Wednesday, July 11,
2012, 7:16 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with this song:
He Touched My Mouth
/ An Original Work / June 13, 2012
Based off Isaiah 6:1-8; Jeremiah 1:4-9
Oh, I saw the Lord
Seated on His throne,
High and lifted up;
Holy is the Lord!
The earth is full
of His glory.
“Woe to me,” I cried,
“I’m of unclean lips.”
My Lord touched my
mouth
With His cleansing
pow’r;
Removed all my guilt,
Paid for by His blood.
He asked, “Whom shall I
send;
Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here am I.
Send me!”
Before I was born,
God set me apart;
He appointed me
To His servant be.
I said, “I don’t know
How to speak.
I am but a child.”
Then, the Lord
replied:
“Do not say to me,
‘I am but a child.’
You must go to all,
And do what I say.
Do not fear them,
For I’m with you.”
My Lord touched my
mouth;
Gave me words to say.
Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Acts
10:1-11:18 (quoting 11:1-18 NIV 1984):
The apostles and the
brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of
God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized
him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
Peter began and
explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: “I was in the city
of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large
sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where
I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts,
reptiles, and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up,
Peter. Kill and eat.’
“I replied, ‘Surely
not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
“The voice spoke from
heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’
This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
“Right then three men
who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.
The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six
brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he
had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is
called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household
will be saved.’
“As I began to speak,
the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I
remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave
us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could
oppose God?”
When they heard this,
they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has
granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
My Understanding: The
song “He Touched My Mouth” is based
off the call of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-8) and the call of Jeremiah (Jeremiah
1:4-9). Isaiah was presented with an image of the Lord Almighty, seated on his
throne. Seraphs were singing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole
earth is full of his glory.” At the sight of this, Isaiah was very much aware
of his own uncleanness and that of his people. He felt unworthy to be in the
presence of his holy God. Yet, the Lord sent a seraph with a live coal to touch
Isaiah’s lips, to take away his guilt, and to atone for his sin. What a picture
of our redemption via Jesus’ shed blood for us on the cross! God presents
himself to us and calls us to faith in Jesus Christ. We respond in humility and
repentance, and the Spirit of God cleanses our hearts, removes our guilt, and
applies the blood of Jesus to our lives, i.e. Jesus’ blood atoned for our sins.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. God told him that
even before God formed him in the womb of his mother, God knew him (cf. Psalm
139), he set him apart, and he appointed him to be a prophet to the nations.
When Jeremiah was presented with God’s awesome design for his life, he also
felt unworthy, I believe, and he felt ill-equipped. He said he was only a child,
and he did not know how to speak. I don’t know how old Jeremiah was. It could
be he was but a youth, or he could have been speaking metaphorically of his
lack of experience and training. Yet, the Lord gently rebuked him, and he told
him not to say that. Jeremiah was to go to everyone God sent him to, and he was
to say whatever God commanded him to say. He was not to be afraid of them, for
God promised to be with him and to rescue him from the fear of man. Then, the
Lord reached out his hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said, “Now I have
put my words in your mouth.”
In both the case of Isaiah, and the case of Jeremiah, there
were obstacles (or roadblocks) to obedience. For Isaiah it was his own sinfulness,
or sin nature, and the sinful influences around him that caused him to feel
unworthy to be in the presence of Almighty God. For Jeremiah it was mainly his
own insecurity in feeling ill-equipped to be a messenger of God, and apparently
he feared men, too. In both cases, God cut to the chase and resolved the
problems (issues). In both cases the men had their mouths touched by our holy
God. Yet, it was not just their mouths that were touched by God. He touched
their hearts and minds, too, and changed their thinking and attitudes, and then
moved them to obedience. He took no excuses. He demanded obedience. Yet, he
gently dealt with their objections or their reservations and removed all
hindrances to obedience. Yet, they had to accept what God did, and not refuse
to obey. The story of Peter and Cornelius is very similar.
