Ponder and remember! (2, 4)
We can’t see it in our English translations of the Bible, but this is an acrostic poem. Each line begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a song of praise to God for His faithfulness to His covenant people. The psalmist shows that what God says He also does. His Words and His Works always go together. We Christians know this even better than the ancient Israelites. How thankful we should be.
With Christmas day now over for another year, we will start to turn our attention to the next 365 days and thoughts of what they may hold. Before doing that, however, why not take some time during the next week to ponder and remember? Look in the ‘rear view mirror’. Think about what God has done in your life during the past year. In fact, you might like to deliberately set aside some time to mentally work your way through the now disappearing twelve month period and thank God for specific blessings. When you try to ‘’count’’ them and ‘’name them one by one’’ you will find that you are genuinely ‘surprised’ at what the Lord has done. Think about it and thank Him for it! Remember the wonderful miracles He has done (2-4a; 7a); His manifestations of power (6). Consider His generous provision (5a), giving you far more than you could ask or imagine (6b). Think about what His faithful truth has meant to you (7b, 10). Rejoice in His covenant (5b), meditating on the redemptive sacrifice at the heart of it (9). As you look back, and turn all this over in your mind, your heart will surely burn, and you will give your God fervent praise (1, 10) and revere His ‘’awesome’’ (9b) Name. (See also 10). This year may have had its ‘ups and downs’. Most of them do. But as you reflect, you will surely come to the conclusion that God has been so good to you. That’s how I feel anyway, and I’m deeply grateful.
Here are some words from this psalm as found in The Message. (If you get chance to read the entire psalm in this modern version of the Bible you will almost certainly find it rewarding to do so.)
‘’Hallelujah! I give thanks to GOD with everything I’ve got – Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation. GOD’s works are so great, worth A lifetime of study – endless enjoyment! Splendour and beauty mark his craft; His generosity never gives out. His miracles are his memorial – This GOD of Grace, this GOD of Love…All his products are guaranteed to last…’’
‘’Probably this will be our employment in eternity; ever passing into deeper and fuller appreciation of the works of God, and breaking into more rapturous songs.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.235.
‘’…the unmerited grace and passionate love which flowed out first in redemption, brought the Lord’s people within the embrace of his covenant where they experience his providential care in daily needs, his power over all the power of their enemies, and his word by which they live.’’ J.A. Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.561.
Prayer: Thank you so much for the blessing of belonging to your covenant people; for redemption with all it means; and for your constant care and power at work in my life.
Isaiah 59: 1-8
The unavoidably sad truth is that sin separates. The vertical dimension of sin is the most serious of all. Sin separates us from God. But as the passage progresses the horizontal aspect comes ever more clearly into view: sin separates man from man. Isaiah highlights the social injustices the people of his day had been guilty of. In Romans 3:15-17 Paul quotes from verses 7 and 8 to show that everyone is guilty before God (even the Jews themselves).
‘’Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt…They trust in illusion. They tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies…They compete in the race to do evil and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them. They know nothing about peace and less than nothing about justice.’’ The Message. Sin hurts God and harms people. It divides us from our Maker, and from one another.
But there is another truth that we have to face. It is that sin can separate our prayers (and even fasting, as we saw yesterday) from God. If we cherish sin in our hearts the Lord will not listen. However much we love religious exercises, our prayers are likely to be ineffective if we refuse to wash our ‘muddy’ hands. The people in Isaiah’s day were tempted to lay the blame on God for their difficulties, saying that His arm was ‘’too short’’ to help them or His ear ‘’too dull’’ to hear (1). ‘’But to blame God is always wrong. Whenever God seems distant and His blessings few, we need to look to ourselves to find the cause: it is our own iniquities that separate us from God.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1063.
‘’If God seems far away, guess who moved!’’
‘’God’s hand is unable to work when our hands are defiled with sin. Our prayers accomplish nothing (Ps.66:18), and His power is absent from our lives and ministries.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word, p.488
‘’Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated – he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up-he can still hear. There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.’’ The Message.
It was to bridge that unbridgeable chasm between God and people that Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. His cross is the ‘Bridge’ over that immense gulf. Have you walked across it from darkness to light, and from death to life? You will find there is no other route.
