Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 28

Read chapter 28 here.

Let's talk about  the exchange we see in this chapter. The rulers of Israel were walking in sin. They were bragging that they had struck a bargain to cheat death and "dodge the grave". I don't know what deal they made, but no doubt their assurance of safety was coming from the enemy. They believed that they had a place of refuge to hide from death itself. This refuge they had built was constructed on a foundation of lies and deceit. God, in His omniscience, knew that their refuge would become their prison. Their plan to "escape death" would end in their eternal death. God has every right to scold and punish these men for their choices. They were the religious leaders, they had no excuse, no plea of ignorance to cover their dealings of evil. They knew more of God than anyone else in that day. Though their minds knew of Him, their hearts never knew Him. They turned to making deals with the enemy to endorse their lives of sin. God saw their choice of sin and chose, not to turn away from them, but to present them with another choice. A new refuge. A precious cornerstone. A foundation safe to build on. When their sin deserved punishment God, instead, gave them Jesus.
If you think about it, this is a picture of exactly what happens when we accept Christ. A beautiful exchange. Our sin for our salvation. Our death for eternal life. Darkness for light. Despair for hope. It's the last thing we deserve, but it's God's first response to our sin.
His Heart longs so deeply to draw you into His family that He made a way for your sin to be exchanged under grace. How could anyone refuse such an offer? Come in to God's love. Let Him strip away the sins of life and cover you in new life.
Step into His beautiful exchange.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah chapter 27

Hello there. :) It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, it wasn't intentional. Anyways, I'm excited to jump right back in where we left off.
As always you can read Isaiah chapter 27 here, and then come right back so we can talk about it. I'll wait here.

Isaiah is an interesting part of the Bible to read because so much of it can be connected to how we live now. We can pull truth out of prophecies that were meant for people two thousand years ago. Before we dive into the meat of this chapter I want to talk about what's going on in verse 1, it's a bit abstract so I want to separate it from our discussion about the rest of the chapter. The first verse talks about The Lord defeating Leviathan with his mighty sword. There is a lot of controversy over what (or who) "Leviathan" is but to me if you line it up with other scripture there isn't much to debate over. Lets look at what we know. First of all we know that Satan is the enemy of God and in this verse Isaiah portrayed Leviathan as being defeated by God. I don't think God is in the business of going on random harpoon hunts for sea monsters. This is not a meaningless battle. This is the defeat of Satan by God. The second thing that we know from scripture we get from Genesis 3:14-15,

So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Satan was cursed to crawl on his belly for the rest of his days, the very definition of a serpent. We also know from scripture that Satan has power, that's evident enough in our world as well. So who's to say that Satan didn't become Leviathan, his own version of a serpent, after the curse. It's not a stretch at all then for us to conclude that the "dragon of the sea" that The Lord will defeat with His sword, is Satan himself. 

All of that, the entire prophesy of Satan's defeat, wrapped up in one verse. 

Now that we got verse one out of the way let's talk about the rest of the chapter. We really see God's heart poured out in these next verses and what a picture of love He paints. I want you to really let the idea of the vineyard being you, God's child, sink in and read those verses again. With that perspective, this is what it looks like to Me.

V2 (paraphrased) I will sing about my precious child. 3 I, her father, watch over her, carefully tending to her needs. Day and night I watch over her so no one can harm her. 4 I am not angry any more. If I find dangerous or harmful things or people in her life I will defend my child from them. I will remove any threat, personally. 5 Let these people come to Me, let them come to Me and I will decide if they belong in my child's life. 6 I know the time is coming when my child will set roots of her own and prosper in her own life. 7 Yes, I have punished her, but never in harshness. Not like I would punish anyone else. She is my own. 8 No, I only discipline her to make her accountable. She had walked to places she didn't belong. 9 My punishment was to bring her back and purify her heart. Because of that she is pure of all sin. She is where she belongs.

Obviously I've taken some creative liberty here, I just want you to see how personal God's word can become. I didn't change any biblical truths or characteristics of God, but the text transforms from an old prophesy about an ancient culture to a very real and new and personal message from God. If we took time to let God's word speak to us, how differently would we face life? Think about it, just by letting this single passage seep into your heart I bet you have a new perspective of God as a father and protector. If we took the whole Bible personally, as it was intended, how would our lives change? Drastically? Definitely. Ask God to let His words come alive to you. When you read the Bible as a personal letter, a connection to God the father, change happens. God's heart becomes real, and your heart is never the same.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 26

Isaiah chapter 26
We are strong because of God's salvation.

The Faithful (The Remnant) enter the walls of the city of God's salvation. They have trusted in the Lord the Eternal Rock and their thoughts are so fixed on Him. Because of their devotion, God promises to keep them in perfect peace. Their faithfulness hasn't gone unnoticed and God is being faithful to them in return.

The Proud and Arrogant have been reduced to dust under the feet of the faithful, but God has made the path smooth and even for the faithful to walk on. Those who put themselves above the faithful, God humbles. Not so we can exalt ourselves as more than them, but so God can be exalted through us. We are not to rub our successes in their faces when the prideful are knocked down a peg, as His children we are expected to take that opportunity to introduce them to our Father. The exalted above all. The one who sees them in all their pride and loves them just as much as you and me.    

God knows that the faithful put their trust in Him because they follow what He says. Their heart's one desire is to glorify Him. They spend every moment seeking Him out and learning His heart. God gives them freedom and peace because they know He is the source of their accomplishments. They gladly confess that all of their success comes from Him.

When the faithful were in a time of distress they didn't doubt or run away, they searched. They knew their God had not turned from them, they only had to push deeper to find Him. Through His punishment of the unfaithful He was drawing the faithful to a deeper level of intimacy with Himself. A new realm of trust in their relationship. They have faith that those who follow Him to the end will arise with a new kind of joy, singing of His "life-giving light". 

