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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 734: Monday 27th October 2014:

Isaiah 45:1-7

It is remarkable that these words were spoken at least a century before their fulfilment. It is also jaw-dropping to think that they were addressed to a pagan ruler. This man’s great success was in fact the Lord’s success. We often think today of God opening doors of opportunity for service/witness to Christian people(Colossians 4:3; Revelation 3:7), but this thought was first used in relation to the job of a man who was an outsider to true faith (1b).God has the right to use people we would not choose. He does not need our permission to add people to His workforce we don’t approve. He doesn’t come to us for references. He will even employ unbelievers to get His work done (4, 5). But all that He did through Cyrus He did a.) for the sake of His people ‘’Israel’’ (4a), and b.) above all, for the glorifying of His own Name (3b, 5a, 6). This wasn’t fundamentally about Cyrus, but about the Lord Himself. Remember, it’s never about us; it’s always about God.

The reference to ‘’treasures of darkness’’ (3) is to those which were most carefully hidden, being the most precious. In conquering Croesus and Babylon Cyrus acquired inestimable wealth. As far as God was concerned, the high point of his career was the release of Israel (4, 13) but it is unlikely that he saw it like that (55:8). We find it hard to ‘get on the same page’ as God.

‘’Over and over in these remaining chapters of the book of Isaiah, God teaches us about Himself, about His greatness, His uniqueness, His sovereignty over all the earth. We need to let these chapters enlarge our vision of God and increase our love and reverence for Him. Isaiah isn’t simply piling up poetic phrases here; he is teaching us about the most important subject in the universe and in our lives: the subject of God.’’ Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, pp.1044. 1045. (By the way, the intriguing comment in verse 7 is a Hebrew way of saying that The Lord is Sovereign over all that is. He is in absolute control.)

God had two purposes in using Cyrus. The first had to do with the near future (1-4). It concerned the restoration of Israel, as we have seen. His second, and more long-term plan had to do with making Himself known. In the first place this revelation would be to Cyrus (3), and then to the whole earth (6). This second purpose is still being worked out today through the church.

It’s been observed that if God would do all this for unbelieving Cyrus, how much more He will do it for Christ, His true Anointed One, and for His followers. As we go out on Jesus’s mission, the Lord Himself goes before us and removes obstacles from our path. Look at church history. Consider what God did for a handful of despised and persecuted Christ-followers in the years following Jesus’ death! In country after country God has been opening doors for the gospel, and He will continue to do so until Jesus returns. The calling is ours, but any success is always His!

Prayer: Enlarge my heart’s vision of you Lord; clear the mist from the windscreen of my soul, that I may see you more clearly.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 733: Friday 24th October 2014:

 Isaiah 44:24-28

These words provide an introduction to the next chapter.

The Bible teaches that there is one creator God and He ‘’alone’’ (24) made the Universe. He didn’t sub-contract it out. He didn’t require any help. Although there is no specific mention of Genesis in this passage, we know from the first book in the Bible that God spoke and things came to be. It is interesting that we see that same pattern in the final verses of Isaiah 44. God’s Word is a creative Word.

  • He gives His Words to His ‘’servants’’/ ‘’messengers’’ and then ‘’fulfils’’ them (26a). It’s not that they can say any old thing that comes into their heads and God will do it for them. True prophets (as opposed to false ones: verse 25) hear from God, and He then does what He has said through their mouths. At the same time, He will thwart the work of those who are false. When God says that He ‘’overthrows the learning of the wise’’ (25) He is referring to worldly wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 1:19-21 and 3:18-20). He will expose it for the empty thing it is.
  • God promised again and again to restore and repopulate Jerusalem (26b). That is what He said would happen, and it did. May God speak a word of ‘population explosion’ over His church this day! If He speaks it happens. Surveying the church landscape in the western world, we know that there are churches that need inhabiting; there are new churches to be ‘’built’’; there are ‘’ruins’’ to be ‘restored’. God only has to command it and it will be!
  • What God had done before by His Word He would do again (27). At the Exodus He had commanded the Red Sea to part, and it happened. There was going to be a new ‘exodus’ in which He would bring His people home to Judah and Jerusalem. Every barrier and obstacle in the way was going to be overcome. He would ‘’dry up’’ any figurative waters in the way of His people.
  • All of this would happen: the captives would return across the desert to their homeland; and that home would be restored, rebuilt and re-populated, because God was going to raise up a Persian Emperor named Cyrus to get the job facilitated (28). The Lord was going to employ him for His own purposes. (See 45:4 and 41:25). God foretold this , and, of course, it happened!