Prayer: Help me Lord God to put down my favourite sins and cling only to Jesus’ cross.
‘’You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.’’ (4b)
There is nothing wrong with fasting. It is part of the normal Christian life. Jesus showed this in His ‘Sermon on the Mount’, saying, ‘’When you fast…’’ (Matthew 6:16). There is no ‘if’ about it; it’s ‘when’. (See also Matthew 6: 2 and 5. Jesus expected His disciples to give, pray and fast. If you want to look at this subject more deeply, I suggest reading John Piper’s excellent book, ‘A hunger for God.’)
However, there is a way of fasting that is totally wrong and Isaiah 58 points this out. Someone who fasts can ‘’seem eager’’ (2b) spiritually, and we may be impressed with their intensity. It as ‘’as if’’ they were very saintly. But God has ‘x-ray’ vision and sees past the appearance of things. ‘’ When you strive to be a spiritual person, you fight the constant battle of ‘’ritual versus reality.’’ It is much easier to go through the external activities of religion than it is to love God from your heart and let that love touch the lives of others.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488. Here are three ways in which your fasting can be ineffective:
- If you do not turn from your sin. God had been calling again and again to His people through Isaiah; pleading with them to repent. The majority would not. You cannot expect fasting, important as it is, to cut any ice with heaven while you are holding on to your favourite sins. Psalm 66:18 provides an important comment on the whole subject.
- If you still continue to do it your way (3b, 13). This is closely related to the above point. If you go to church on a Sunday (or give yourself to some other special set aside time to seek God), but return home to live as you did before, going your own way and doing your own will, don’t expect any prayer and fasting to bring about the desired change in your circumstances. It doesn’t work like that. Without submission to the Lordship of God you are merely going through an empty religious ritual. Fasting was intended to be a means of self-humbling before God. ‘’The orthodox faith was popular in Judah at that time, and people enjoyed learning the Word and even participating in fasts (vv.2-3). But when the services were over, the worshippers went back to exploiting people and pleasing themselves.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488.
- If you do not care about issues of injustice in the world and take appropriate action; serving the poor and needy as you have opportunity.
‘’The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.’’ The Message.
That is all negative. However there is a way in which we can be ‘’heard on high’’ as we pray and fast. We should not miss this point. Those who genuinely seek God with fasting, turning from their sinful ways and their own wilful paths; serving all around them who need their help; such people will experience immense blessing from God (6-14). As Wiersbe says, your life can become a ‘’watered garden, not a dismal swamp.’’
Prayer: I choose not to give up on fasting, but to give up on sin and self-pleasing.
Isaiah 57:14-21
This short passage preaches the gospel. It declares that there can be ‘’peace’’ (19) for both Jews and Gentiles. These are words picked up by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:17. He sees them as applying to the preaching of the good news by Jesus through the church. It’s a message of peace with God made possible by Jesus; and peace with all others who have peace with their Creator through Christ. They are united in Him, in His church: built into ‘’a holy temple in the Lord’’ (Ephesians 2:21). This ‘temple’ is made up of people who are reconciled to God and to each other.
But these verses in Isaiah 57 also imply that not everyone will experience God’s peace. You can’t stay ‘’wicked’’ (20, 21) and enjoy it. Spiritual healing and ‘’comfort’’ (18) are for those who repent. As someone said, ‘’The gospel is bad news before it is good news’’. The bad news is that we are born under the judgment of God because of our sin, and if we do not turn away from wrong we cannot be saved.
Here are two complementary truths about God that seem paradoxical: He is transcendent (15a). He is ‘’the high and lofty One’’ who is so far above us He is beyond our reach. Yet He is also immanent (15b). He is close to us; closer even than breathing. And it is possible for a humbly repentant person to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. Such a person who is truly sorry for his or her sins can know God.
By the time Paul quoted verse 19, something significant had taken place. Jesus had been crucified, and the cross makes all the difference!
‘’There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode; an offering and a sacrifice, A Holy Spirit’s energies; an Advocate with God.’’
Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you made a way where there was no way.
