for us: ‘’We must will and dare to believe that God is doing his very best for us, and doing it in the very best way.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible, p.286.

Prayer: Let your showers of righteousness pour down on this needy world today Sovereign Lord.

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Daily Bible thoughts 730: Tuesday 21st October 2014:

 Galatians 3: 26-4:7

Christian people are no longer slaves to the law but are sons of God. That is the big idea in this section. At just the right time, Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to make it possible for us to become sons of God (4:4, 5). Be sure that God will never be premature or tardy. He will always be on time.

  • You become a son of God ‘’through faith in Christ Jesus’’ (3:26), and you signify this in water baptism (3:27). Baptism alone doesn’t make anyone a child of God, apart from genuine trust in Christ. Someone said that baptism, as a mere rite, is as valueless as a currency note without gold to back it up. The true children of Abraham are those people who believe God’s ‘’promise’’ and are counted as righteous as a result (3:29).
  • The ‘’sons of God’’ become part of a big family in which all the old distinctions no longer apply (3:28). You will notice that the term ‘’sons of God’’ applies to both male and female. In this new society you don’t cease to be a man or a woman, a Jew or Gentile etc, but those old differences no longer have the power to keep people apart. They no longer form barriers between men and women. In Christ we transcend them. There is a story told about a private soldier and an officer ,sitting in the same pew at a church service. When It came time to receive communion, the soldier stepped out into the aisle and stood back to allow his officer to go first. But the officer said to him, ‘’Not in here!’’ There is unity and equality in Christ. We are on level ground before the cross.
  • As a son of God it is your privilege to have the Spirit of God in your heart (4:6). He enables you to enjoy a relationship of intimate communion with your Heavenly Father. Because of the Spirit’s presence you can call God ‘’Abba’’. This is an Aramaic term meaning ‘dearest Father’. Its nearest English equivalent would be ‘daddy’. This is the same word Jesus used in prayer (Mark 14:36). As adopted children of God, we share with Jesus all rights to God’s resources.
  • Through Christ you become a son of God with the full rights of an heir (3:7). Under Roman law, an adopted child was guaranteed all legal rights to his father’s property, even if he was formerly slave. He would not become a second class son. Rather he would be equal to all the other sons, whether biological or adopted, in the father’s family.

‘’Are you a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ? Then you are also an heir and all of Christ’s riches are yours (Eph.1:3)! A child must wait until maturity to inherit the family wealth, but God’s children can have His wealth now (Phil.4:19).’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.768.

Prayer: Lord God, help me to always remember who I am in Christ Jesus, and live no longer as a slave to the law, but as a son of God.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 729: Monday 20th October 2014:

 Isaiah 44:6-23

Dagon will always fall before the Ark of God! Perhaps the best way to expose error is to set it alongside the truth, and it will be shown up for the poor and pitiful thing it is by comparison. So, a classic Bible passage on the folly of idolatry opens with another exalted picture of the living God (6-8). When the light of truth shines on heresy, the erroneous doctrine is seen for the dark and shadowy thing that it is. Again, there is an emphasis on God being able to foretell the future – something no idol can do. God’s people were witnesses to His ability in this area.

A religion can only be as good as its gods (9-11). If you make a god to worship, it will obviously be worthless. How can something you have complete power over in the process of construction have any power to help you? It’s a ridiculous notion. Idols are only pieces of metal or blocks of wood. However, behind idols there are spiritual forces of evil. When someone worships an idol, he or she is serving a demon (1 Corinthians 8:4; 10:19, 20). This is how people get into idolatry. Satan uses these lifeless idols to entice people to put their trust in them rather than in the living God. They are spiritually blinded (18) and ‘’deluded’’ (20), believing in a ‘’lie’’. ‘’All those who make no-god idols don’t amount to a thing, and what they work so hard at making is nothing. Their little puppet-gods see nothing and know nothing – they’re total embarrassments!

The absurdity of idolatry could not be spelled out more clearly than in (12-20). ‘’Part he uses as firewood for keeping warm and baking bread; from the other part he makes a god that he worships – carves it into a god shape and prays before it. With half he makes a fire to warm himself and barbecue his supper. He eats his fill and sits back satisfied with his stomach full and his feet warmed by the fire: ‘’Ah, this is the life.’’ And he still has half left for a god, made to his personal design – a handy, convenient no-god to worship whenever so inclined. Whenever the need strikes him he prays to it, ‘’Save me. You’re my god.’’ Pretty stupid wouldn’t you say? Don’t they have eyes in their heads? Are their brains working at all?’’ The Message. We must have something to worship. But we’d prefer it to be something we’re in charge of and control, as ridiculous as that is. ‘’All worship of things given by God (9; cf. v 14) and shaped by man contains the same absurdity and blasphemy (cf.Rom.1:25). Man’s eventual inability to see this (which is as modern as it is ancient) comes of a prior refusal to face it (18-20; cf. Rom.1:21).’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.659.

We need the God who made us (21), and He wants to forgive us all our sins (including our foolish idolatry). He will do so if we ‘’Return’’ to Him. This message went out to His people centuries ago, and was certainly heeded by some. Still this message is being proclaimed today. God wants to remove all our sins (22). Will we hear, and repent?

Prayer: ‘’The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be; help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee.’’

 

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Daily Bible Thoughts 708: Friday 19th September 2014.

Daily Bible thoughts 708: Friday 19th September 2014: Psalm 107:23-32

A few years ago, a ‘storm’ blew up unexpectedly in my circumstances. I attended a meeting with some people, and, if I didn’t expect it to be all ‘plain sailing’, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the ‘rough seas’ I encountered. I felt overwhelmed. The ‘waves’ seemed to tower above me. It was all so sudden, and I didn’t see it coming. The next morning I read the story of Jesus stilling the tempest. It is found in Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25. Isn’t God’s timing perfect? This came about in the normal course of my daily readings. It mirrored my experience in which ‘’Without warning…’’ (Matthew 8:24) ‘’a furious storm came up…’’  Something of the hurt and the tears of that time have stayed with me. I couldn’t believe what happened. One moment we were in ‘sunshine’. The next it felt like my little ‘boat’ might be wrecked. The stilling of that storm didn’t happen too quickly, but what is important to say is that a great calm did eventually come. Like all of life’s storms, ‘’it came to pass.’’

‘’Some of you set sail in big ships; you put to sea to do business in faraway ports. Out at sea you saw GOD in action, saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean: With a word he called up the wind – an ocean storm, towering waves! You shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out; your hearts were stuck in your throats. You were spun like a top, you reeled like a drunk, you didn’t know which end was up. Then you called out to GOD in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time. He quieted the wind down to a whisper, put a muzzle on all the big waves. And you were so glad when the storm died down, and he led you safely back to harbour.’’ The Message.

‘’Seafaring is a perfect picture of our experience in this life: getting on with our lawful business (23) when, ‘out of a clear blue sky’, comes the storm that upsets all our calculations, destroys our cherished comforts, leaves us helpless in the grip of totally overmastering forces (25-27). Every storm is a summons to trust, for it is not a chance happening or a satanic ploy: it is his storm (25) and in due course the same hand that roused the storm will still it (29). Every storm is a call to prayer (28a) which will avail against even the mightiest opposing forces.’’ J.A.Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.558.

It is impossible to read these words in Psalm 107 and not think about the disciples in their fishing boat on Galilee. (Some commentators see a definite connection between John 6:21 and Psalm 107:30). I wonder if these Jewish disciples remembered the psalm and put two and two together. (Matthew 8:27)? Surely this man was more than a man? Wasn’t the clue to His identity in Psalm 107? This was no other than God Himself in human form.

Prayer: The seas of life can be very rough Lord. I love the sea, but at times I find it terrifying. I am glad you are with me ‘in the boat.’ Thank you for your presence, in Jesus’ Name.

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Daily Bible Thoughts 707: Thursday 18th September 2014.

Daily Bible thoughts 707: Thursday 18th September 2014: Galatians 2:1-10

‘’…those men added nothing to my message.’’ (6)

Paul continues to make the important point that the leaders of the Jerusalem church did not give him a message to preach. Rather, they endorsed the message he had been preaching for some time. Jesus revealed it to him; the church, we might say, rubber-stamped it (1, 2). The gospel Paul preached was not faith plus circumcision (3-5). It was not believe and anything at all. It was a message of grace through faith. Paul states clearly that the leaders of the Jerusalem church recognised his ministry as it stood. They did not demand that he should change his message in any way.  They did not tinker with it; not even in small details. They did not say that he ought to preach circumcision.  They were happy to shake his hand and welcome him as a genuine member of the same church (9), carrying a God-given commission. The insistence on circumcision, as essential to salvation, came from ‘’false brothers’’ who had ‘’inflitrated’’ the ‘’ranks’’ of the church (4). Paul saw this as an attack on ‘’the truth of the gospel’’ and withstood it (5). In asking Paul to ‘’remember the poor’’ (10), the leaders of the Jerusalem were not adding to Paul’s gospel. They were simply underlining the importance of a good work that accompanies the gospel. This is something that saved people do; but it does not save them (Ephesians 2:8-10).

