12/14/12. Isaiah 32:1-20. A KING WHO REIGNS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS- my devotional

Key Verse: 32:17                                                                                     Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

^“17 The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.”

       Dear Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you sovereignty and your grace in guiding our lives  perfectly. I know that all I have been through is part of your sovereign plan. Your guidance is perfect. You bring all the pieces together. Thank you for the complete blessing  to be minster at the DeKalb Relay for Life. Uphold their cause in their fight against cancer. Keep their momentum moving. Fill each heart with joy and expectation in what you will achieve. Please help me to embrace the people of my community in my heart and serve them with the love of God and the encouragement that comes from the Gospel. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Each Man Will Be a Great Rock (1-8).

Verses 1-8, “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. ² Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. ³ Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. ⁴ The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. ⁵ No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. ⁶ For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water. ⁷ Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. ⁸ But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.”

When one has King Jesus ruling in his heart, he becomes a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in the desert, like a great rock in a thirsty land. Jesus heals our spiritual blindness and enables us to make noble plans and do noble deeds.

I thank God for what he does in our lives. He rules with righteousness and justice. I like this. I like being ruled by such a ruler. God will make us like a shelter in time of a storm. We will be like streams of water in a thirsty land. I thank God that I could be a source of blessing to others. By the grace of God I could pray at the Relay For Life vigil at the Sycamore Court House. On my own I make a people uncomfortable and even mad, but with God’s help I can be a shelter and a source of blessing. Tonight I could sing with the Kishwaukee Barbershop singers at the Network of Nations café. By the grace of God I could teach the Bible to a few people. Thank you Lord for helping me to be a blessing.  Through the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, our spiritual eyes can and will be opened. There will be deep understanding of spiritual things, humanity, the flow of history, etc. The stammering tongue will be fluent and clear. This is so important to me. I grew up stammering. I went to speech therapists that could not help me at all. But when I became a Christian I was healed of my stammering and could speak clearly. Thank God. I thank God that fools and scoundrels never prosper. I pray for them but if they don’t repent then they will loose it all in time. When God raises up his people they stand and there descendants will be blessed. My kids are blessed because Jesus has come to Julie and my hearts. I am sure that my grandkids will also be blessed. God also restores our humanity and our the image of God grows in us. We can become noble people and serve noble causes. Before meeting Jesus I didn’t know what to apply my heart and life to.  I would usually choose a selfish and completely useless cause. But Jesus guides my heart and teaches me what is truly noble in his sight and allows me to apply myself to it. Praise God. There is blessing upon blessing on being in Christ.

Part 2: False and True Security (9-14).

We can not be overconfident in our present condition and complacent. Look at verses 9-14, “⁹ You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! ¹⁰ In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble; the grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come. ¹¹ Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure! Strip off your fine clothes and wrap yourselves in rags. ¹² Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines ¹³ and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers— yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry. ¹⁴ The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,”

Those who feel secure because they have a house or a bank account or even that their health will last, are as foolish as the people ofJerusalemjust before the Babylonian invasion. How complacent we can be in our present condition! Anything can happen to us. We can loose our health and flung into the expensive healthcare system and literally loose all of our money and resources. Most are living paycheck to paycheck and have no safety buffer. We could be very close to a lay off and loose our jobs. Many receive a diagnosis of cancer. What about the surprise that hits us when divorce comes our way? Let’s face it. We can not and must not be overconfident in our present situation. We must put all of our hope and trust in God and live each day as with full faith in Christ and remain in Him no matter what happens. We need to be humble and trust. That is all.

Part 3: The Fruit of Righteousness (15-20).

Verses 15-20, “¹⁵ till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. ¹⁶ The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. ¹⁷ The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. ¹⁸ My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. ¹⁹ Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, ²⁰ how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”

In this passage we see that after punishment and repentance, God restores and blesses. When his Spirit is poured out, dry ground becomes fertile and fruitful. His Spirit rules in righteousness and the fruit of righteousness is peace. In this New Testament era, I would not say after God’s punishment is over. I would say, after our time “in the desert” or after experiencing fatherly discipline from the Lord. After these hard and difficult times, there will be times of blessing. There will be abundant fruit bore in our lives.  We may not see it now, but we will see it in God’s time. It will come sooner than we think. When God blesses he blesses with such unique and lasting blessings. We need to wait for the best to come, even though it may seem we are in a dark tunnel at the present moment.

Prayer: Lord, may your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you for helping me to be a great rock in a thirsty land. Raise up men and women who can be shelters in the storm.

One Word: When the righteous King rules