2/20/13. Isaiah 51:1-23. LISTEN AND LOOK TO THE LORD-my devotional
2/20/13. Isaiah 51:1-23. LISTEN AND LOOK TO THE LORD-my devotional
Isaiah 51:1-23 |
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 |
Key Verse: 51:4-5 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. 5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.”
Dear Lord heavenly Father, thank you the gospel that frees our hearts from negative emotions and helps us to find freedom and peace while navigating this world. Thank you for being a refuge and a shelter for us …for me…in the time of storm. My mind and heart are in turmoil concerning many things. Help me to stand on the Rock that is Christ. Help me to rise above the tumult and hold onto the Kingdom of God. Lord, help this upcoming staff conference. May you work powerfully by your Spirit. May miracles happen in everyone’s hearts. May something new come forth from within us and from without. Please grant me your word today. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
Part 1: Salvation, Justice, Joy and Gladness (1-16).
Verses 1-16, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; 2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. 3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. 4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. 5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. 7 “Hear me, you who know what is right,you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.” 9 Awake, awake, arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over? 11 Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, 13 that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread. 15 For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar the Lord Almighty is his name. 16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath.”
Variations of “listen” and “look” are repeated several times in this chapter. God’s people are exhorted to listen to God and look to him. When we are discouraged, we can remember how God blessed Abraham. God desires that we listen to his instruction. His justice is a light to the nations. He brings righteousness and salvation. We who trust in the LORD have no reason to fear people or the future. God, who parted the Red Sea and laid the foundations of the earth, also gives us his sure promises and covers us with his hand. Those whom the LORD has rescued will have everlasting joy and gladness in his kingdom and even as they walk by faith in this world.
I need to listen and look. I need to think about Abraham, who is a great example. He lived by faith in the promises of God. He knew that God would make him into great nation. He knew that God would bear abundant fruit in his life. With this hope he had strength. He had joy. He lived with a clear vision and calling to live by faith in this world as he had a pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God.
I too have been given such a promise. Though I am so limited in my walk as a servant of the Lord, God has promised that he is with me and my family. He will help us to bear fruit. He will help us to be a spiritual nation. We will have great joy as we live in our lives of faith in this world. God is already fulfilling this in my heart and life. I used to think that living as Abraham meant living continually according to my calling as a UBF shepherd for the rest of my days without any sort of deviation. I do agree that I must follow God’s will and leading in my life. But God’s leading is not so rigid as adhering unswervingly to an institutional agenda for the rest of my earthly life. When I think this way I loose all sense of creativity and inspiration and my heart becomes full of turmoil. My hope is in the Kingdom of God. May salvation is found in the Lord. I want to follow his will and leading. I want to trust in God as I live by gospel faith. My God guide me and my family along this rocky road.
I really like verses 11, “11 Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you. “ Gladness and joy. Singing. God’s comfort. Freedom from sorrow and sighing. That is not just in the world to come. It can be now. It must be now. I want this in my life. I know that living by faith in this world can be filled with such things…even in the midst of suffering. I saw picture of a man about to be hanged in Afghanistan because of his faith. He was smiling ear to ear as he stood with a noose on neck.
I am not glorifying God with my sighing and sorrow and near migraine headaches. No way. How can anyone be attracted to Jesus and the gospel with that kind of heart? No one can. I thank God who is countering this trend in my heart. God is planting his joy. It is intimately linking to the hope of God and to following the Spirit of God. Lord, fill my heart with the joy of salvation. Help my family be a house church who is full of the joy of the Lord.
Part 2: God Takes Away The Cup of His Wrath (17-23).
Verses 17-23, “Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem,you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger. 18 Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand. 19 These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?—ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who canconsole you? 20 Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God. 21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. 22 This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. 23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”
God had punished his people Israel by exiling them to Babylon. This was symbolized as the cup of God’s wrath. God’s wrath was so great that his people staggered about as if drunk and even fainted. Tormentors walked on their backs. The Israelites almost lost all hope. God’s wrath was redemptive, to help his people repent and know his salvation. God promised to forever remove his cup of wrath.
I don’t think that God will punish true believers like this now in the New Covenant age. He may subject them with his Father’s love. He may choose to discipline them so that they may share in his holiness. He may take away his “hedge of protection” if we live in rebellion. Any suffering we may face is redemptive as we live in Christ. I have turmoil in my heart. But God is bringing me through something. He is growing me and my family through certain trials. They are tough but meaningful times. I just need to always turn my ears and eyes on Jesus and follow the path he has lit before me.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the taking away the cup of your wrath and giving everlasting salvation and joy in Jesus. May your kingdom come.
One Word: Turn your ears and eyes to God
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