(Isaiah 57:1-21)
1 The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart;
And devout people are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous person is taken away from evil,
2 He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way.
3 “But come here, you sons of a sorceress,
Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!
4 Of whom do you make fun?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of rebellion,
Offspring of deceit,
5 Who inflame yourselves among the oaks,
Under every luxuriant tree,
Who slaughter the children in the ravines,
Under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the ravine
Is your portion, they are your lot;
Even to them you have poured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Should I relent of these things?
7 On a high and lofty mountain
You have made your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your sign;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,
You have loved their bed,
You have looked at their manhood.
9 You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have sent your messengers a great distance
And made them go down to Sheol.
10 You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless!’
You found renewed strength,
Therefore you did not faint.
11 “Of whom were you worried and fearful
When you lied, and did not remember Me
Nor give Me a thought?
Was I not silent, even for a long time,
So you do not fear Me?
12 I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
And they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry out, let your collection of idols save you.
But the wind will carry them all up,
And a breath will take them away.
But the one who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land
And possess My holy mountain.”
14 And it will be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
Remove every obstacle from the way of My people.”
15 For this is what the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says:
“I dwell in a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.
17 Because of the wrongful act of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 Creating the praise of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far away and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
For it cannot be quiet,
And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
And devout people are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous person is taken away from evil,
2 He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way.
3 “But come here, you sons of a sorceress,
Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!
4 Of whom do you make fun?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of rebellion,
Offspring of deceit,
5 Who inflame yourselves among the oaks,
Under every luxuriant tree,
Who slaughter the children in the ravines,
Under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the ravine
Is your portion, they are your lot;
Even to them you have poured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Should I relent of these things?
7 On a high and lofty mountain
You have made your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your sign;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,
You have loved their bed,
You have looked at their manhood.
9 You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have sent your messengers a great distance
And made them go down to Sheol.
10 You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless!’
You found renewed strength,
Therefore you did not faint.
11 “Of whom were you worried and fearful
When you lied, and did not remember Me
Nor give Me a thought?
Was I not silent, even for a long time,
So you do not fear Me?
12 I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
And they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry out, let your collection of idols save you.
But the wind will carry them all up,
And a breath will take them away.
But the one who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land
And possess My holy mountain.”
14 And it will be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
Remove every obstacle from the way of My people.”
15 For this is what the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says:
“I dwell in a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.
17 Because of the wrongful act of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 Creating the praise of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far away and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
For it cannot be quiet,
And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
So, there is a decision each person has to make. The idiom, "You made your bed and now you have to lie in it," has some truth in it. If a person makes their own bed anywhere here on earth, it is temporary and it is doomed. But if we put our faith and trust in the Lord, and find refuge in Him alone, He "makes our bed" in the heavens! Perfect eternal heavenly peace and rest!!!
As Christians, we do not have to fear death. In fact, we can look forward to going to heaven! And while the thought of how we are going to die might cause us concern, we can give the Lord all our worries and cares, and then wait and rest in Him!!! He knows when and how we are going to die, and when that does happen, He will give us the help we need in that moment. As verse 16 relays, He knows our limits! And He knows exactly what we need!
These verses also make it so clear why believers should not be aligning themselves to those who are unbelievers, especially in marriage! I'm astounded at how many Christians will say that their relationship with God is the most important thing in their lives and that they trust in Him, yet, they don't trust Him to find them a spouse who is right for them. One might try to convince themselves that this is such a tiny thing, but it is the biggest dividing factor one could ever come across!
Verse 4 shows us that the world mocks the Lord, and with that, all of His children, because they don't understand or want to appreciate the Lord's way. For instance, God created sex, meant to be only between a husband and wife, never to be outside of marriage. But Satan and all opposing forces want to deceive, distort and destroy, so that people's ideas of sex and sexual identity becomes twisted, tortured and perverted. God wants to bless us with children, and considers each individual as precious, but the world has no qualms in killing babies!
God created us to have a close personal relationship with Him, giving us a free will to accept or reject Him. Therefore Satan and all opposing forces want to convince mankind that they do not need God, but that they can create and serve their own gods that they make in their own image (whoever or whatever that is). Therefore, unbelievers will never have spiritual peace, nor will they be able to find stability in their pursuit of purpose or fulfillment.
In a personal relationship, God wants to help strengthen us in His almighty power. But the world seeks to build up their own (temporary) strength and (fickle) alliances of power. As verse 10 says, even though an unbeliever is tired, worried and afraid, they will not want to admit that. Oh no, they are able to keep going in their own way, doing their own thing, convincing themselves that they'll be just fine. And they might do some good in this world, thinking that this will save or protect them somehow, but their unacknowledged and unrepented sin only leads to eternal death.
Meanwhile, God is so patient, giving all people fair opportunity, to go to Him with humble, contrite hearts, to be saved and protected, comforted, healed and revived, restored, strengthened and guided in truth, love, joy and peace. In this, no matter what is happening to us or around us, we will be fulfilled, satisfied, and thankful, and we can lift our voices in praise to the Lord, because He is faithful, holy, and exalted!
No comments:
Post a Comment