EmmDev 2021-02-26 [Lent2021] Perspective (2)

Perspective (2)

The second God-perspective that Isaiah leaves us with has to do with the world around us. In Isaiah's case this is best typified by the nations. The Israelites had survived the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Amalekites, Hittites and Perrizites. When the Assyrians became a dominant world power they barely survived; and then only because God drove the Assyrian army off when they were encamped on Jerusalem's doorstep. Then came the Babylonians and Israel succumbed to their might and power.

The thinking of the day was that "If my nation conquers yours, then my god is greater than your god!" And so, for Israel the devastation of Jerusalem and the temple was a national blow, a political hit and a religious wrecking ball!

But Isaiah would beg to differ...

The ebb and flow of nations and power is not in the same league as the might and permanence of God. God's majestic power and might over creation also extends over the nations. Look at how Isaiah repeats the imagery of God measuring: drops in buckets, dust on scales, islands weighed, wood for the altar fires and animals for offerings.

Nations come and nations go.
Let's say that again: nations come and nations go.
Even dictators come to the end of their reigns and have to face the levelling power of death.

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the apparent power of nations, philosophies and systems... We read, hear and see the news and we feel oppressed, intimidated and disempowered by it all - but God is eternal and He holds time itself in His hands.

CHALLENGE: Sometimes we can't see the wood for the trees. Zoom out a bit and see how God's love and faithfulness is bigger than all the crises that shout in our ears... Worshipping Him with other believers on Sunday will help too.

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing      (Isaiah40:15-17)

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EmmDev 2021-02-25 [Lent2021] Perspective (1)

Perspective (1)

Isaiah has introduced God as the bringer of Justice and the Gentle Shepherd. The next two strophes provide valuable perspectives on our views of God. We'll look at the first today.

Have you read the last part of the book of Job? Where Job, who was innocent but suffered greatly lashes out and demands His day in court with God? It's a beautiful section where God takes Job and a tour of the wonders of creation and asks Job what his contribution was... Isaiah does a similar thing here....

What a beautiful picture of magnitude of God!!
Watch as He measures the world with His hands!!
Gasp as He weighs mountains and quantifies the earth!!!
He doesn't need our advice or input and there's no-one who can teach Him!

It's in our nature to try to domesticate God.

We like to bring Him down to our size and make Him in our image.
But Israel's God is not like the gods of the nations.
He doesn't need us, but He loves us and we need Him.

Sometimes we allow our picture of God to shrink.
When this happens in the church, we tend to become a moralistic do-gooder's club, but when we remember His majesty and greatness then we start to tune into what He is doing instead of what we think He needs to do or what we want Him to do.

This changes everything.

In the powerful story of the New Testament Church, we read this in Acts 2:42-43: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles."

Amazing things happen when we let God be God!

CHALLENGE: Is your view of God too small? Have you lost your sense of wonder? Maybe part of faith rejuvenation is to see His might in nature and history and to right-size our worship again!

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? 14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?       (Isaiah40:12-14)

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EmmDev 2021-02-24 [Lent2021] Three Voices (3)

Three Voices (3)

If the first voice called us to repentance and the second voice called us away from hubris and towards humility, then the third voice introduces God to us.

And what an introduction it is!

There are three amazing things about it:

Firstly, the triumphant introduction "Here is your God!" is placed in our lips - we are the third voice. The news we have is a "good tiding" and we can proclaim it from high mountains to the towns of Judah. It implies that we have tasted and seen that God is good.

The second aspect is that God is introduced with two ends of an important continuum: On one end is His omnipotence and justice which is seen in v.10 - God is able and capable. He is not limited or ineffectual in the light of injustice and brokenness. He is "mighty to save." He is able to reward and recompense - He is able to balance the scales.

The third aspect takes us to the other side of the continuum in v.11: He is not only a powerful, capable and able judge, but he is also a tender and gentle shepherd - able to pick up the broken and wounded and young. He is a COMPASSIONATE God and the hope of nations!

What a magnificent picture: God is coming!

We're to make straight paths for Him but He helps us.
We're to leave behind our hubris and remember our frailty.
But His might and majesty and His kindness and compassion are such that we will be the ones who can shout of His goodness.

You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.      (Isaiah40:9-11)

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EmmDev 2021-02-23 [Lent2021] Three Voices (2)

Three Voices (2)

The first voice called us to "make straight paths before the Lord, but it also indicated that we would not be able to do it on our own.

The second voice reminds us to be humble...
Hubris (Self-importance, arrogance, and pride) is one of the most dangerous qualities for a society to afflict itself with. It happened at the tower of Babel. In Jeremiah's time the Israelites believed that Jerusalem was unassailable because the temple was there. Rome believed that they were indestructible. Recently analysts have suggested that the 2009 economic meltdown is attributable to societal hubris.

Hubris is to think of ourselves too highly - to consider ourselves so very very important, to believe that we will live forever and to behave as though our needs are paramount.

Isaiah's second voice warns us against this.
We are grass and flowers.
Grass withers and flowers fall.
God ordains our coming and our going.
Humility is needed.

It's like Job who, although innocent, becomes so sure that he can "have his day in court with God" that the Lord spends four chapters revealing His glory to Job and asking him - "So where were you when I did this?!?" And Job responds by basically saying "I got too big for my boots - I shot off my mouth and I'm going to shut it now."

John Ortberg said: "There's good news and bad news: The good news is that there's a God. The bad news is that it isn't you!"
I differ slightly: I don't think it's bad news that I'm not God. It's actually a relief to realise that it isn't all about me..."There's good news and good news: There is a God and it isn't me!"

It's God's Word and God's work that stands forever...