Although we know that we all have to die, we still sometimes wonder why certain people die; or why they seem, from our perspective, to die prematurely. So here is an interesting angle: do we ever consider what God has taken them from or is sparing them from? Do we pause to think about where He is taking them to? We can be more aware of our loss than their gain (1, 2; see Philippians 1:21-23). These words flow on from words about the ‘blind’ religious leaders, and we need to think about them in that context: ‘’They all look after themselves, grabbing whatever’s not nailed down. ‘’Come,’’ they say,’’let’s have a party. Let’s go out and get drunk!’’ And tomorrow, more of the same: ‘’Let’s live it up!’’ Meanwhile, right-living people die and no one gives them a thought.’’ The Message. You can see that godly people were being removed from a situation that would grieve their souls (see 2 Peter 2:7). They were also being spared many ‘’evil’’ experiences that were to befall a people who were under God’s judgment (3-13); a people who, in the main, had turned to other gods. They had adopted many of the evil, idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, the original inhabitants of the land. A lot of these religious practices involved sexual fertility rites, which were conducted under oaks and other spreading trees (5). Their spiritual adultery showed up in sexual immorality.
Our ‘idols’ may not be images and statues of the ‘’Molech’’ (9) variety. However, if we give ourselves in any way to that which is not God, we will suffer. There will be unwanted consequences. Calvin said that our hearts are idol making factories.Here are four good reasons not to worship other gods:
- There will be a negative impact on your children (5). Some people literally sacrificed their children to Molech. Some Bible scholars think these verses relate to the reign of King Manasseh of Judah. It was under his reign that Isaiah died. Manasseh was the wicked son of the godly Hezekiah. He persecuted the innocent (2 Kings 21:16) and even sacrificed his own son in the fire (2 Kings 21:6). But there are more ways than one to sacrifice your children. When we set them a bad example by bowing down to the gods of this age we are in danger of leading them down the road to Hell. What do our young ones see us living for? Yes, it is a challenging question!
- You will have a deeply unsatisfying and frustrating life, even as you try to cram it full with meaning (10). You will live to the soundtrack of ‘’I can’t get no satisfaction’’, whether or not you care to admit it. ‘’You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different, and never see what a waste it all is. You’ve always found strength for the latest fad, never got tired of trying new religions.’’ The Message.
- There will be the judgment of God upon your works. ‘’Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense, leaving me high and dry, forgetting you ever knew me? Because I don’t yell and make a scene do you think I don’t exist? I’ll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous’ attempts at religion, and expose the absurdity of it all.’’ The Message. Because God had ‘’long been silent’’ (11) – that is, He had withheld His judgment, the people had ceased to fear Him. But the truth is that we will all face judgment, and the godly and ungodly will face divergent destinies (13b). You can’t be ‘saved’ if you trust in a false god.
- You will find your gods fail you when you most need them. They will not; cannot answer prayer (13a). ‘’Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods: A good wind will blow them away. They’re smoke, nothing but smoke.’’ The Message.
Prayer: Thank you that to be with Jesus is better by far. Help us to believe it.
Isaiah 55: 8-13
‘Let it snow…’ (And let it rain too!) God doesn’t think or work as we do. He is God, so His thoughts and ways are inevitably ‘’higher’’ than ours (8, 9): ‘’As the heavens are higher than the earth’’. So the question is, ‘How will these high thoughts and ways come down to affect us at ‘ground-level’? The answer is, ‘By means of God’s ‘’word’’ ‘(10, 11). His ‘’thoughts’’ and ‘’ways’’ are revealed in His Word. That Word is like ‘’the rain and the snow’’ which falls ‘’down from heaven’’ and is productive in this world, causing growth and fruitfulness. It may seem to be wasted, but it isn’t.There is a huge, indeed immeasurable, gulf between God’s infinite Mind, and our puny, finite minds. How can that be bridged? By means of God’s refreshing Word. The Bible doesn’t tell us everything there is to know, but it does reveal everything God wants us to know; all that we need to know in order to be saved by Him.
So, we can be encouraged by these thoughts:
- God’s prophetic Word is effective: God was going to restore the exiled captives among His people (12, 13). He had said this again and again through Isaiah. What He had said, that He would do. In fact, from our perspective we can say ‘This He has done!’ In these verses we can also catch a glimpse of the ultimate coming of God’s Kingdom, and this He will do. God’s speaking and His working cannot be separated; His Word is as good as His act.