One final thought: verse 28 pictures Cyrus saying essentially what God says in (26b; see Ezra 1:1-4), and what God wants happens. What God decreed, Cyrus did. When God’s Word incubates in our hearts, and faith grows; when we declare it, lining up our words with God’s Word, then powerful and creative things take place. I’m not suggesting that we can speak anything we like into existence. But when our words line up with God’s Word mighty things happen. Who of us has truly begun to understand the power in our Bibles?!! May that power be unleashed through lives and lips that are in line with Scripture.

Prayer: Help me Lord to be so immersed in your Word that I live and speak in agreement with its truth

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Daily Bible thoughts 732: Thursday 23rd October 2014:

 Psalm 108:1-5

This psalm is made up of parts of two other psalms. Verses 1-5 correspond to Psalm 57:7-11; for verses 6-13 see Psalm 60:5-12. Someone pointed out that the Edomite crisis reflected in Psalm 60 was probably not the last David heard from that quarter. In some later critical moment David drew on his earlier psalmody and moulded and shaped it anew for fresh needs.

The worldwide vision in the Old Testament is one of its notable features (3, 5b). This outlook doesn’t belong only to the New Testament era. I am reading a book at the moment called, ‘The mission of God’s people’ by Christopher Wright. It is about the Biblical doctrine of mission, and much of its teaching is drawn from the Old Testament. David’s desire and intention was to glorify God ‘’among the nations’’ and ‘’among the peoples’’. His prayer was that God’s glory would be ‘’over all the earth’’. Indeed, his vision was not only as wide as the world, but as high as ‘’the heavens’’ (5a). Back in Genesis 12, Abraham was called to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:3) and that missionary pulse can be felt throughout the Old Testament. There is a missionary/evangelistic aspect to our praise/worship. Preaching the gospel itself is a form of praising the Lord. ‘’I’m thanking you, GOD, out in the streets, singing your praises in town and country.’’ The Message. David Watson, writing about the day of Pentecost, said, ‘’A praising church preaches to answer questions raised by its praise.’’

God’s ‘’great’’ love and expansive faithfulness (4) will give anyone cause for song. The first stanza (1-5) of this three stanza psalm hinges on the reality of God’s unchanging love. But we do not always feel like singing. Reminding yourself of great doctrinal truth, such as that expressed in (4) can stir you to sing again. It can stoke the fires. But most of all, you need a ‘’steadfast’’ heart (1) to continue being a music maker to God through all the days of your life. Such a heart causes you to say with determination: ‘’I will…I will…I will…I will…’’ You make a commitment to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. ‘’I’m ready, God, so ready, ready from head to toe. Ready to sing, ready to raise a God-song: ‘’Wake, soul! Wake, lute! Wake up, you sleepyhead sun!’’ The Message. It seems like David is up and about even before the sunrise, keen to get on with worshipping God. You certainly need a ‘’steadfast’’ heart to get you out of bed that early in the morning. David’s ‘quiet time’ wasn’t all that quiet it appears. But it was ‘quite a time’! He made so much noise he woke up the dawn!! There is no rule in the Bible about having to get up early for personal devotions. Not everyone is a ‘morning person’. That said, there is something special about the early morning, and many of the great Christian leaders through the centuries have kept David’s company in the early hours.

Prayer: Lord, I want to sing to you and of you always, not necessarily because I will always feel like it, but because you are worthy.