A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."      (Isaiah40:6-8)

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EmmDev 2021-02-19 [Lent2021] Three Voices (1)

Three Voices (1)

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."      (Isaiah40:3-5)

From vv.3-11 there are three voices, we'll look at each in turn...

The first voice is very appropriate at the start of Lent: It is the voice that calls to us in the wilderness. Israel found itself in the wilderness of exile - but God lovingly offered them hope - He would come to them.

The right thing to do when preparing for the Lord's coming is to make a highway for the Lord to come to us. Righteousness and repentance are the straight paths that God likes to use.

But Isaiah's call for straight paths takes on epic proportions: entire valleys are raised up and mountains and valleys are made low and rugged places become a plain. What started out as being in the realms of what people can do (straight paths) has become something that more appropriately fits in the realms of what only God can do.

This is a good picture for Lent.

There is always the danger that Lent becomes legalism and salvation by works - that we're out to impress God by our hard work. But as with the little boy's loaves and fish (trying to make straight paths) God is able to take the little we give and turn it into more.

Lent is not so much that we resolve to return to God, and then work hard at it so that we earn His favour. Lent is about hearing God's voice and then seeing what He does when we respond.

It is significant that Matthew sees this passage as fulfilled by John the Baptist. John baptised people who were repentant. He also baptised Jesus who had no need to repent, but Jesus' baptism (in which He identified with our sinful state) put Him on our road and He turned it into a highway.

CHALLENGE: Are you doing well with your Lent commitments? Remind yourself that these are just small acts of grateful devotion, we couldn't build the highway - Jesus did.

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EmmDev 2021-02-18 [Lent2021] Rejuvenation

Rejuvenation

My friend, Andries Combrink, called Lent "a season of simple rejuvenation..." This accurately captures my longing for this Lent in my heart and yours...

Isaiah 40 is a much beloved chapter. Thematically it marks the transition where the prophecy moves from rebuke for rebellion and idolatry to a pronouncement of hope and restoration. Historically it moves from Israel's exile in Babylon (and why it happened) and moves to the promise of a return. Spiritually it describes the human predicament and exile in brokenness and offers us a God-given restoration!

This magnificent chapter offers hope, it describes God and invites us to a place of intimacy with God. We're going to plumb its depths for the first few days of our "season of simple rejuvenation."

The chapter begins with assurance of Comfort...

Historically it addresses the consequence of their rebellion: Israel had ceased to rely on God and this led to a moral and spiritual breakdown that allowed a another nation to defeat them.

But God has seen their brokenness. (They have received "double" for their sins - in Hebrew idiom this simply means "enough".)

God's love and consequences for sin are difficult concepts to hold in tension until we factor in the dynamic of free will. Free will allows for wrong choices and wrong choices have consequences (that's what makes them wrong choices!) And God, who gives free will, also allows the consequences of wrong choices.

But God sees our pain - He wants to comfort and heal us.
And so begins the journey of restoration - anticipated by Isaiah, inaugurated by Jesus and fulfilled at Calvary and the Empty Tomb.

Join with me over the next few days as we unpack the rest of the chapter and the nature of restoration and the God who brings it.

CHALLENGE: Yesterday we confessed our sins. As you think through the consequences of our brokenness, ask God to comfort and restore you. Invite Him to begin a process of restoration in you over the season of Lent. Know that God wants to "Comfort" you.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.      (Isaiah40:1-2)

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EmmDev 2021-02-17 [Lent2021] LENT: Repentance, Return and Renewal

Hi everyone
I am sorry there has been such a long gap in the EmmDevs... We have been through a challenging time as a family. At the end of Nov my Dad was diagnosed with a form of pre-leukaemia that involved hospitalisation and chemo. This happened over Dec which involved daily trips to the hospital and then the Covid19 second wave hit us and he was locked down in hospital. Then just before new year we were able to bring him home for two weeks and I moved in to help my Mom. Then he had to be hospitalised and we were not allowed to visit. Then his condition worsened dramatically and we were able to get him discharged to hospice and we could gather around him as a family. He passed away a few hours later on 20 Jan. I conducted the funeral service on the 27th. It was a very intense 8 weeks and while we are sad, we are peaceful... I have been easing my way back into things and it feels right to resume EmmDevs on Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.

I hope you did not miss the devotions too much, but I do hope you missed them a little (wink)... Please keep my Mom and our family in your prayers - that we might grieve and heal well.

The first devotion for 2021 is down below...

GodBless,
Theo

LENT: Repentance, Return and Renewal

The Israelites had used the Ark of the Covenant as a good luck charm and it had fallen into the hands of the Philistines, but the Philistine's idols kept falling down whenever the Ark was near and so they returned it to Israel.

For twenty years the Israelites did nothing about this! Eventually true repentance entered their hearts and they sought the Lord again.
Notice how Samuel checks their hearts, asks them to take concrete action and then leads them in an act of repentance.

We have more than the Ark of the Covenant. We have the Gospel: Jesus came, died and rose again and the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. But so often we are like the Israelites, we live as though He isn't there.

Ash Wednesday is an act of repentance, return and renewal.
It calls us to:

• Come with all our hearts.
• To rid ourselves of foreign gods
• To re-commit ourselves to Him

The Israelites poured out water before the Lord (a symbol of dedication) and they fasted and confessed.

Ash Wednesday uses different symbolism but the purpose is the same.
We come to God recognising how far we have drifted from Him. We put things aside, fast and confess because we know we need Him more than anything.

In Samuel's account the Philistines attack Israel while the nation is busy with this act of repentance and we read that God routed them. The beauty of Ash Wednesday is that we anticipate Easter where Jesus defeats sin, death and Satan.

In these Corona Times we repent, return and renew in the presence of the enemies of illness, death and a battered economy and trust the He will be at work in our midst too.

It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD. 3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. 5 Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you." 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the LORD."      (1Samuel7:2-6)

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