- God’s written Word is effective: It is like rain and snow falling on our hearts, changing the inner (and outer) landscape, making us fruitful and beautiful. People don’t always like rain and snow, and as God’s Word falls on us it can sometimes feel like being caught in unpleasant weather. But His Word goes to work on us and changes us – even when we are not aware of anything much happening.
- God’s preached Word is effective: Generations of preachers have drawn strength from these words. They have visited this well; this oasis in the wilderness and found refreshment. How many times have we heard these words quoted in prayer meetings? They are true. We can count on them. We may not see results from our preaching. Or, we may not see all possible results. But results there will be if we are preaching God’s Word and not using a ‘snow machine’. It’s got to be the real thing.
‘’Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.’’ The Message.
Prayer: How I thank you Lord that your Word is ‘’living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates…it judges…’’ (Hebrews 4:12). Thank you that it works effectively in our lives to change us into the likeness of Christ.
Psalm 109:21-31
The psalms show that we can be ‘honest to God’.
This is a vulnerable prayer (22): There are times when we need to admit that we’ve been cut and we are bleeding. If you attempt to suppress the hurt it will come out in some other way. The best thing we can do with our wounds is to bring them into the presence of God for His healing. ‘’Do thy friends, despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer? In His arms He’ll take and shield thee. Thou wilt find a solace there.’’ I wonder if the writer of that much-loved hymn had this psalm in mind when he wrote those beautiful words. As we saw when we looked at the first part of the psalm, there were people who were being bad to David, when he had only ever done good to them. No wonder he was in pain. This was a gross injustice.
This is an intense prayer (24): I read about the ‘Full gospel church’ in Seoul , Korea. At the time it was internationally known as the largest church in the world. They had a place called ‘Prayer Mountain’ – a prayer centre up in the hills behind the city. I remember reading that when the Christians in that church had a problem, many of them would go to ‘prayer mountain’ for a few days. They would book themselves into a rather spartan room, with not much in the way of furniture (or heating!). And they would pray and fast, and come away with answers. Some Christians today look askance when you mention fasting, but Jesus did say ‘’When you fast…’’ (Matthew 6:16), and it remains a legitimate and important form of prayer. Somebody once said to me, ‘It’s your body praying.’ There come times when you may need to set yourself to ‘pray through to breakthrough’ and fasting may be part of that.
This is a prayer for God’s glory (27): David desired a work of God that would be for the glory of God. He wanted the Lord to intervene and for everyone to see that He had done this. ‘’Then they’ll know that your hand is in this, that you, GOD, have been at work.’’ The Message. ‘’His desire is not simply for a solution but for such a solution as is unmistakably an act of God and a public vindication of spiritual reality (31).’’ J.A. Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary, p.560
This is a confident prayer (28-31): David had full expectation that God would do what he was asking of Him.
‘’For the believer, in every situation, another set of factors operates. However numerous and vicious foes may be, however trying and disastrous our circumstances, there is always But you, O Sovereign Lord…’’ J.A. Motyer: ‘New Bible Commentary, p.560.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that when the outlook is gloomy the ‘up look’ is always bright.
Ephesians 1:15-23
It is a remarkable thought that Jesus has been made to be ‘’head over everything for the church.’’ (Underlining mine.) He has been put in that topmost position for our sakes, and this has application to prayer.
Many years ago, when I was a pastor at ‘Bridge Street Church’ in Leeds, I arrived early one evening for a men’s meeting. I found the door to the cellar open, and there was a light on. So I made my way down the steps to see who might be there. But before I set eyes on anyone, I heard the voice of the church’s head usher. He was a lovely, practical man, whose heart was in serving the Lord. What came to my ears was the sound of someone pouring out his heart to His Saviour. I beat a hasty retreat. I felt I was trespassing on sacred ground. I probably learned more about him in those moments than at any other time. When you overhear someone praying, you feel their heartbeat. What’s that saying? ‘’What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more.’’