These are attributes of a followers heart: Devoted, Humble, Available, Relentless. Take a minute to identify which characteristics describe you and which ones you may lack. Are you loyal to God only? Or do other things often hold the majority of your time and affection? Are you quick to give God the credit for your accomplishments? Or do you find yourself seeking out that pat on the back for your job well done? Are you open to God's prompting and listening for His voice? Or do you turn away from opportunities to share your Father with those around you? Do you push deeper when God feels absent? Or are you quick to throw up your hands and decide to sit where you are until God comes back? Admit your weaknesses to your Father and declare your desire to grow. Offer control of your heart to God and watch as He molds you to become His version of you. Let Him stretch you and push you and watch your heart fall in line with these characteristics. 

When your heart matches His heart, that's a beautiful thing.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 21-25

You can Read Isaiah chapters 21-25 here.

   The reason I decided to group these five chapters is because of their similarity. You will notice when you read them that there is a lot of repetition in the first four chapters. Chapters 21-23 repeat a similar judgement message to six specific people groups, and chapter 24 reiterates that message to the whole world. The details vary in each chapter but the core message is the same, God is coming to judge all people and determine between those who belong to Him, and those who belong to the world. There was a word in chapter 24 that caught my eye, something we've seen before in Isaiah's prophesies, the word remnant. Isaiah says in 24:13 "Throughout the earth the story is the same-only a remnant is left.." What is the remnant? The remnant will be made of The Faithful, those who were true to The Lord even in the hard times. Chapter 24 verses 14-16 say this of the remnant,

 "But all who are left shout and sing for joy.....We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One!"

Chapter 25 is an example of what those praises will sound like. Those included in the remnant of spared children will rejoice in their salvation. God planned this judgement a long time ago, and when His plans come to pass the faithful ones will sing of His power. Verse 3 says that even those not chosen to be part of the remnant will exalt God's strength.

"Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory, ruthless nations will fear you."

Think about what is being said here, world powers will emphatically proclaim His glory, merciless nations will be afraid of Him. What great power, to evoke this kind of reverence and emotion. What a great God, to embody such power and, in the same being, such love, as expressed in the rest of the chapter. He is described as a tower of refuge for the poor, needy, and distressed. A refuge from the storm of oppression. He is silence, stillness and shade.

Sometimes when I read things from the Old Testament I find myself in a mindset of "this happened ages before Jesus came and so, none of it can really apply to me". I know that it's true and that it's God's word and we should follow it's leading, but sometimes I read it and go, "that was a great story" or "wow, God did some great things". I forget that, that God is my God. These chapters were great reminders of that because they actually aren't talking about some obscure prophesy of the ancient Jew's future. They are big, flashing billboards that point to our future. The future of all followers of Christ. They aren't talking about smiting the neighboring enemy of the Jews, they are talking about wiping out God's enemy, our enemy, forever. That remnant Isaiah spoke of, it's not the spared people of an Old Testament battle, that remnant is us. That remnant is followers across the world singing in thousands of languages the song of salvation.

Listen to the proclamation made in verse 9;

"In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”"

Imagine this kind of praise being sung all over the world, in every nation, in every language. Imagine how beautiful that will be. In His deep love God offers this beautiful gift to all of His children. The chance to follow Him and become a piece of the remnant. I want to be a part of that. I want to sing at the top of my lungs that I trusted my God and He saved me. God's heart longs for this remnant of people to include every one of His children, and my heart longs to be counted as His child.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 20

Isaiah chapter 20

What an obscure chapter! I'm not going to lie to you I think my mouth hung open a little bit when I read it for the first time. It's chapters like these that give you a fantastic glimpse at God's character. When it comes to getting our attention He will literally use whatever method it takes to turn our heads. Can we just talk about the dedication of Isaiah to God's call? I mean how many of us would walk around naked for three years because The Lord asked us to? I can tell you I would have failed that assignment. Isaiah trusted his whole self to God. He had surrendered his life in it's entirety to God's call. That meant Isaiah followed wherever, however, and whatever God told him, no questions asked. Sadly enough, in our culture it probably would take a person walking down the street with "their buttocks bared" to get our attention. How scary is that? If God needed to get our attention would we hear Him? Are any of us committed enough to be the exposed prophet to our world? I don't think God is calling us to walk through our neighborhoods in the nude, however, I know he is calling us to go against the current of our culture. He has called us to stand out. 1 Peter 2:9 says it like this,

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"

The word 'peculiar' in this verse has two different meanings. The first one is 'strange' or 'odd', and the second one is 'to belonging to'. So, God has called us to be strangers to our world, but in the same breath He quickly claims us as His own. In essence, we may be strange, but we are His. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Yes God has called us to stand out among the world, to sing the praises of the one who called us out of darkness and into His light, but He doesn't hesitate to make it known that, in our strangeness, we belong to Him.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 19

Read Isaiah 19 here.

I want us to take a look at some themes we see in this chapter. We have read enough of Isaiah that these "impending punishment" chapters are beginning to sound repetitious, but if you take time to look deep enough there is something unique in each chapter. We are going to look briefly at the punishment the Egyptians are facing, but I really want us to dig deeper into how this punishment will affect their future.

God has decided to punish Egypt by creating strife, pitting Egyptian against Egyptian. They will become discouraged and confused, their idols and mediums will not be able to help them and they will be given over to a harsh ruler. God will also send a drought to cause the Nile to recede. The Egyptians depended greatly on the Nile river's annual flood to fertilize the land and water their crops. Without the flood there was a great famine and a lot of people lost work. The fisherman, farmers, harvesters and weavers all lost their livelihoods. Still the people were going to the officials and wise men for help, the ones God called deluded fools, only to be led astray again. God says the Egyptians would be helpless, the noblemen and the poor. Isaiah begins to tell us in verse 16 how broken and frightened the Egyptians are. Imagine realizing the power you believed in all your life to help you and guide you wasn't the right power. Imagine finding out there is a God but He's not any of the ones you've been worshiping, and it turns out your whole country has managed to make Him really angry.