The leaders of the church in Jerusalem recognised that Paul had a specific calling to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter was sent to the Jews. They saw that God was ‘’at work’’ in his ministry (7, 8; see also 1 Corinthians 3:5ff.). In the Christian church, under the gospel umbrella, there are many different preachers with a variety of callings and styles and spheres of operation. It is vital that we can affirm other genuine ministries, even though they may be vastly different from our own.  May God give us eyes that can always see where He is at work and who He is working through. Sadly, it seems to me that in our day there are good Christian men and women who are dismissed because the way they operate is so different to the norm. So long as there is orthodoxy of belief there should be room for flexibility of approach. Let’s be careful that in criticising others we are not wounding God and grieving His Holy Spirit.

Prayer: How amazing Lord that you should work through any of us! I am astounded, and grateful, that you use me!!

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Daily Bible Thoughts 706: Wednesday 17th September 2014.

Daily Bible thoughts 706: Wednesday 17th September 2014: Isaiah 37:21-38

If you doubt that ‘prayer changes things’, read verses 21 and 22 (see also 38), and reconsider. What if he had not prayed? Or what if he had prayed to a false God? ‘’Because you have prayed to me…’’ The blessing comes to those who pray to the Lord.

Often, when we pray, the Lord answers with a word (22-35). As we saw yesterday, the insults of Sennacherib were ultimately against Almighty God (23, 24; see also 4, 17, 28, 29.) This reminds me of the words, ‘’Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’’ (Acts 9:4). Not only was Sennacherib a blasphemer, he was also boastful (24, 25). It was all ‘’I…I…I…’’ What he needed to understand was that he had nothing to boast about. God simply chose to use him as an instrument in His Sovereign purposes. ‘’Haven’t you gotten the news that I’ve been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine and I’m just now making it happen, using you to devastate strong cities, turning them into piles of rubble…’’ The Message. God did not approve of the bad things he did, and He did not make him do them. In fact, the king of Assyria would pay for his wickedness (28, 29). He received a message that the Lord knew his address and a big bill was winging its way through the post. He needed to be taught who was boss. He was going to get a visit. (Do we similarly boast of what we have achieved in Christian work, whilst forgetting that ‘’…God…makes things grow.’’ ? 1 Corinthians 3:7)

Hezekiah was given a confirmatory sign to endorse God’s word: ‘’This year’s crops will be slim pickings, and next year it won’t be much better. But in three years, farming will be back to normal, with regular sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting. What’s left of the people of Judah will put down roots and make a new start.’’  (30, 31) The Message.  The king of Judah was also told that God would defend the city of Jerusalem (33-35). That’s something the real God can do which a dead god can’t! No wonder Sennacherib had got so much success in other places, because there were lifeless deities on sentry duty (11-13). ‘’Don’t worry, he won’t enter this city, won’t let loose a single arrow…’’ The Message.

‘’Because you have prayed to me…’’ Who knows what God will do when we pray to Him? Who could have predicted the outcome described in (36, 37)? It is thought that this may have been a case of bubonic plague running rampantly through the Assyrian camp. Whatever it was, it got Sennacherib back home to Nineveh where two of his sons murdered him ‘’while he was worshipping’’ his own tin-pot, useless god (38; see 7). Who could have conceived of that? But the Sovereign Lord rules all things for His glory and the good of His people.

Prayer: Lord God, I am so glad that you answer prayer. I am encouraged to pray on.

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Daily Bible Thoughts 705: Tuesday 16th September 2014

Daily Bible thoughts 705: Tuesday 16th September 2014: Isaiah 37: 14-20

‘’Take it to the Lord in prayer.’’

It is wonderful to read about Hezekiah spreading out the letter, with all its malicious content, before the Lord. This action was a form of prayer in itself (14)

‘’Probably he literally handed in the letter to God, opening it and laying it down in the Holy Place, as though the responsibility of dealing with its contents no longer devolved upon himself…Let us more habitually hand over our anxieties and cares to God. God calls us to enter into his rest, i.e., to place Himself and his care between us and all that would hurt or annoy.’’ F.B.Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.283.

