2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The need to keep confidences to protect the feelings of others has always been very important to me. When one does this, others recognize that they can confide in someone who has their best interests in mind. Such information given must be handled with wisdom, the best Source of which is the Lord Himself. Having said this, I must say that at times it is in our best interests to listen to what is being said by others and place it in the context of the wisdom given us by Jehovah Shalom, God Who is peace. I looked over the citations that He is leading me to share with you today and see them as conversation that is going on between Jehovah Shalom and His children. So, look at how Jehovah Shalom reveals Himself and His will. Note how His children respond to Him with the goal of asking ourselves how we fit into what the Lord, through His OT prophets and NT writers, is saying to us.
Isaiah 48 is a 22-verse chapter which deals a message from God directed to the Jewish captives of Isaiah’s future who are apostate descendants of people who lived in Judah and in Babylonian captivity. Ironically, the name Judah means “praise.” Only these Jews haven’t been praising God. In the first 11 verses, God, through Isaiah, lays out why these people will be punished in captivity. IS 48: 7-11, “In order that people will praise My name, I am holding back My anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you. I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless. What I do is done for My own sake-I will not let My name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be Mine and Mine alone.” It must be placed in context that these words of controlled anger were an outgrowth of generations of disobedience, particularly idolatry which is the sin God hates the most. If God were unrighteous, which He never is, He would totally give up on His children and destroy them altogether. But, His love for them and his righteousness prevents this. IS 48: 14-15 reveal just how God limits the amount of time the people of Judah will be punished. “Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man [referring to Cyrus the Persian who conquered Babylon in 539 BC] I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do. I am the One Who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success.”
In the next section of this prophetic chapter, Jehovah Shalom lays out His plan for His people. IS 48: 17-19, “The holy God of Israel, the Lord Who saves you says, ’I am the Lord your God, the One Who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go. If only you had listened to My commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry, victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore. Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed.” In the last three verses of this chapter of Isaiah, God reveals Himself as Jehovah Shalom [God is peace] and Jehovah Jireh [God Who provides]. IS 48: 20-22, “Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: ‘The Lord has saved His servant Israel!’ When the Lord led His people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; He split the rock open, and water flowed out. ‘There is no safety for sinners,’ says the Lord.” How much clearer must God’s message be?
Part of Isaiah’s response to Jehovah Shalom is found in IS 26: 3-4, “You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You. Trust in the Lord forever; He will always protect us.” We must remember that Isaiah’s ministry covered about 740-692 BC, and Judah was not taken into captivity until between 605-586 BC. This is significant, because we can see God’s hand in Isaiah’s messages. When one realizes that the people of Judah were apostate, combining threads of Judaism with idolatry at the time, it took real courage of faith for Isaiah to be saying what he did. That courage was fueled from its Source, Jehovah Shalom.
I don’t know the year that the Psalmist wrote PS 119, but I do know that he also had this same courage of faith. Read the words of PS 119: 165-168 and see if you don’t agree. “Those who love Your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall. I wait for You to save me, Lord, and I do what You command. I obey Your teachings; I love them with all my heart. I obey Your commands and Your instructions; You see everything I do.”
In these citations we hear what God says to His people and the responses of two OT writers who are faithful. Yet, when we examine them, we can also see the consequences Jehovah Shalom warns His children of if they refuse to be faithful. Also, we can see God’s compassionate will not to destroy His children, but instead, to have them trust and obey Him which will lead to granting them peace. Today in 2001, Jehovah Shalom’s attitude is the same. He asks us to trust and obey His commands just as he asked pre-exilic Judah to do. Each of us must examine his own life to find out if there is any kind of idolatry in it. While we may not be worshipping graven images, we all know that idolatry takes other forms, like materialism, greed, meanness, coveting what is not ours, and so on. Once any is found, Jehovah Shalom, Who wants nothing more that to grant us peace, commands us to expunge this sin from our lives to that end.
PRAYER: O Lord, You inspired Isaiah to prophesy the consequences to Judah if she continued to sin. You also gave him the courage of faith to deliver this very unpopular message throughout his ministry. Yet, at the same time, You demonstrated Your righteousness by telling the Jews You would not destroy them and would limit the time of their punishment. What a loving God you are! These messages from Isaiah were not just for the Jews of that time; they are also for us in our time. You also gave us the example of the Psalmist, whose heart of faith reveals Your magnificent attributes and capabilities to us. What great lessons we can learn when we model the example of their faith, while living in the cruel, sinful world that we do. Dearest Jehovah Shalom, You know the path we must follow isn’t easy. Yet, You equip us with faith, Your word, salvation by the death of Your Son on the cross, and the Holy Spirit indwelt in us so that we can make our way on this narrow path. We acknowledge the love that You have for us in all its depth. We humbly approach You in an attitude of worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, praise, and thanks to dedicate our lives and our service to You. For it is You Who deserves all the honor and glory for being our very own Jehovah Shalom. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to share more of what Jehovah Shalom says to us through Paul. If we will listen in to His conversation with us, we can examine our own response to it to find out if we are doing what He commands that will allow Him to bring peace to our lives. In the meanwhile, I never get tired of thinking about how much He loves each of us. We haven’t made it easy for Him to grant us peace at times. Yet, He has loved us enough not to give up on us and use His power to destroy us. Instead, he is like an eagle that wants to gather His young to the comfort and protection of His breast. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn