Isaiah 10-14: God is love or God is wrath? Yes.

We hear a lot about how God is a God of love and that is the truth, but this kind of love extends far beyond just a feeling.  This is the kind of love that wants the best for the object of its affection.  It is a protective, compassionate, love that is driven for the growth and well-being of the ones that are loved.  This love will be as tough as it needs to be to get to what it must have, by its very nature.  This is a love of justice first and foremost, and a desire for those God created to become like Himself. 

That type of love will express itself in wrath.  It cannot be any other way.  That passion includes protection for the beloved and a demand for the right, even from His beloved.  We see it reflected in the passion of a momma bear--protective and unyielding, first to any attacker, but also in correcting her own.  In Isaiah 10, God shows his wrath against unfair judges and their treatment of the poor and oppressed.  In response, He sends Assyria as a tool to correct those judges, but their love of violence makes them the next target for His wrath.  Similarly, God chooses to use the Babylonians as a tool of correction for Israel's idolatry and injustice, but their cruelty does not go unpunished either. 

That's one of the reasons so many of these passages ultimately include promises of a Messiah that will execute God's justice rightly.  His wrath will be sure and final, but only toward those who abuse others and reject His leadership.  Peace cannot be had when men oppose an omnipotent God. 

If we measure our offenses by the scales that compare our sins to others, we might be able to get the scales to balance or come close but that's not the scales that will be used.  The wages (balancing punishment) for sin--any sin--is death.  His justice cannot abide the affront to His righteousness or the offense to His other children.  It is amazing that there is any rescue afforded at all. 

That's why chapter 12 is so profound.  He provides our salvation so that His anger can be satisfied, therefore:

    “I will praise you, O Lord!
You were angry with me, but not any more.
    Now you comfort me.
See, God has come to save me.
    I will trust in him and not be afraid."

Isaiah 5-9: God's expectations and the coming storm

These chapters look remarkably familiar.  Can you see our own headlines in these chapters?

A well tended vineyard that produces sour grapes...

Real estate investing and hoarding along with evictions of the poor resulting in mass vacancy...

Addictive drunkenness and partying...

The wise in their own eyes, declaring evil good and good evil...

The Lord, high and lifted up in His Glory and righteousness, showing us our corporate wickedness...

A calling to speak out to a doomed people...

A promise of rescue but no faith to receive the promise...

The people to be rescued gloating over their enemies downfall...

A national disaster in return for their gloating...

Conspiracy theories distracting God's people from worship...

Spiritism, mysticism and mediums sought, though God's word is readily available...

People arrogantly declaring their rebuilding will be better than their past...

Just last week we saw Solomon telling us that nothing is new under the sun--ain't that the truth.  There is always a chance to repent, but without God calling the hearts of the people, we have about as much hope as Israel and Judah had.  It's a pattern that has happened over and over again.
Still, God promised that if His own people will seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, He will respond and heal all of us. 

Does He have your attention yet?

Isaiah 1-4, Pride or Praise?

Isaiah kicks off the books of the prophets with a great overview.  God lays out his arguments against Israel (and against us) in stark detail (vs 11 and 17--He even says it twice). 

"Human pride will be humbled,
    and human arrogance will be brought down.
Only the Lord will be exalted
    on that day of judgment."

We have focused on our beauty, our festivals, our celebrations as a tool to glorify ourselves.  Our pride has led us to exalt flash and glitter, with only a side glance toward either God or justice for others.  Emotion and salesmanship lead the day.  We worship ourselves rather than Him and we hardly even realize we've done it.  God's reaction is absolute nausea.

The shift can be so subtle.  We believe he deserves our best so we pursue excellence in order to bring Him a gift that is suitable for His grandeur--rather than realizing that the best we can give on our own is no better than filth in His eyes.  Like a child bringing mud-pies to their parents, the gift may be acceptable in childhood, when offered in humility as the best we can offer.  When, as mature believers, we continue to hold up mud-pies and cow-patties made from our own resources as a meal fitting for a King, His disgust shouldn't come as a surprise. 

We have nothing of value of our own to give Him.  To hone our skills for our glory is the essence of pride.  That pride means that we seek for ourselves the praise and adoration of others that rightfully belongs to Him.  This withholds from Him the only thing of value we have to give--our own adoring hearts and the adoration of others.  Not only that, our self-focus robs us of the compassion needed to desire justice for others, multiplying our wrongs toward a God who expects us to be fighting with Him rather than against Him. 

Does that mean we offer Him sloppiness or lack of preparation?  Absolutely not.  However, in our pursuit of excellence, He is our leader, companion and guide, not merely the object of our gifts.  We cannot give anything to Him that He hasn't crafted within us.  We create at his side, using His tools and the gifts of the Spirit.  Far too often, I have used the tools of the enemy, like perfectionism and a critical, argumentative spirit, to try to fashion for God something that only exalts myself.  He is patient with my weakness, but there's still nothing good about anything that is created using those tools. 

Lord, I choose a spirit of Praise.  Thank You for exposing my pride.  Forgive me for the foolish and self-centered things I have tried to give you.  Bring me back to true worship of You only. 