Hezekiah knew he prayed to a BIG God (16). His God was far bigger than Sennacherib and his Assyrian kingdom. It was David and Goliath all over again, but this ‘David’ saw his ‘Goliath’ in the light of God, and not as compared to himself. Assyria was one kingdom in the world, but the Lord is over them ‘’all’’ (16).Hezekiah recognised that Sennacherib had abused the Lord with his words (17). It wasn’t just the king of Judah and the people who were insulted. There was something deeper and more serious going on.

Faith faces facts (18). It is realistic. It does not bury its head in the sand. Faith is not denial. Hezekiah acknowledged what was correct in what Sennacherib said. But he went on to point out that the reason the gods of these devastated nations couldn’t save them was because they weren’t gods at all. They were dead things with no rescuing power (19). ‘’As in the Psalms, the situation clarified as he prayed (19), and his motive was raised to the highest level (20).’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p. 654. ‘’It’s quite true, O GOD, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. They’ve thrown their gods into the trash and burned them – no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiselled from rock. An end to the no-gods!’’ The Message. There is a huge difference between the Maker of heaven and earth (16) and man-made gods (19).

Hezekiah’s prayer closed with ‘’Hallowed be your name’’ (20). The highest motive in prayer is to see God glorified. True believers can’t stand it when God’s Name is blasphemed (17, 4). May our heart be in all our prayers, and may our heart always be for the honour of the Lord!

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you, the living God, are our shield. We do not look for help from gods our hands have made.

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Daily Bible thoughts 701: Wednesday 10th September 2014:

Psalm 107:10-22

This psalm covers various situations believing people might find themselves in during the course of a lifetime. Whatever comes our way we can turn to God in prayer and find His help.

Here are two further examples. Both have to do with disobedience to God’s Word (11, 17). In both sets of circumstances there is a price to pay for rebellion against God. In the first example it is ‘captivity’ written on the bill (10-16); in the second it is ‘sickness’. We cannot sin as God’s people and think we will get away with it. Someone said that sin in a Christian is never less than serious. It seems that God has set things up so that when we set our faces against Him we experience consequences that drive us back to Him. Then, when we come to Him sincerely, with genuinely repentant hearts, He will be gracious and merciful to us, rescuing us from dire situations, and putting songs of praise to God in our hearts and mouths (15, 21, and 22). Haven’t you proved the essential truth of this psalm over and again?

In (10-16) the psalmist describes people whose circumstances have become confined and constricted because of rebellion against God’s Word (11). He may have in mind a literal imprisonment or enslavement, as happened to the Israelites at various points in their history. But there is also a spiritual darkness and bondage that can come upon people who fight against the truth. They resist the liberating knowledge that would otherwise set them free (John 8:31, 32). How miserable it is to be out of step with God and know that you are. Yet God will even deliver rebels if they genuinely call out to Him for mercy. ‘’In the garden (Gn.3) it was the purpose of the serpent to make the word of God seem unnaturally restrictive, an unwarranted denial of human liberty. Too late the man and his wife discovered that it was only by binding themselves to obey God’s word that they enjoyed liberty (cf. Ps. 119:45)…How often divine mercy protects us from the results of our own false choices we shall never know, but sometimes, with equal love, the barrier is allowed to fall and we experience the bitter bondage we have brought on ourselves. But even then we can pray (13) and find that…grace responds to prayer in deliverance (14-16).’’ J.A. Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.558.

As already noted, (17-22) deal with a similar situation, but here the outcome is one of suffering ‘’affliction’’ (17). This may refer to physical, mental or spiritual illness. As Motyer says, sin is our all-time ‘’own goal’’. Through it we bring great damage to ourselves. But when these people cry to God, He will send ‘’forth his word’’ and heal them (20). So God’s Word brings judgment on those who disobey it, but healing to those who accept and believe and obey it. ‘’Just as the source of our spiritual plight is rejection of the word (11), so the return to spiritual wholeness (20) is through the return of the word into our lives.’’ J.A. Motyer: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p. 558.

‘’When the heart is quiet in God, the eye looks out on the scenes of nature and life around it, and detects everywhere, even where to ordinary men every appearance seems in the contrary direction, the loving-kindness of the Lord. As life advances, and one climbs the hill, one is able to review the path by which life has been directed and controlled. We observe with the wisdom which we have obtained by long experience, and we understand God’s reasons for many rebuffs, denials, and bitter disappointments. I believe that we shall one day turn to Him, and say, when we know all, ‘’Thou couldst not have done otherwise. We would not have wished otherwise.’’ ‘’ F.B. Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.233.

Prayer: Lord, I need your healing Word today.

 

 

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