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Daily Bible thoughts 731: Wednesday 22nd October 2014:

 Galatians 4:8-20

‘’In the egg, when first laid, there is a tiny point of life amid the thick, viscous fluid; but this gradually increases, while the other diminishes, and at last there is hardly a trace of this left, and the chick is formed, the egg-shell is broken, and the tiny feathered thing steps forth. The chick is formed in the shell.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.432

It is sad when you see people make good progress in the Christian life, and then start to regress (11). This is so painful for a genuine Christian leader. ‘’I am afraid that all my hard work among you has gone up in a puff of smoke.’’ The Message. That feeling is hard to take. Authentic ministry can be like childbirth (19). You ‘labour’ to see people become increasingly Christ-like, but this work can be excruciating. It’s never more heart-breaking than when you see people go back to their old ways. Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth. The Message. Pray for Christian leaders. They carry burdens (and wounds) that don’t always show on the surface. They must persevere through great disappointments. Remember this and determine that you will keep them in your prayers, and not insensitively and unnecessarily add to their ‘load’.

There was a time when the Galatian believers were unbelievers (8). This is true of us all. We can look back to when we ‘’did not know God’’. When Paul says, ‘’But now that you know God – or rather are known by God…’’ (9), he is underlining God’s initiative in salvation; His sovereign choice of them. This always precedes our decision to move towards Him. In their pre-Christian days the Galatians were in slavery to idols. In going back to the law, Paul saw them as returning to a form of slavery (9, 10; see also 3). This wasn’t a palatable thing to say. It wasn’t a ‘sermon’ the Galatians wanted to hear. It wasn’t likely to get him an invitation to come back to their church!But Paul would not pull any punches with the gospel itself at stake. The false teachers, who had seen good success with the Galatians, flattered them for their own purposes (17). No-one could ever properly accuse Paul of such an approach. ‘’And now have I suddenly become your enemy simply by telling you the truth? I can’t believe it. Those heretical teachers go to great lengths to flatter you, but their motives are rotten.’’ The Message.

At the core of this passage we see the apostle himself as a living illustration of Romans 8:28. Can good come out of ‘’an illness’’? (14). It did in Paul’s case. It made it possible for him to preach the gospel to the Galatians. (It is thought Paul may have had an eye condition: 4:15; see also 6:11). God was working for Paul’s good. The Galatians treated him with such love and care. He was also working for the Galatians’ good. They heard the gospel through Paul’s physical problem. It can be argued that God was working, too, for the greater God of the many who would later read and benefit from Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches – ourselves included! An illness can have a ‘’because’’ attached to it. In itself it is not a good thing, but God can use it for good and great purposes. ‘’You were well aware that the reason I ended up preaching to you was that I was physically broken, and so, prevented from continuing my journey, I was forced to stop with you. That is how I came to preach to you.’’ The Message. But oh the pain the great apostle must have gone through, to be so loved, and then later on so rejected. Let’s determine that, as far as it lies with us, we will not cause such grief to the leaders Christ, the ascended Lord, has gifted to His church (Ephesians 4).

Prayer: Thank you Sovereign Lord that, although you may allow bad things to happen, you can be trusted to bring good things out of them.

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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 728: Friday 17th October 2014:

Isaiah 44:1-5

Here is something for you to do: ‘’…now listen…’’ (1). Don’t switch off the phone! Always stay alert to hear (and act on) God’s voice. Position yourself to be in a place where you will be most able to receive God’s communications. Remember that ‘’if you want to meet God everywhere you must meet Him somewhere; and if you want to find Him all the time you must find Him some time.’’ If you know someone, and their phone is always off, or on silent, it can be frustrating. You want to get a message through to them, but they are not in a position to hear from you. Don’t be like that where God is concerned.

Here are some things for you to know:

  • You are God’s ‘’servant’’ (1, 2, 5). So if you hear His instructions you will want to convert them into actions. ‘’Do whatever he tells you.’’ (John 2:3). You are His possession; not just His employee. ‘’That one will write on his hand ‘GOD’s property’… The Message (5).
  • You are part of His elect. He has ‘’chosen’’ you (1, 2, 5): ‘’Israel, my personal choice.’’ The Message. (1).
  • You are His creation (2). Your life has great significance. You are made in His image. You matter to God. You have a purpose in the world. You are not a ‘waste of space’.You are the product of choice, not chance.
  • God doesn’t want you to be afraid (2). He doesn’t want your life to be ruled by a spirit of fear. Why would it be when you have such a good Master?
  • The Lord will help you (2). If your help is going to come from the Maker of heaven and earth you have to say: ‘What help! What a Helper!!’
  • The Lord will enable you to become what He calls you to be: ‘’Jeshurun’’ (2) means ‘upright’. God’s purpose is to make us holy and He will help each of us to get there.