In today’s reading we stumble across Paul on his knees, and we get to take his pulse. I find it challenging to think how persistent Paul was in both praise and prayer (16, 17: ‘’I have not stopped giving thanks…I keep asking…’’ ) Paul saw positive qualities in the believers he was writing to (or, rather he had ‘’heard’’ about these characteristics) and He thanked the triune God who was shaping their lives and prayed for yet more of His transforming activity. Do you remember what I said yesterday about the Trinitarian format? Well, here it is again. The Son, the Father and the Spirit are mentioned in (16, 17). So what did Paul ask?
- That they would know God better (17): He knew that this could only happen by virtue of ‘’wisdom and revelation’’ imparted by the Spirit;
- That they would have insight into the future God has prepared for them (18a): He prays for heart knowledge of this ‘’hope’’;
- That they would know how rich they are because of God (18b – OR, how rich God is because of them; see Deut.32:9. It is not totally clear whether this ‘’glorious inheritance’’ is ours or His. Of course, both realities are true, regardless of the meaning here.)
- That they would know the power available to the church (19-23). Remarkably, this ‘’incomparably great power for us who believe’’ is like the power that raised Jesus from the dead and put Him on the throne of the universe. ‘’All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.’’ The Message. Remember that God gave Jesus all this power and control ‘’for the church’’.
‘’Thou art coming to a King; large petitions with thee bring. For His grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.’’
Prayer: Thank you Lord for the stupendous power available to us.
Ephesians 1:3-14
In the Greek language, this is one long sentence, having no punctuation. It moves at breakneck speed, you might say. It’s been likened to a golden chain made up of many links, and to a snowball rolling downhill, picking up pace and volume as it moves. Paul is spouting praise like a fountain, and you can imagine his scribe struggling to keep up with all the words pouring out of him. The apostle is ‘’lost in wonder, love and praise.’’ He stands amazed at so great a salvation.
There is a Trinitarian structure to this opening sentence – something we regularly find in Paul’s writings. We will encounter the format again. What the Father planned in eternity past; whatever God the Son made possible at the cross; that is what the Holy Spirit makes real in our lives. He has been described as the ‘Executor of the Godhead’.
- God the Father chose us (4, 5): There is a mystery to the doctrine of ‘election’, but it is taught in the Bible, and God has given us ‘’wisdom and understanding’’ (8), even if we can’t dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’. ‘’He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ…’’ The Message. It gives enormous security to know that we are God’s wanted, dearly-loved children. His great purpose to save us is all for His glory (6, 12, and 14). The plan of salvation flows from God’s mind and heart and results in His honour. It is also a purpose of ‘’grace’’ (6, 7). In fact this can be called ‘’glorious grace’’ (7) and it has been ‘’lavished’’ on us (8). Our salvation does not depend on any merit in us, but upon God’s free gift. God’s purpose embraces Jews (‘’we’’ 11, 12) and Gentiles (‘’you also’’ 13).
- God the Son bought us (5-7, 3): Not only is this passage Trinitarian in shape; it is also Christ-centred. Paul emphasises by repetition that all the blessings God wants us to enjoy are ‘’in Christ’’. Imagine taking a child into a toy shop and saying, ‘You can have not just one thing but everything!’ Yet that is nothing compared to what God gives in and through His Son (3). Jesus paid an unimaginable price for us to enjoy this ‘everything’ (7). God’s ultimate purpose is a new creation: a fully Christ-centred universe (9, 10). As David Pawson once said, it will be ‘’a universe in which even the stars are Christians.’’
- God the Spirit sealed us (13, 14): The Holy Spirit is described by Paul as ‘’a deposit’’. A deposit is not the full amount you are going to pay for something, but it is part of it, and a promise that at the right time you will hand over the rest! How do we know we are going to heaven? We have a little bit of heaven inside us already in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is the life of the future already invading the present. We carry around inside our mortal bodies a foretaste of an immortal future. We have ‘heaven on the way to heaven’. In terms of the seal: you might go to market in those days and buy something, but perhaps you couldn’t take it home with you there and then. So you would take your ring, dip it in wax and seal the item. In so doing you were identifying what you had bought as being your own. You were saying, ‘This is mine. I’ve paid for it. I can’t take it home with me just now, but I will come back for it eventually.’
‘’God saves sinners not to solve their problems but to bring glory to Himself (vv.6, 12, 14; 3:21)’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.773.
Prayer: Lord, what can I say? I want to join Paul in his breathless worship.
Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com 