12/8/12. Isaiah 26:1-27:1. GOD WILL KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE-my devotional

Key Verse: 26:3                                                                                   Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

     Dear Jesus Christ. Thank you for your great love and grace on our lives. In the past I used to focus on how you bless our lives with meaning, hope and a mission in life, but help me to focus, not so much on what you can do for me in this life, but on Christ and the beauty of the gospel and grace of God. I pray that that this Christmas may be the most awesome and graceful Christmas ever. May the Barbershop Chorus sing out at the nursing home brighten the hearts of all the residents. Lord, through Isaiah is hard to understand, help me to understand many things from this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1. The Desire of Our Hearts (26:1-11).

Verses 26:1-9, “In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. ² Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. ³ You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal. ⁵ He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. ⁶ Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. ⁷ The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. ⁸ Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. ⁹ My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Those who trust in the Lord are kept in perfect peace. Those who trust in the world are humbled. Those who walk in the way of the Lord and in the way of his laws learn to wait on him. When we walk with the Lord, the desire of our hearts is for his name and renown-not our own. We long for the Lord. Even in the time of judgment, it is the righteousness of God that shines through.

I can see that faith in the Rock, in Jesus makes all the difference. Jesus is the Rock, because he is the firm foundation. When his is the Rock of our lives, family and ministry and nation then there is profound stability. We can see glimpses of this idea in verses 1-9. “strong city…salvation is its walls and ramparts…keep in perfect peace…minds are steadfast…the Rock eternal…level path…the smooth way…learning righteousness even in judgments.” How true this is. Christians whose faith is in Jesus and the gospel are building their lives on a firm foundation. I thank God for making my family strong and steady. We are held together by the Rock. I thank God for our nation, whose foundations are influenced by the Gospel…strong and steady. There is peace and security in our midst. These foundations from God will follow us where God calls us in this world. Even if I am sent to the Aboriginal peoples in NW Ontario, then God’s foundation will be laid there. Jenn went to Montreal to study, but she her life there is on a strong foundation because of the Gospel.

The gospel is so appealing. Look at verses 8-9a, “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. ⁹ My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you….”  After 26 years of being a Christian, I can truly say that my heart yearns for God. My heart longs to be with God. I actually enjoy sitting down and writing daily devotionals. I enjoy preparing messages to share at Bible schools. I look forward to special events and journeys were I can find the time to journal in the mornings. It is because, by the grace of God, I am beginning to enjoy the presence of God. May the young people of America enjoy the presence of Jesus Christ and live in the stability of the Gospel.

    But the goodness and greatness of the Lord is not in the hearts of all people, even with they live among the blessings of God. Look at verses 10-11, “But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord. ¹¹ Lord, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.”  Those who refuse the grace of God become blind to his glory. It requires pride to not look up and ask some fundamental questions, like “why” and “Who did it all?”  Just a simple walk in the woods would reveal the truth of God. I was blind to the glory of God for the first 22 years of my life. But then God opened my eyes and revealed Jesus to me. May that same grace be imparted to others. It is important for 11b reads, “…Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.”  

Part 2: Your Dead Will Live (26:12-27:1).

Verses 26:12-27:1, ^“12 Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. ¹³ Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor. ¹⁴ They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them. ¹⁵ You have enlarged the nation, Lord; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.”

God establishes peace and accomplishes his will through his servants (12). In the world, men rule others by oppression. God’s rule is different. He alone is worthy of honor. God rules by grace and truth and love and patience and kindness. This reveals the glory of God. This is how the kingdom of  God is extended in our hearts and in our nation. Ruling by oppression does not work. It gives temporary benefits and no peace and a painful end. But those who rule, expressing the heart of God, will be blessed.

     Verses 16-18, “¹⁶ Lord, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. ¹⁷ As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, Lord. ¹⁸ We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.”

Living in our sins, before meeting Jesus, we were so down trodden we could barely whisper a prayer. We suffered a lot and it was fruitless and even more…destructive to us and others. Those who remain in their pride and stubbornness will be brought low. God may allow his people to suffer, but that purpose is redemptive. It is for the purpose of saving them and the world (18). And we must always remember that it was our own falleness that put us there in the first place. God is now on a rescue mission. Ultimately he wants to plant resurrection faith in the hearts of his people. Look at verses 19-20, “ ¹⁹ But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. ²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.”  God is the Creator and source of life. The Lord will raise the dead-the wicked to judgment and the righteous to life Resurrection faith is the faith that overcomes all things, even suffering and death, through faith. Though we are sinful at heart, we can have perfect peace that we are forgiven and made right with God.

     Those who refuse to repent and come to Christ will have to answer to God. Look at verses 21-27:1, “ ²¹ See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer. Deliverance of Israel 27 In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword— his fierce, great and powerful sword— Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.”  God is holy and just. He can not ignore sin. He will expose sin and deal with it in his time and his way.  He does all things to gain glory for himself, to let the world know that he alone brings salvation to the earth.

 Prayer: Lord, help me to walk with you until the desire of my heart is for your glory. Establish your perfect peace in me.
One Word: You will keep in perfect peace