Thanks!

Nehemiah 13: Foreign wives...

 

This could be seen as a difficult passage.  The thought of all those wives being abandoned as a point of loyalty seems to go against all that God desires.  We know He hates divorce.  God stands up for the weak and victimized--especially women and children--and this passage stands in stark contrast to what we would normally expect, but there's more to this story than meets the eye. 

Had the women wanted to become a part of Israel, there were ceremonies to do so.  One noted example is Ruth, who was allowed and encouraged to marry Boaz even though she was from Moab (one of the nations mentioned in this passage).  In entreating Naomi to allow her to stay with her three times and vowing to take on Naomi's people and God, she was considered a Jewish proselyte.  It was rare but it could be done.  Any one of those women could have chosen to become an Israelite and there would have been no problem. 

Where the problem comes in is that these women willingly married Jewish men intentionally to drive a wedge between them and their nation and God.  The fact that the children couldn't even speak Hebrew, the language of the scripture, was further indication that these were not women who wanted to be a part of their husband's culture, but women who intended to keep their own gods, including detestable practices like child sacrifice and ritualistic prostitution. 


Mata Hari

A leading Levite giving the daughter of Tobiah to his son was pure treason. Tobiah fought for the downfall of Jerusalem throughout the entire 12 year rebuilding period to the point that the workers had to arm themselves during the work for their own protection.  This harkens back to the practices that Baalam recommended to Balak  to bring down the nation of Israel.  At Baalam's direction, Balak sent foreign women to tempt the Israelite men to idolatry as a strategy to get God to be mad at them and remove His blessing.  These marriages were not innocent.  They were a well-thought out infiltration with a long historical precedent.  It even involved the same nationality of people.  These marriages  were intentional acts of war.  In many ways, this is similar to the spy, Mata Hari, that was used in WWII to seduce Allied men, intending to steal their secrets.  The only difference is that these women were stealing the spiritual livelihood of the men of Israel from within their own homes.  This kind of treachery is far more diabolical. 

One of the wildest comparisons I've ever heard is between what Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the official did in response to finding out about the men of Judah marrying these foreign women. In response, Ezra tore his own robes. Nehemiah tore the robes of the offenders. It's a good balance. The priest went in repentance before God, identifying himself in intercession for the people of God. The government leader held people accountable for their treachery.

II Kings 4-5: Three women of means...

 

 

There are three gals in these chapters.  They have little in common except that they have no idea how truly wealthy they are.
 
The prophet's widow comes to Elisha at the brink of catastrophe.  Her husband has died and her sons are to be sold as slaves to pay off their debt.  That will leave her with no means for her own needs and no heritage for her family.  Elisha asks her what she has, and it ain't much--a small cask of oil.  What she forgets is that she also has a large extended family of friends.  She also has a God who cares for widows and orphans in their distress.  The friends provide the jars; God provides the oil; the widow and her sons provide the labor.  Her needs are met both for the present and the future.  In the process, she begins to see all that God has provided rather than all she has lost.  She is truly wealthy.

The second woman is a gifted hostess.  Elisha and Gehazi stop by her home frequently to eat as they travel and she makes a point to prepare a permanent room for them.  She appears to have everything she needs including an overabundance that allows her to be generous.  When Elisha wants to give her something in return, she can't even think of something she needs.  It is Gehazi that points out the obvious--she has no children.  In her culture, she could have everything material she could ever want but without a child, she is still considered accursed and destitute.  When Elisha tells her this will change, we glimpse her heart.  She is content in her life and has reconciled herself to barrenness--but this is no joking matter.  It hurts to even consider the pain she has put aside so many years ago.  Within a year she does have a son and her hope is fulfilled.  Can you imagine the joy at his birth?  Can you imagine the potential for despair as he dies in her arms?  This time, she refuses to even speak the unspeakable!  Is her hope gone again too?  Her actions speak volumes.  Her son was a miracle to begin with so she goes to the source--she tells her husband all is well and refuses to speak to anyone but Elisha.  When she finally reaches him, she collapses at Elisha's feet and all of her pain and fears tumble out of her broken heart.  Elisha responds immediately and wrestles the boy's life from the very jaws of death, joyfully returning the promised son to his mom.  She may have been financially prosperous, but her true wealth was in the loyalty of her friend and pastor, her restraint and meager hope, and in the God who can give, take away and give back the most precious things in life. Her faith, though it is small, is what makes her wealthy beyond measure.

The third girl is just a child--a child who has been ripped from her homeland by forces beyond her control.  Israel has disobeyed God over and over and the outcome is defeat in warfare--and she is a casualty.  She has lost everything:  her family, her home, her way of life, all possessions, even her own dignity.  You would think that she might rejoice at the suffering of her master since she has suffered so much.  Her spirit is not so impoverished.  Though she has lost much, she has not lost her God and she knows what He can do, even for an uncircumcised Syrian warlord.  She has enough faith to point her mistress to the only place they can find hope.  As a result, her master is not only healed, but his heart is set apart as a worshipper of the only true God.  Notice that he admits to Elisha that his position obligates him to support others as they worship idols, but his heart is not there any longer.  The wealth of her faith overflowed and through an experience with a real God, her faith is imparted to her master.  This is wealth no one can take away. 

