Saturday, October 26, 2013
Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 3
If you read last Friday’s 'Chapters of His Heart' entry you know that Isaiah spoke of a purging that would come to the land of Judah. The Israelites had turned from God, and because His heart is jealous, they would have to be punished for their disobedience.
Chapter three of Isaiah follows up the prophesy of purging, with the ‘how’s’ and ‘when’s’ of the Israelite's punishment, and there’s some pretty intense stuff in there. Isaiah says God will strip away everything that the people depended on or cared about. From food and water to soldiers and heroes and national leaders. Judah had slid into a place of blatant sin. (I say ‘slid’ because open, blatant sin usually starts with something we view as harmless and safe. Before you know it things just snowball into very harmful and very dangerous, blatant sin.)They had reached a point where they weren’t concerned with keeping their sins secret. They weren’t trying to hide their lives of sin, they were living them openly. The elders and rulers had become so corrupt that they were stealing from the people. God said because of that they would stumble and fall. He was coming to judge them and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
God speaks of the women of Judah very harshly. They had become consumed with their own beauty, dressing and acting in ways to impress and seduce others, cheapening the body that the Lord made to be pure and honorable. You had better believe He wasn’t happy about it. God vowed to strip them of EVERY article of their vanity. Jewelry, hair, health, skin, clothes, purses (yes ladies even the precious handbags), accessories, mirrors, their husbands, and “the men of their city”. He even said that their bodies will stink! I know this may sound harsh coming from someone with the title ‘God of Mercy’. But understand that women flaunting their bodies as items to possess, is the ultimate slap in the face of the creator of beauty as a pure sign of His craftsmanship. God is merciful but God is also just.
My favorite part of this chapter is a two sentence verse hidden in the middle. Tucked away between the prophesies of God’s judgement and wrath being poured out on the ungodly, is one verse that goes against the current. Verse ten says, “Tell the godly that all will be well for them. They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!” I love that! In the middle of all the judgement He’s displaying, God stops and reassures those faithful to Him that He sees their faithfulness. That they shouldn’t weary because He will reward them and their reward will be great!
Have you connected any lines between the people of Judah and the people of our present culture? Judah’s women were not the only women in history to show off their figures as objects. Just like the godly people of Judah were not the only ones to need a reminder that God sees their faithfulness. Keep in mind that God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The things that grieved God in the past still grieve Him today, just as the things that pleased His heart then still please Him now. If you have fallen into the self image trap of our culture, take into account the women of Judah and learn from their mistakes. That lifestyle may seem glamorous but the gratification it offers is shallow and short-lived. Maybe you fall into the other category, and you need a reminder that God sees your faithfulness. Listen up because this is it! These are God’s words exactly, “Tell the godly that all will be well for them. They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!”. Be encouraged by God’s reminder today, take heart, He sees your faithful life and you will receive your reward. God’s heart is unchanging.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 2
Good morning to you!
I realize it may not be morning where you are when you read this but it's morning here and I'm trying really hard to enjoy it. See I'm not a morning person by nature but I want to be so bad! I envy you early birds who can hop up whistling at all hours of the morning. Life just seems better from your perspective. From my side of the bed mornings are torture! (Mostly because they interrupt my favorite past time, sleeping.)
So here I am, trying to be a cheery morning person. I thought I would start by adding a new routine to my mornings. (specifically the Friday ones) Posting to you people! No promises, but I plan to have a new "Chapters of His Heart" post up every Friday morning. Hopefully It will be a little pick me up and give you that last push to make it through your workday, as well as something to chew on over the weekend.
So here we go, Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 2
During this period of Jerusalem's history they had taken on the customs of the pagan Philistines. God's chosen ones were choosing to worship god's of wood and stone and God was letting them know that He would not tolerate that behavior forever. Isaiah prophesied of a future time when nothing on earth will be exalted higher than God. Isaiah also prophesied that when God was exalted, wars would be over and there would be no more fighting. People would actually destroy their weapons because they wouldn't need them.
But, (there's always a but) before this peace-filled future could come to pass there was going to have to be some purging. A 'cleaning out' of God's chosen ones. Isaiah says that God rejected His people because of their pagan worship. Because of their sin God was going to strip them of their pride. He would humble them and tear down everything they had exalted. His power and glory would be unleashed so heavily that His enemies would actually run and hide in holes in the ground because they were so terrified.