Now as an Egyptian you are left with two choices, run from God, or run to God. You may decide that this is too much, that you didn't sign up for all this, you were fine going about your day believing in the gods of you ancestors. You memorized their names and you know their stories, you even prayed to them on occasion. That was fine, but they never did anything different. They never showed up unexpectedly and changed life as you knew it. They always sat in their temples or shrines and did the same thing year in and year out. You didn't bother them, and they didn't bother you. That, you were ok with, that was comfortable, that was easy. Now...now there is this power that you never counted on, and He's angry. He's angry at you because of your choices. Your gods never cared about your choices before. You never had to answer to them for your life decisions. This is different and scary, this is hard.

You also have the choice of the five cities. Verse 18 says that five cities of Egypt made a different choice about God. "In that day five of Egypt’s cities will follow the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." These cities saw God in a different way. They had been raised with the same ancient gods and they went through the same devastation as the rest of Egypt, but instead of turning from Him, they turn to Him. They decide to trust in the only God that is bigger than life. The only God that can change their world and their hearts. Look at what blessings come to those cites! Verses 19-25 tell us that when the Egyptians cry out to God he will "send them a savior who will rescue them", He will "make Himself known" to them. Because of their faith they are now a part of God's family and they can count on the gift of salvation. Verse 22 says "The Lord will strike Egypt, and He will bring Healing." God had to deliver the punishment before He could administer the healing. In their ignorance God could not heal their empty hearts, but in their brokenness God could pour His life into the void. We also see Assyria mentioned in the end of the chapter and Isaiah says they will also turn to God. Egypt and Assyria will be connected and Israel will be their ally, mortal enemies will become working neighbors because of one common thread, they all love God. The last few things Isaiah says are incredible,

"For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!"

If there was ever a doubt in your mind that God's heart is for ALL people this should be more than enough to wipe that doubt away.  God blessed the Egyptians greatly because they opened their hearts to Him. God's heart loves to bless those who trust in Him.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 18

Read Isaiah 18 here.
I'm not ashamed to say I had some help with this chapter. That is the purpose of all this isn't it, to grow and to learn together? If you read the chapter (which I hope you do every week) then you know how abstract and....different this chapter was. I began digging through some bible commentaries and I found out that I wasn't the only one who thought this chapter was difficult to comprehend. Commentators have been calling Isaiah 18 "One of the most obscure prophecies in Isaiah." (-Homer Hailey pg. 156) since the seventeen hundreds. One modern preacher/theologian coined this "the most difficult chapter encountered thus far." (-Robert Lowth's Commentary pg. 234).  Well that made me feel a little bit better. So this is how chapter eighteen translates; The people of Ethiopia approached the Israelites with the offer of an alliance. The major power of the time was, as we've read, the Assyrians. An alliance between Israel and Ethiopia would mean Assyria would no longer pose as a threat to either country. As you can imagine this was an immensely attractive offer. So why does Isaiah advise the Israelites to tun it down?

I want you to pay close attention to verse 4, which is God's response to the Ethiopian's offer.

For the LORD has told me this:
“I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—
as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day,
or as the morning dew forms during the harvest.”

God doesn't need allies. He looks from His place in heaven and sees all the plans being made but He does't need to run out and seek an alliance to be sure of His future. He calmly looks on and waits. God will protect His people and He will do it Himself. He will cut down the threat before it has time to mature. Those threatening Israel will be left to be feasted on by the birds of prey.

We are so quick to panic when faced with threats. We feel the need to search out the best plan, the best ally, the best escape from our trouble. We forget that with God on our side, we need no other ally. God does not panic when threats arise, He looks calmly on and waits for the perfect time to step in. When a threat arises in your life, to your job, your health, your pocket, or maybe your relationships, don't panic. Look calmly on and wait in faith for God's perfect timing. Trust Him, the 'perfect timing', it's kind of His thing.

God's heart is for His people, we know that. God's heart has a plan and that plan is steadfast and unchanging, we know that too. In this chapter we learn that God's heart does not fear the enemy in times of trouble, so, neither should ours.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 17

Read Isaiah Chapter 17 here.
At first glance this chapter seems to start out pretty similar to how a lot of Isaiah has sounded so far. Isaiah is delivering a message to Damascus and Israel about God's coming punishment. However as the chapter progresses I found a couple of nuggets that make the repetition of the chapter become a stepping stone into some great glimpses of God's heart. God has plans of punishment in place. He says everything that makes Israel glorious or beautiful will waste away. The people who are left after the destruction will be scattered, and the harvest will be desolate. Then, God's heart shows through all the darkness. Previous to God's intercession of their lives the people of the Northern Kingdom were worshiping Idols and were involved in some pretty horrible stuff. God desperately wants His people to return to Him. He was willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant He was going to have to punish them to get their attention. Verses 7 and 10 say this,

"Then at last the people will look to their creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy one of Israel."

"Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you
You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you."

God does not punish us for revenge or to slaughter the sinners. God is not full of malice or anger waiting to exact His perfect plan of destruction on us. When God decides He needs to punish His children you had better believe it is to remind us of His love and is a last resort to get ahold of our hearts. God punishes us to remind us that He is where we should be. To show us that the path we have chosen is going to hurt us. To open our eyes to realize we have turned away from our Rock and Salvation, only He can protect us, only He can hide us and we are not safe until we are with Him. In His love He brings us back to the God who saves and the Rock that hides.