Here is something for you to believe (3-5. For similar passages of promise see also 32:14-18, 35:1-4; 41:17-20).I would summarise it like this: it is that God wants to pour out His Spirit in reviving, renewing, refreshing blessing. Further, He wants to bless your children and all your descendants. If there is a condition to the promise, it is probably that God looks for ‘thirsty’ hearts (3a). Compare this to what we saw yesterday in 43:22 about the importance of earnest spiritual desire. By and large, I think it’s true to say that you tend to get what you go for in the Christian life. Of course, Isaiah was writing about the blessings to be poured out on the returning exiles, but He was also looking forward to the era of the Messiah (the time in which we now live) in which many people from all over the world will become believers. Verse 5 seems to suggest that many who are not Israelites will say, ‘’I belong to the LORD’’ and will call themselves by His ‘’Name’’ (see Isaiah 43:7, Psalm 87:4-6). This very day, as we live in a dry and thirsty land (spiritually speaking) let’s cry out to God for the outpouring of His Spirit and ask for many new Christians to ‘’spring up like grass in a meadow’’ (4). There is a plentiful supply of God’s Spirit available to the desperate soul. May we see an abundant crop of growth in the church!

‘’The book of Acts traces part of this current of life through the thirsty land’’. Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.658.

Prayer: ‘’Come Lord Jesus, pour out your Spirit we pray.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 727: Thursday 16th October 2014:

Isaiah 43: 14-28

Pride goes before a fall, and God is in the habit of pricking pride-filled balloons. Our boast should be in the Lord. Everything else we take pride in will be exposed as empty (14, 15). The Babylonians, who had made fugitives of many, would themselves become ‘fugitives’, sailing in the ships in which they had taken such great pride. We reap what we sow.

Never forget who God is and what He has done (16, 17). We see the God of the exodus in (16-21) who is going to do a ‘’new thing’’ (19). He is going to do again what He has done before. But it will be no straightforward ‘repeat performance.’ There will be a second Exodus, bringing God’s people through the desert from Babylon. This will be a greater Exodus in which God’s wonders in the desert will outmatch even those of the Red Sea. It’s been pointed out that for the real fulfilment of these words we must look beyond the modest homecomings from Babylon in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., although these are definitely in view, to the exodus which Jesus accomplished at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31; see 1 Corinthians 10:4, 11), and which alone justifies the language of this passage. When God delivers us; when we experience His rescuing power, it is in order that we may glorify Him (21): ‘’…the people I made especially for myself, a people custom-made to praise me.’’ The Message.

In spite of all God’s goodness to them, His people had not lovingly brought the prayer and worship to Him that He so richly deserved (22-24). ‘’It wasn’t that I asked that much from you. I didn’t expect expensive presents. But you didn’t even do the minimum – so stingy with me, so closefisted. Yet you haven’t been stingy with your sins. You’ve been plenty generous with them – and I’m fed up.’’ The Message. (Prayer can be hard work. What do we know, in our prayer meetings and personal prayer lives, of ‘wearying’ ourselves for God? Are we prepared for the hard work of prayer?) ‘’Israel’s devastating response to divine ardour is a yawn of apathy.’’ Derek Kidner: The ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.658

Ironically, God was the One who could ‘blot out’ the sins of His people, and would do if only they would confess and forsake sin. The wrongdoing of this people was deeply ingrained (25-28). ‘’So make your case against me. Let’s have this out. Make your arguments. Prove you’re in the right. Your original ancestor started the sinning, and everyone since has joined in.’’ The Message.

Prayer: ‘’Lord, it is my chief complaint, that my love is weak and faint. Yet I love thee, and adore; O for grace to love thee more.’’ (From the hymn: ‘Hark my soul, it is the Lord.’)

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