In the end, "when the Lord rises to shake the earth" nothing will be left of their idols not even a shadow for they will "completely disappear". Nothing will be left to be said of the Lord's enemies either, their pride has been stripped away. They are left crawling to their hiding places in the aftermath of the God-quake that has shaken their world.
Isaiah finishes chapter two by saying that trusting in humans (and their gods) is ultimately not a good idea. "They are as frail as breath, what good are they?" Our trust and our faith should lie in God alone, not in the strength of a human or the alluring pull of their pagan gods. Yeah, people still worship pagan gods. They just look less like fat, shirtless statues and more like sports cars, or tv shows, or the reflection in the mirror, or the latest tech gadget glued to their palm. God longs for our undivided heart. His love requires all of ours in return. When His children try to fill the God-shaped-void in their hearts with other things it grieves Him.
God's heart is Jealous.
What idols do you see standing between you and God? What is keeping you from tearing them down?
During this period of Jerusalem's history they had taken on the customs of the pagan Philistines. God's chosen ones were choosing to worship god's of wood and stone and God was letting them know that He would not tolerate that behavior forever. Isaiah prophesied of a future time when nothing on earth will be exalted higher than God. Isaiah also prophesied that when God was exalted, wars would be over and there would be no more fighting. People would actually destroy their weapons because they wouldn't need them.
But, (there's always a but) before this peace-filled future could come to pass there was going to have to be some purging. A 'cleaning out' of God's chosen ones. Isaiah says that God rejected His people because of their pagan worship. Because of their sin God was going to strip them of their pride. He would humble them and tear down everything they had exalted. His power and glory would be unleashed so heavily that His enemies would actually run and hide in holes in the ground because they were so terrified.
In the end, "when the Lord rises to shake the earth" nothing will be left of their idols not even a shadow for they will "completely disappear". Nothing will be left to be said of the Lord's enemies either, their pride has been stripped away. They are left crawling to their hiding places in the aftermath of the God-quake that has shaken their world.
Isaiah finishes chapter two by saying that trusting in humans (and their gods) is ultimately not a good idea. "They are as frail as breath, what good are they?" Our trust and our faith should lie in God alone, not in the strength of a human or the alluring pull of their pagan gods. Yeah, people still worship pagan gods. They just look less like fat, shirtless statues and more like sports cars, or tv shows, or the reflection in the mirror, or the latest tech gadget glued to their palm. God longs for our undivided heart. His love requires all of ours in return. When His children try to fill the God-shaped-void in their hearts with other things it grieves Him.
God's heart is Jealous.
What idols do you see standing between you and God? What is keeping you from tearing them down?
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 1
The book of Isaiah has always been a favorite of mine. It holds some of my favorite scriptures and passages. So I decided to see if the rest of Isaiah could live up to the reputation of my favorite bits of the book. I dove in right at chapter one, taking the book one chapter at a time, and found that Isaiah was full of little treasures. I started writing down the beautiful glimpses I was getting of God's heart and now I want to share those with you.
I'm not going to post the whole chapter of Isaiah but I do suggest reading it so you can follow along with some of my notes. If you don't own a Bible don't worry there are some great free online Bibles you can use like Bible Hub by Biblos or Bible Gateway. If you are using a mobile device or tablet you can download the You Version Bible app for free as well. If you are following along I will most often be posting out of the New Living Translation.
Here we go!
Just as a little back story, Isaiah was a prophet in the years 740-681 B.C. to the land of Judah. A prophet's job was to be God's spokesperson, to give the people messages from the Lord. Most prophets were not popular because they usually came with messages of conviction to a sinful and rebellious people. Isaiah was no different. Even though some of his messages may seem harsh we have to remember that God breathed those messages through Isaiah out of deep and unrelenting love for His children. If we are open to that love we will find truth and possibly some treasures in all of Isaiah's chapters.
There are a lot of great truths in Isaiah's first chapter but I am going to focus on the message in the first nine verses.