The second nugget I pulled from this chapter begins in verse 12. Here is what verses 12-14 say,

"Listen! The armies of many nations
roar like the roaring of the sea.
Hear the thunder of the mighty forces
as they rush forward like thundering waves.
But though they thunder like breakers on a beach,
God will silence them, and they will run away.
They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
In the evening Israel waits in terror,
but by dawn its enemies are dead.
This is the just reward of those who plunder us,
a fitting end for those who destroy us."

We have seen the paternal love of God as He teaches us a painful lesson to protect our hearts, and now we see His love as a big brother. Yes God was going to teach Israel a lesson, yes it was going to be painful, but no one was going to do it for Him. God would not let anyone in hatred and greed do to His people what He was going to do in wisdom and love. If God was out to punish us just to see us suffer He would let the first opposing army that came by get the job done for Him. God intended to teach His people a lesson in love to win their hearts, not destroy their lives to punish their sin. That is my God. That is the beauty of His complex, unconditional, Abba Father, Big Brother love. That is His heart.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 15 and 16

Read Isaiah fifteen and sixteen here.

We are going to look at chapters fifteen and sixteen together because they are two parts of one prophesy. We know that these two chapters focus on the coming destruction of Moab, but what do we know about Moab? To fully grasp the heart of what is happening here we need to step back and read the story behind the story.

"Moab was East of the Dead Sea. The Moabites were descendants of Lot through his incestuous relationship with his older daughter (Genesis 19:31-37). Moab had always been Israel's enemy. They oppressed Israel and invaded their land (Judges 3:12-14) fought against Saul (1 Samuel 14:47) and against David (2 Samuel 8:2, 11, 12) Moab would be punished for treating Israel harshly." 

-Life Application Study Bible Notes on Isaiah 15

From the first verse of chapter 15 we can tell that Moab is facing some of the most devastating destruction Isaiah has yet to prophesy. A whole town will be leveled and a city completely destroyed in one night. By the end of Chapter 16 Moab's fate is sealed, three years will see their total downfall.

After reading Moab's story it is easy to think that, 'Moab is getting what they deserved.' 'They messed with God's people and they're paying for it.' 'They were sinners, born of sin.' Let me humbly remind us of our own beginning. We were born of sin, we are sinners. We are God's people and every time we make a decision to sin we are, technically, messing with God's people. So then, what do we deserve? Honestly, to die. To be punished eternally for our sins. Because God is just and He judges fairly.

However, (don't you love that word?) however, we are also dealing with a God of mercy and grace. In His unmatched mercy He doesn't give us what we deserve; death, but in His amazing grace He gives us what we don't deserve; life. One of the most humbling pictures of this love is shown to Moab in it's time of distress, and it comes from somewhere unexpected. After Moab's gods couldn't help them (because they were blocks of wood) the refugees turned to the people they had attacked and plundered for years. They turned for protection to a people who they had killed in battle and Israel willingly opened it's borders and offered to protect their enemies. The Moabites deserved the punishment that was coming to them. No one would have blamed Israel for turning them away. But instead they chose to become a flesh-and-blood example of God's love here on earth. They put aside their pride and stepped away from bitterness, they chose grace and mercy, they chose God. If God's heart is gracious and merciful then so should ours be. When opportunities arise to chose between holding on to a grudge or letting go and loving those who hurt you, ask God to let His heart beat through your heart. Let His Devine love overtake your heart and pour out into the relationships around you. Let His heart live in yours.

Chapters oh His Heart: Isaiah 14

Beyond Enough

Lets start by reading Isaiah 14 here.
If you have been following Isaiah so far you will know that Israel has done everything BUT follow the Lord. They have turned their backs and completely walked away from God. After all that, after being betrayed by the people He loved the very most, this is what Isaiah says of the Lord:

"He will choose Israel as his special people once again. He will bring them back to settle once again in their own land."

He STILL chose Israel. After everything, God still loved Israel. God still chose them. How merciful is our God! Love we can not understand. Forgiveness that will never be reproduced on this earth by any man. When God loves someone He deeply loves them, and He never stops loving them. Ever.
When we think we have reached the point of being unlovable how relieving is it to find God waiting with open arms. Our choices, our mess ups and mistakes can not shake the purpose of the Lord. How vain is it for us to think that our decisions are capable of altering the purpose of our lives as set forth by God.

Not only did the Lord have mercy on Israel, He showed them kindness. God didn't stop with forgiveness and acceptance, which would have been enough, He pushed deeper and reached farther. God passed up "enough" and went straight on to "more than we deserve", that's just how He works. He loved them so much that He couldn't leave them in their self-made oppression. He brought them home. The people of Israel had been captive and made slaves, but the Lord had other plans. Those who had taken His people captive would in turn be made Israel's slaves. The oppressors made slaves of the oppressed. Verses 24-27 are addressed to the Assyrians, the people who had captured Israel. The Lord declares that they will be broken of their hold on his people. These verses contain a powerful reminder to us of God's authority and power. No one can move the hand of God once it is set forth. One version says this:

"It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided... The Lord of Heaven's armies has spoken, who can change His plans? When His hand is raised, who can stop Him?"

Another version says:

"Surely , as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand... For the Lord of Hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?"