It is not circumstances or attitude that make us wealthy.  It is reliance on the infinite wealth of God's presence and power.  Though each of these women may have seemed impoverished to the world around them, their God made them wealthy in the only things that really count. 

What about you?  Do you see the circumstances that leave you unfulfilled or the God that provides for all of your needs according to His abundance?  What can you do today to overflow what God has given you into others?

Plenty of Hubris to go around: I Sam 28-31

This section seems like upside down day.  David is about to go to battle against Israel with the Philistines.  Saul, who has known the glory of God in prophecy, is going to see a medium.  Why would either one do something so out of character?

Saul is desperate.  He's facing a battle without God and without direction.  No matter how hard he looks for answers, none are forthcoming.  He's willing to go through banned channels to get any kind of insight he can find.  His pride has kept him from laying down the kingdom when God took it from him and now it's all falling apart.  Contrast that to Moses who told God that if He didn't go with them, they wouldn't go.  The answer Saul gets is not what he wanted, but probably wasn't all that surprising.  One side note:  Mediums and spiritists were banned by God for our protection.  Leaving yourself open to the spirit world outside of God's plan leaves you open to demonic influence and probably explains Saul's subsequent battlefield suicide. 

David also seems to be arrogantly attempting to prove his worth to his new king.  He seems to have abandoned the idea that he could ever be king himself and is working toward what he can achieve on his own.  God protects David from his own stupidity when the remainder of the Philistine commanders rightfully question David's loyalties.  David is sent home to find it burned to the ground and everyone gone, victims of Amekelite revenge over David's recent extra-curricular activities.  David's eagerness to prove his value left his family vulnerable to attack and his warriors weary from an unnecessary trek to a war he had no business being around.  They get their families and stuff back, but I'm sure it was traumatic for everyone. 

Unlike Saul, David acts rightly, rewarding not only the ones who rescued them but the ones who stayed behind.  He also remembers those that have supported him through his exile, sharing the plunder with them as well--especially since they had also been attacked by the Amekelite raiders too. He acts like a king, sharing the benefits of his success with all who will be under him. 

It's far too easy to seek instant gratification and forget what's really important, especially when you're tired and discouraged.  God can still make it right if we remain in a right relationship with Him, but desperation is a bad place to do anything from--better to wait on the Lord though all things fall apart than to move ahead without Him. 

How have you chosen short term gratification over what is really important?  Have you chosen work over family?  Have you chosen TV over prayer?  (Yes, I'm preaching to myself.)  God can make it right, but it's time to recognize those places and ask for His help. 

Creeping Discouragement: I Sam 25-27

We're beginnning to see the signs of discouragement and fatigue in David. 

Just yesterday, we saw how he stubbornly refused to get offended over a mountain of real insults.  Now, in Chapter 25, he sets out to kill the entire household of one of Caleb's decendents over not getting invited to a party.  God sends a wise woman to rescue him from such stupidity, but it's clear he's getting jumpy.  One of the first signs of fatigue is a short temper.

He takes someone with him to scout out Saul's camp and has to keep them from killing the king.  Instead, he takes Saul's canteen and spear.  This time, David's tone is not so meek.  He insults Abner for not taking care of the king.  He questions whether God has sent Saul against him--I'll bet David is beginning to wonder.  He complains about being away from home and away from God's presence.  Complaining is the second sign of fatigue.

Saul tells him he can come home, but David doesn't trust him and for the first time doesn't appear to trust God to take care of him either.  Instead, he takes his entire group and settles in enemy territory.  They live there for 16 months, secretly expanding Israel's territory while lying to the Philistine king.  Self-reliance, double-speak and compromise are also signs of fatigue. 

God does still take care of him, but David's heart is not in a good place.  Many of the Psalms of lament are written during the time of his wanderings and exile.  I'm grateful for their frank descriptions of his fatigue and his continual return to the Father, regardless of how he feels.  Sometimes seasons of pain last longer than our hearts can hold out.  David's life demostrates that God is there with us even when we are no longer capable of making rational decisions.  Sometimes it is this discouragement itself that grows our intimacy with the Almighty.  He faces discouraging circumstances all the time.  When we bring our fatigue to Him, we can learn to relate to Him in a new way.

The acronym HALT has been used by AA to stand for life's most common triggers: hungry, angry, lonely or tired.  It's not a bad list.  Celebrate Recovery uses the acrostic HEART: when you check your heart you check to see if you are:
    
      H--Hurting
      E--Exhausted
      A--Angry
      R--Resentful or
      T--Tense

If you notice that your heart is in any of those places, then it's time to stop and recharge, even if it's just for a few minutes with the Father.  It may not make the situation better, but it will give you the strength to move on and brings God's resources to help you where you've already given in or given up. 

What about you?  Are you showing any of these signs?  Is your Heart needing a recharge?  Take a cue from David--for that matter, read some of David's laments in Psalms.  God is not ashamed by our weaknesses and honored David when he frankly told God all of his sorrows.  Will he do less for you?