First Isaiah lets us know that God is longing for His rebellious children* to come back to Him. This is an obvious sign of His beautiful, unconditional love. God is craving a relationship, a father child relationship to be exact, with His beloved sons and daughters. He wants them back even though they have acted the part of the rebel teenager. Lets take a look at what this means for us and what this shows us about God's heart.
Think of an ideal father/child relationship. Is the effort and commitment put into that relationship split evenly between the father and child? Not even close! The father has the bulk of the responsibility for the relationship resting on his shoulders. The child is just that....a child. It is the father's job to teach a child how to share the weight of a relationship. The father can't expect to receive much effort from the child in the beginning. The child will be needy, sometimes fully dependent upon the father even to the point of life or death. The child will then grow to love the father. He will recognize the father's voice and learn to obey, show affection and, eventually, balance the give and take of the relationship. The child will not be perfect and, in this world, neither will the father. They will both make mistakes.
This relationship is what the heart of our God craves. To be our loving and nurturing heavenly father. The beautiful and amazing thing is that all He expects out of His children is that we be exactly that.....children, learning, growing, messy children. (Isn't it great that He isn't looking for perfect people.) The only difference between the earthly relationships with our fathers and a heavenly relationship with The Father is that while we will stumble, while we will fall on our faces, while we will mess up...
He. Never. Will.
He is infinitely perfect. God doesn't make mistakes. God is incapable of inflicting the kind of pain that humans are capable of. He will not disappoint you. God's heart is devoted.
What is keeping you from accepting that father's love?
(*Note: God's "children" in this passage specifically means the Israelites, the chosen people of God. But after the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we are all chosen children by the covering of His blood and can include ourselves in the term "children of God". How awesome is that?)
I'm not going to post the whole chapter of Isaiah but I do suggest reading it so you can follow along with some of my notes. If you don't own a Bible don't worry there are some great free online Bibles you can use like Bible Hub by Biblos or Bible Gateway. If you are using a mobile device or tablet you can download the You Version Bible app for free as well. If you are following along I will most often be posting out of the New Living Translation.
Here we go!
Just as a little back story, Isaiah was a prophet in the years 740-681 B.C. to the land of Judah. A prophet's job was to be God's spokesperson, to give the people messages from the Lord. Most prophets were not popular because they usually came with messages of conviction to a sinful and rebellious people. Isaiah was no different. Even though some of his messages may seem harsh we have to remember that God breathed those messages through Isaiah out of deep and unrelenting love for His children. If we are open to that love we will find truth and possibly some treasures in all of Isaiah's chapters.
First Isaiah lets us know that God is longing for His rebellious children* to come back to Him. This is an obvious sign of His beautiful, unconditional love. God is craving a relationship, a father child relationship to be exact, with His beloved sons and daughters. He wants them back even though they have acted the part of the rebel teenager. Lets take a look at what this means for us and what this shows us about God's heart.
Think of an ideal father/child relationship. Is the effort and commitment put into that relationship split evenly between the father and child? Not even close! The father has the bulk of the responsibility for the relationship resting on his shoulders. The child is just that....a child. It is the father's job to teach a child how to share the weight of a relationship. The father can't expect to receive much effort from the child in the beginning. The child will be needy, sometimes fully dependent upon the father even to the point of life or death. The child will then grow to love the father. He will recognize the father's voice and learn to obey, show affection and, eventually, balance the give and take of the relationship. The child will not be perfect and, in this world, neither will the father. They will both make mistakes.
This relationship is what the heart of our God craves. To be our loving and nurturing heavenly father. The beautiful and amazing thing is that all He expects out of His children is that we be exactly that.....children, learning, growing, messy children. (Isn't it great that He isn't looking for perfect people.) The only difference between the earthly relationships with our fathers and a heavenly relationship with The Father is that while we will stumble, while we will fall on our faces, while we will mess up...
He. Never. Will.
He is infinitely perfect. God doesn't make mistakes. God is incapable of inflicting the kind of pain that humans are capable of. He will not disappoint you. God's heart is devoted.
What is keeping you from accepting that father's love?
(*Note: God's "children" in this passage specifically means the Israelites, the chosen people of God. But after the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we are all chosen children by the covering of His blood and can include ourselves in the term "children of God". How awesome is that?)