What a reminder! When you feel captive, to whatever it may be, fear, guilt, depression, loneliness, remember... you are the Lord's, the precious one He loves and He has a purpose for you. Nothing the world can send your way, nothing the enemy can blind you with, nothing is to big, to strong, or to deep that the power of our God can not pervade. When the Lord has purposed something, when he has set His hand to something, nothing and no one can turn Him back. His purpose will always shine through, His hand will always hold strong. He is God, the plans of His heart are not just to give us enough, but to give us more than we deserve.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 13

You can read Isaiah 13 here.
The wickedness of man does not go unpunished by the Lord. He will raise up an army to so destroy the wicked that not a trace of them will be left on the earth. Tolerance is not a word found in God's vocabulary. Wickedness is not an overlook-able occupation. If this is God's heart then so should it be ours. I'm not saying we should wipe the wicked off the face of the earth. I am saying we should wipe the wickedness out of our own hearts. God is to be the judge of others but we are responsible for our own hearts. Never should we tolerate wickedness in ourselves. No status quo, no peer pressure, no person, no desire, should ever convince us to tolerate evil.
When we allow wickedness, or sin, to root into our hearts we choke out any seed of Gods word that was growing there. Without His word we are without His spirit and thats a dangerous place to be. Sometimes I think we over generalize the word 'sin'. When someone says "clear your heart of sin" our first thoughts are sometimes "Well I haven't murdered or stolen anything or committed adultery and I haven't really lied about anything important...so, I'm good, no sin here!". We forget that sin isn't restricted to the ten commandments. Just because our actions don't fall under one of the "big sin" categories doesn't mean we aren't in sin. The bible says worrying is a sin, so is a bad attitude, or jealousy. Those are the things we need to guard our hearts from. Because they aren't "big" things they can slip into our lives undetected. Babylon was destroyed beyond repair because of it's sin, it never rose out of it's ruins. That is the fate of the wicked when faced with a just judge. May we search our hearts and weed out any seed of wickedness that may lie there. May we purify ourselves before God. God's heart is without wickedness, may our hearts mirror His.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 12

The Return

Read Isaiah chapter 12 here.

We left off in the last chapter with God's promise to reunite His children from all corners of the earth. In this chapter God makes Israel a new promise, one that hinges on the 'reunion promise' of the previous chapter. I'm calling it a joy promise. God promises that one day He will be with them again and there will be such joy that everyone will sing. God promises comfort and happiness after times of separation and war and captivity, He promises a new time of praise. He will be their victory and their salvation, He will reunite Himself with His lost children. His people would once again do what they were created to do, what every fiber of their beings longed to do, they would praise God. They had been away from Him for so long but now, with such joy and release, they would sing because they were no longer apart. They would sing of God's power and might, and praise Him for dwelling among them once again. That was God's new promise, the promise of a victory song.

It isn't hard to apply this story to our own hearts. If you have ever walked through a time where you felt far from God then you know the joy that comes when you are reunited with Him. Maybe you are walking that lonely path now and you can't seem to feel or see or hear God. Try lifting up a song of praise. Let the heaviness fall away from your heart and let it be replaced with a new song of joy. Though it might not be easy at first, you will find that there is something natural and freeing about pure, unrestrained praise. It's because that is the way God made us. We will connect with our creator when we take part in the act of praise that we were created for. 

God's heart longs for our praise and our hearts were made to give it. 

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 11

A Remnant of Hope

First read Isaiah chapter 11 and then join me back here. 

From the remnant comes a promise. From hope comes greater hope. Israel was cut down to a stump, destroyed, but for a remnant of the faithful. From this stump a new branch will grow from the old root.  A man of hope, a perfectly fair judge who would rule forever. In the time of His reign peace would fall and all of nature would return to harmony. Wild animals would be gentle, "The Lion will eat hay like a cow." Children would play with dangerous animals without harm. What a world! This must be a picture of what Eden was like. So beautiful, so perfect, so like God. My favorite part is verse nine, listen to this;

"Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
 for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD."

Beautiful. Such a beautiful promise.

This branch, this man, was the heir to David's throne, the Messiah. His reign  would bring salvation to all the world. God promised that one day, because of the Messiah, He would bring the remnant of His scattered people from every corner of the earth. This is what Christ will do when He comes back to rule the Earth. He will gather all His people. He promises that He will make a way for their return. Whatever it takes He will bring His own back to Him. Even if it means rerouting the largest river on earth to get them there. (Read verse 15 again) God's heart longs to be reunited with His children.

Chapter of His Heart: Isaiah 10

The Just, The Humble, and The Faithful

You can read Isaiah 10 here.
God targets three different groups of people in this chapter and I want to spend some time on each group. Lets try to remember that even though God was speaking to a specific group of people in the old testament, if we are honest with ourselves, we can find traces of their traits in all of us.  I was in a church service once and the preacher approached the pulpit and said "Good evening, before we begin I would like you all to put away your shovels." He said it as naturally as if he were asking you to turn your phone on silent for the service. When he looked up and saw that no one had any idea what he was talking about, the preacher explained that too often when we hear a sermon or read a word from God we think "I know who he's preaching to" or "So-and-so needs to hear this, maybe it would straighten  him/her out". We come to church with our shovels out, so to speak, and when the preacher gives the sermon we scoop it up with our shovels and toss it on someone we think needs to hear it. We don't stop to examine our own lives to see if the words pertain to us before we self-righteously toss the message to that "sinner" in the next pew. So today as you take a minute to read this chapter, put your shovel down and let God's word sink into your heart and bring to the surface anything you may need to attend to.

The first group of people we hear about are the Judges of Israel. In Bible times Judges were appointed by God over every tribe in the nation to govern the people. God saw that the Judges were becoming corrupt and dealing unfairly with the people. God promises that these unjust acts would be dealt with and the people who committed them would be punished.

"What will you do when I punish you…To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe? -Isaiah 10:3

God could not tolerate injustice. Those people, and the things those people owned, were destroyed. When you deal with people, are you fair? Are you looking out for others or for yourself? Remember the Judges when you think you can get away with treating people unfairly, because God will not let you go unchecked.

The Assyrians are the second group God uses as an example, and they represent people who take credit for God's works.  God had used the Assyrians as a tool to punish Israel for her disobedience. God allowed them take Israel captive, but Assyria was taking the credit. Arrogantly they boasted of their strength and what they had accomplished, even vowing to destroy Israel's "god". They didn't realize that God was the deciding factor in their victory. If it were not for God's hand moving in their favor the Assyrians never would have made it past the city limits.

"But can an ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?" -Isaiah 10:15

We never do anything unless it is in, through, with, or by God. We couldn't draw another breath without His power. Things don't just happen, God happens. Assyria was destroyed because of it's pride in it's own strength. The Bible has a lot to say about pride, and probably one of the most well known passages on the topic is Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall." That's exactly what happened to the Assyrians and that's why we can't let pride touch our hearts. The moment we believe we can do anything in our own strength is the moment we fall.

The last group is the faithful followers of Israel. Lets flash back to Isaiah 6, God left us a little clue to His plan when He promised a remnant.

"..but as a Terebinth or Oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel's stump will be a holy seed."-Isaiah 6:13

 After all the punishment and plundering of Israel that was to come, God would honor those who were steadfast in their faith. They would be the remnant, they would be the holy seed. Flash forward to chapter 10 and the remnant is mentioned again. God has already decided to destroy the land of Israel but He promises hope to the faithful. Again He calls them "the remnant" and again He promises that they will be spared. They will return to God and to their land. The definition of the word remnant is 'a fragment, a scrap or a trace'. Sometimes it may seem like you are the remnant, like you are the faithful follower and everyone else has jumped ship. It may seem like you are being faithful but you are still being punished with those who are not. Remember the Israelites who were faithful. Because they never gave up their trust in God, He used them to grow a new nation of believers. Out of the scraps God brought hope.

I hope we didn't let our shovels sneak back out while we were reading, because honestly I think this chapter was a reminder we all could use. When the opportunity arises, be the one to deal fairly even when others aren't. Because God's heart loves the just. If someone compliments you on an achievement, remember who's strength got the job done, and give Him the credit. Because God's heart empowers yours. Those who follow faithfully will be remembered by God, those who are the remnant will be restored. Because God's heart honors the faithful.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 9

I know, I know….I'm late. To be completely honest I've been a bit distracted by the new white world outside and Friday morning completely flew by. If you've been watching the weather the past few days then you probably know that Ohio is buried somewhere under, at least, five inches of ice and snow. So I'm calling it a snow delay. Maybe some pictures will make up for my forgetfulness. :D (Scroll down to see the winter wonderland. Well, after you read my post…)

Isaiah 9 is a refreshing and hope filled reminder that God is not all doom and destruction. It reminds us that He is a God of peace and He offers His hope to all who will accept it. Here are a few of my favorite passages from this chapter.

"Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever….The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine….For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders….The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and it's peace will never end, He will rule with fairness and Justice from the throne of His ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven's Armies will make this happen!"

Such hope, such glorious hope! Hope of a future, hope of glory and light, of harvest and freedom, of peace and end to war, hope of a Messiah. Hope to one day live in His everlasting reign of peace. Such is the hope that belongs to those who wholeheartedly trust the Lord, to those who follow His commands. Yet such is the nation's pride that such a hope is lost to them. Never will they experience such hope through their pride-blinded eyes. Pride says "In our strength…" or "Look what we have done.." but hope comes to those who say "It is only by His strength…" or "Look what He has done".

When we boast of our accomplishments without giving credit to the one who gave us the abilities to accomplish things, we are just as pride-blinded as the Israelites were. Instead of choosing to trust in His strength they choose their pride, and instead of being rewarded with The Great Hope, they were punished with a great anger. Their arrogance did not go unnoticed and neither did it go unchecked. God's heart longs to fulfill His promise of hope, but until our pride is thrown away and replaced by a repentant heart, there will be no hope. He is waiting, and when we come….oh such hope.

As promised, here are some pictures I took this morning of the snow. Enjoy!

The pond behind my house.

 

This is my puppy, she loves the snow!

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 8

Before we dive in lets get some background perspective on chapter eight. God the Father loves His children, I mean really loves them, completely and unconditionally without fail. In response to this beautiful love of The Creator, God's children push Him away. The creation has declared itself wiser and better off without it's Creator. With a broken heart God gives His children countless opportunities to return to His open arms. Time after time they refuse to give Him the only thing He desires; their hearts. He longs to protect them as a father, comfort them as a mother, uplift them as a friend, stand by them as a brother, and cherish them as an intimate companion. "My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it." -Isaiah 8:6 They know they have an emptiness inside but they can only see the shiny temptations of the world as capable fillers. How could an abstract God fill a very concrete heart? So the creation walks away, leaving The Creator behind to mourn the loss of His child. What they didn't realize was that when they left God, they also left His protection.

God was willing to do anything to get His children back. Over and over again He rescued them from their own mistakes and gave them another chance to return. God spared them a final time from their plotting enemies, but instead of turning to God and praising Him for saving them, they rejoiced in the bad things that were happening to their adversaries. When God saw that they had still rejected His love, He gave them over to their own corruptness. The punishment He had placed upon the "plotting enemies" He would also allow on His children.

After God's protection is lifted from His wayward children, we see God caution Isaiah to stay true to Him. God has seen too many of His people walk away from Him to know that every man, even one of God's prophets, is capable of stumbling in the world of temptations. In verses eleven through seventeen Isaiah repeats God's warning to him as a warning to us all. God tells Isaiah not to think like everyone else does, nor dread the things that frighten them. God says He is the only one you should fear in this life, the God of heaven's armies is the only one who should make you tremble. Isaiah goes on to say that if you make God holy in your life He will keep you safe, but those who push Him away He will make to fall. What we read next is the part I really want you to hold on to here. Isaiah makes His own decision known,  "I will wait for the Lord…I will put my hope in Him." There were two choices for Isaiah to make, the choice of the wayward child or the choice of the devoted child. Isaiah decided to set himself apart as a child of God. He chose to fill the emptiness in his heart with the very real love of a very real God. He took one look at the pretty temptations shining in all their glory and said "No thank you, I'd rather have God." Let's remember the example Isaiah set for us. When we see those tempting, shiny, world things that clammer to claim a place in our hearts, lets remember that God still protects those who make Him holy in their lives. Let's remember that God's heart still breaks when a child walks away from His love. Let's remember to say "No thank you, I'd rather have God." Let's remember that God's heart is all we need.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 7

Isaiah chapter seven tells us the story of God sending King Ahaz of Judah a message. Ahaz was trying to cope with finding out that two neighboring nations were forming an alliance against him. The king of Aram (now know as Syria) and the king of Israel were planning an attack on Judah's capitol city. They wanted to set up a king over Judah that they could manipulate to rule in their favor. Ahaz caught word of this plot and started flipping out. He knew what invading armies did when they attacked a city, and he knew that his one army could not hold off two.