Monday, October 14, 2013
The Beginning
Welcome to Reflections!
I'm so excited that you've decided to visit my little corner of the world.
If you haven't read all about who I am already you can do so to the right, and if you're not sure what Reflections is all about hopefully you can get some questions answered on the Behind the Reflections page. If you have any questions that I didn't answer don't hesitate to leave me a comment.
Without boring you to tears or putting you to sleep I want to share a bit about how Reflections came to be. I have found in my limited number of years an unlimited desire to grow in closeness to the heart of God as well as in knowledge of His creations. As I asked God to bring me opportunities to grow, He didn't disappoint. The more I asked the more He taught me.
God has taught me through a number of avenues but it seems the most popular instructor of choice has been life experiences. Unfortunately as the lessons progressed in difficulty so did the life experiences. I found myself in the middle of my most trying "lesson" to date wondering what in the world I ever did to deserve this kind of heartache. In the tender way that only God can speak He reminded me that it was not the heartache I deserved but the deepness at which I would be able to love and receive love after the heartache had passed. It was perhaps this experience and the surrounding ones that brought me to a place of awe at the deep love and power of God. Standing in that place I began to catch glimpses of His heart. Little treasures of His character that I hadn't noticed before. They thrilled my heart! I found strength and joy in those treasures of God's heart. I began searching for them everywhere, in scripture, in nature, in people, in life. The crazy thing is, I found them! More and more I began training my eyes and my heart to catch these little glimpses and feel the pulls and whispers that I so cherished.
I realized that there is so much to who God is and how He loves that I hadn't even scratched the surface. I started writing about my encounters with God's heart, documenting on notebook pages, diaries, napkins, whatever I could get my hands on. I knew that these times with God were special and I always felt they were meant to be shared. Enter Reflections into the picture and here we are, with a unique and hopefully interesting perspective of the beautiful heart of God.
Now that you know all about me and probably more than you ever cared to know about my blog's back story, I want to know all about you! How did you find Reflections? Do you plan to come back? What are some things you would like to see discussed? Fill up my inbox people! I want to write about your interests as well as my experiences so keep your comments coming.
I'm so excited that you've decided to visit my little corner of the world.
If you haven't read all about who I am already you can do so to the right, and if you're not sure what Reflections is all about hopefully you can get some questions answered on the Behind the Reflections page. If you have any questions that I didn't answer don't hesitate to leave me a comment.
Without boring you to tears or putting you to sleep I want to share a bit about how Reflections came to be. I have found in my limited number of years an unlimited desire to grow in closeness to the heart of God as well as in knowledge of His creations. As I asked God to bring me opportunities to grow, He didn't disappoint. The more I asked the more He taught me.
God has taught me through a number of avenues but it seems the most popular instructor of choice has been life experiences. Unfortunately as the lessons progressed in difficulty so did the life experiences. I found myself in the middle of my most trying "lesson" to date wondering what in the world I ever did to deserve this kind of heartache. In the tender way that only God can speak He reminded me that it was not the heartache I deserved but the deepness at which I would be able to love and receive love after the heartache had passed. It was perhaps this experience and the surrounding ones that brought me to a place of awe at the deep love and power of God. Standing in that place I began to catch glimpses of His heart. Little treasures of His character that I hadn't noticed before. They thrilled my heart! I found strength and joy in those treasures of God's heart. I began searching for them everywhere, in scripture, in nature, in people, in life. The crazy thing is, I found them! More and more I began training my eyes and my heart to catch these little glimpses and feel the pulls and whispers that I so cherished.
I realized that there is so much to who God is and how He loves that I hadn't even scratched the surface. I started writing about my encounters with God's heart, documenting on notebook pages, diaries, napkins, whatever I could get my hands on. I knew that these times with God were special and I always felt they were meant to be shared. Enter Reflections into the picture and here we are, with a unique and hopefully interesting perspective of the beautiful heart of God.
Now that you know all about me and probably more than you ever cared to know about my blog's back story, I want to know all about you! How did you find Reflections? Do you plan to come back? What are some things you would like to see discussed? Fill up my inbox people! I want to write about your interests as well as my experiences so keep your comments coming.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:13
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