So the Lord sends Isaiah with a message to meet King Ahaz. The Lord tells King Ahaz to stop worrying because the invasion will never even take place. God explains that Israel and Aram are not strong enough to prevail against Judah, but that isn't the only reason the attack isn't going to happen. We'll get to the other reason in a minute. The Lord knows Ahaz has his doubts so He tells Ahaz to ask Him for a sign of confirmation, but Ahaz replies, "No, I will not test the Lord like that". Wow, this guy either has some nerve or some faith. (Unfortunately when we read on we find out it's the former, he's got a stupid nerve.) When I first read this passage I thought, I would have failed that faith test miserably, I would have taken God up on His offer and asked Him for a sign. I would want to know that I was really hearing from God. Ahaz on the other hand, decides that maybe he doesn't want to hear what God has to say. So he plays the righteous card and blows God off with a theological cliche, not a great choice. The response Ahaz gets is pretty intense and I think, to get the full effect, you should just read it for yourself.

"Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn't it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look!" 

-Isaiah 7:13-14 NLT 

No, I did not add the exclamation points, those are actually in there. Now, maybe you don't think Ahaz's answer was wrong. Maybe you think it was actually respectful of him to turn down the offer, maybe he was showing his level of faith. Keep in mind that while that answer itself may not have been wrong, the motives that produced it, were. God knows our hearts better than we do. He knew that Ahaz wasn't acting out of faith, but out of pride. God goes on to give Ahaz a sign that would actually foreshadow the coming of Christ, as well as prove to Ahaz that God really wasn't going to let Judah be attacked.

We finally come to the other reason why God was keeping Judah safe from this threat. God has other plans. God was already planing a form of punishment on Judah, and Israel and Aram were not a part of that plan. God was going to send another country as a "razor" to wipe Judah clean. That was God's sign to Judah. I'm not going to let these "burned out embers" punish you because I've already given that job to someone else. The point here is this, God has a plan, and His plans are infinite and perfect and cannot be changed. Not by The Enemy's works and certainly not by man's works. Not only do we have this great reassurance that no one can change the plans set forth by God, but we also have the promise that, for those who love God, His plans give us hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) This truth applies across the board. (Not just when neighboring armies attack.) God's heart and His plans are steadfast.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 6

Isaiah experienced what very few people have ever experienced on earth, and his is one of  the few accounts that we have like it. Isaiah saw God.
He literally saw the Lord of heavens armies with his human eyes. Isaiah accounts that he was so overwhelmed at the holy presence of God that he immediately repented. He  was sure that he was going to die in the presence of such holiness. His words were "it's all over! I'm doomed..." (Isaiah 6:5). I know it sounds a bit dramatic but we're not talking about meeting a celebrity crush or the current top-of-the-charts pop star. This is The God of all creation. The holder of our universe. The one who knows how many hairs you have on your head (and how many are in your hairbrush). The one who planned out your ENTIRE life before you were even thought of in this world. The God who held your yesterday, is walking beside you right now, and has already prepared tomorrow. Isaiah wasn't being dramatic in the least, he was being realistic. Think of your human, flesh-ly filth in the presence of an all knowing, all seeing, everywhere God...your reaction would probably be more dramatic than Isaiah's.

The amazing part comes next. An angel attending God, called a seraphim, came up to the blubbering Isaiah with a live coal and places it on Isaiah's lips. Now, at this point I'm trying to picture the look on Isaiah' s face when this heavenly being comes at him with a piece of coal straight from the fire. I'm thinking panic mixed with 'I'm a dead man'. (Kind of the way my face looks when I'm dreaming that I tripped and then wake up to that horrible falling sensation.) When the coal touches Isaiah's lips the angel steps back and says, your guilt is removed, your sins are forgiven. Not that the hot coal did that, only God can forgive our sins. (The coal was more of a ceremonial metaphor of the purifying of our lives that has to happen before we can approach the throne of God on our own.)

Here comes the cool part. God says "whom should I send as a messenger to this people? (His people) Who will go for us?" Isaiah's response? "Here I am. Send me." God's reply, "yes, go". Two minutes ago Isaiah was an emotional mess because he knew he wasn't fit to be in God's presence. Then with one cleansing and empowering touch, a sinful form of a man was transformed into a messenger of the Lord. Could you even imagine the rush Isaiah must have felt when he heard the words "yes, go"? Excitement, adrenaline, courage, inadequacy, determination, fear, what potential, what responsibility! Being a messenger of God wasn't a cushy job. They had to deliver the hard messages right along with the easy ones, and it just so happened that Isaiah's first assignment was going to be pretty difficult. His job was to speak to a people who thought they were blessed by God and break the news that God was going to destroy them because of their disobedience. Talk about a tough crowd. In fact God already knew that the people wouldn't listen. One commentary reads:

"God told Isaiah that the people would listen but not learn from his message because their hearts had been hardened beyond repentance. God's patience with their chronic rebellion had finally exhausted. His judgement was to abandon them to their rebellion and hardness of heart. Why did God send Isaiah if He knew the people wouldn't listen? Although the nation itself would not repent and would reap judgement, some individuals would listen. In 6:13 God explains His plan for a remnant (holy seed) of faithful followers"                         -Life Application Study Bible notes on Isaiah 6:9-13 pg 1101

You may have come to the conclusion that all the book of Isaiah talks about is judgement and doom on Israel. That's where this chapter differs from the previous ones, and I love how God chose to end it. Have you ever watched a movie that ends in a way that just perfectly sets you up for a sequel? That's the way I feel God ends Isaiah 6, with a little cliff hanger. Like a sneak preview of what He's planning next. I love that. It's like getting a little glimpse of a new part of God's character for me. Like He's letting you in on something. I love reading the Bible and finding those little pieces of God. In talking about the punishment to come to Israel God says this:

"If even a tenth-a remnant-survive, it will be invaded again and burned. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves stump when it is cut down, so Israel's stump will be a holy seed." -Isaiah 6:13

And roll credits. I love that! God is so playful, a master story teller. Through all of this God has shown us that His heart has a plan for His faithful followers. An individual plan to do great things in and through us like Isaiah, and a master plan that orchestrates our lives into the beautiful community of faithful followers who are living for God. God's heart has a plan.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 5

It seems the theme of the previous chapters has resurfaced in chapter five. God, through Isaiah, is warning the people of Judah and Jerusalem of His impending punishment for their wickedness.

Isaiah spends the first part of the chapter explaining all that God has done for His people, the good things he's provided and the way He has cared for them. After all that, God tells of the bitter disappointment He faced when the people He tended to, grew to be violent and unjust. God lets them know what will happen to them and their land, He will remove their protection and let them be destroyed. God even says when nations come against them there will be no rescue for them. God's people had stepped outside of the protective boundaries that He had set up for them and by doing that they also stepped out from under His hand of protection. They would find that those boundaries were not kill joys but life savers. The very boarders they ran from they would find themselves running to.

However, the bulk of this chapter is spent going over the sins of the people and giving each one a consequence. The interesting thing is that the consequence was usually the sin itself. If people were stealing, their consequence would be that they would have everything stolen from them. If they were exploiting others land they would be exiled from their own land. The people's blatant sin was always the cause of their own downfall. The things they took pleasure in ultimately destroyed them.

So, what? Now the Bible is saying anything that gives us pleasure is bad? No. Target missed here, that isn't the point. God loves fun, I mean have you ever seen a platypus? Or a narwhal?  The point God is making is this, there are rules in life, guidelines, if you want to live under His protection. You step out of the lines, you step out of His protection. Let me go out on a limb here and try to give you a bit of perspective on what I mean. When you were a young adult living at home, did you ever get the, as-long-as-you-live-under-my-roof-you-will-obey-my-rules speech? (Yeah? Me too.) Kind of the same concept here with God saying, my protection requires your obedience. (Turns out your parents may not have been too far off.) God wants you to enjoy life, He just wants you to make sure you aren't trying to fill the God shaped hole in your heart with something more world shaped. When we step out of God's boundaries to have our fun we are cramming world things into our heart and that pushes out all the things of God, including His protection. When we let God in and let Him fill our heart we will find that the things inside the boundaries are a lot more appealing than we first thought. A heart full of God and a life inside the guidelines, under His protection is a rich, full, joy filled life. The life outside the boundaries may hold momentary appeal and even some satisfaction, but ultimately it brings our hearts destruction. God's heart is to protect ours.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 4

Happy Friday!

Thanks for stopping in. Sit back, sip your coffee, grab your Bible and lets jump in to chapter four. If you have been coupling my posts with reading the corresponding chapter from Isaiah you may have noticed that this next one is an easy read. In fact you may have read ahead (good for you, you overachiever :D) and you may be thinking, "how can you possibly pull anything about God's heart out of that". I know that's what you're thinking because that's what I was thinking when I read it the first time. But if there is one thing I have learned about reading God's word, it's this, I can read a passage one time and feel like it's just words on a page, and then go back and read the same passage later and a whole new perspective can open up. That perspective can lead me to glean something out of it that I didn't see before. So I waited and tried again and this is what a new perspective (or possibly just an open heart to the voice of God) brought me.

This chapter is short, only six verses, and it kind of has a P.S. feeling about it. It closely follows the theme and message of the previous chapter. Again bringing up the judgement of the unfaithful Israelites and how God will wipe out all that is unclean from His people. However in this chapter a new theme arrises. Restoration. God promises those who are holy in His sight that He will protect them. He is keeping a place of protection for them.

Talk about proving my point, I am sitting here typing my notes and God drops a fresh perspective my way. I wrote these notes a few months ago and now, going over them again, I have discovered a new truth in these verses. Being that Isaiah is a prophet, a lot of what you find in his writing is a foreshadowing of things to come. These verses are not only foreshadowing the future of the Israelites, but the future of Christians as the bride of christ. The Israelites were God's chosen people, and as I've mentioned before, because of what Jesus did on the cross, so are we. God was purging Israel from all the filth they had let creep into their lives. They were His chosen ones, but they were not choosing Him. Much like as Christians we are God's chosen ones, called to live according to His purpose. But on a daily basis we reject Him, we are not choosing to accept the call.

God promised restoration to Israel, restoration of their nation. God promises us restoration as well, but of a different kind. Restoration of relationship. When God returns to restore His people, it will be to reestablish us in His presence. To renew the relationship that God intended for us to have with Him, from the beginning of time. We will be with God and He with us. What a beautiful, hope filled  promise. Israel's promise of restoration came in the form of rebuilding their people. Our restoration will come in the form of an eternal one-ness with God's heart. Our promise, is Heaven. God's heart restores.