God called Isaiah, and he said, “Whom shall I send? And who
will go for us?” Once Isaiah had his heart transformation, he said, “Here am I.
Send me!” And, then God gave him the words to say, and Isaiah obeyed and became
a prophet of God. Jeremiah was shown what he must do and say, and he, too,
obeyed and became a prophet of God. And, we will learn today from Acts 10-11
how Peter was presented with a vision from God in which God was teaching him a
lesson that would prepare him for the calling God had on his life; and of his
objections, how God resolved Peter’s objections, and how Peter obeyed and did
what God said to do, as well as what difference that made in the life of
Cornelius and his family.
God Cares
God made all of us. He cares about us. He notices what we do
and don’t do. He is not distant or unconcerned for our lives. Cornelius was not
a Jew. He was a Gentile. Jews did not associate with Gentiles because they
considered them ceremonial unclean. Yet, that did not deter Cornelius from
seeking out the one true God. He believed in, he respected, and he honored God,
as well as he gave to the needy. And, God noticed and honored him. So, God
visited him in a vision via an angel of God. He told him to send for Peter, and
he explained to him where he could find Peter. Cornelius did not hesitate, but
sent three men to Peter.
As the men were on their way to find Peter, God visited
Peter in a vision. Peter saw a vision of a large sheet being let down to earth
by its four corners. It contained what Jews considered to be unclean animals.
God told Peter to kill and eat the animals. Peter objected. He had never eaten
anything impure or unclean. He was a devout Jew. God responded to Peter’s
objections by saying, “Do not call
anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times. Peter
seemed to need to have things reinforced for him, for he is the one who had
denied Jesus three times before his eyes were opened to what he was doing, and
he is the one who then had to reaffirm his love for Jesus three times. I do
believe God shows us things in threes sometimes to let us know it is really him
speaking to us. With reinforcement comes assurance.
Peter did not immediately connect all the dots. He was still
wondering what the vision meant when the three men from Cornelius showed up at
Peter’s place of residence. The Holy Spirit then spoke to Peter’s heart: “Simon,
three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to
go with them, for I have sent them.” Peter knew this was the Lord speaking to
him, so he obeyed. He asked the men why they had come. The men told him how an
angel of God had visited Cornelius and had told him to send for Peter, so that
Cornelius, et al, could hear what Peter had to say. So Peter invited the men
inside. And, the next day he went with them to see Cornelius. And, some of the
Christian brothers went with Peter, and with the men.
Removing Objections
When Peter entered Cornelius’ house, he encountered a large
gathering of Cornelius’ relatives and close friends. Peter laid his cards on
the table, so to speak. He expressed to them what they already knew, that it
was unlawful for a Jew to associate with a Gentile. Yet, he added, “God has
shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.” If he did not get
it before this moment, he got it now! He understood the meaning of the vision. The
vision was not about animals and eating. It was about people. God was radically
changing Peter’s way of thinking that had been ingrained in him, probably since
childhood. Whereas Isaiah’s issue was one of feeling unworthy due to his own
sinfulness or sin nature, and Jeremiah’s objection was due to his feeling of
being ill-equipped, probably rooted in the fear of man, Peter’s was more one of
ingrained prejudice, perhaps, or certainly one of cultural and religious
training and upbringing. He was doing what he believed was right. Yet, now God
was showing him a better way. God was removing his objections.
Cornelius told Peter about the vision he had from God, and
then he said, “It was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence
of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” Awesome!
What if Peter refused? What if he ignored the vision and wrote it off as just
his imagination? What if he would not allow himself to go beyond what he had
always been taught? What if he was so ingrained in his tradition and training
that he convinced himself he would be disobeying God to go with the men? All
these were possibilities. And, all of these I have seen take place in the lives
of believers in Christ Jesus today, so I know that our religious and cultural
heritage can be an enormous hindrance to obedience to Jesus Christ. For Peter,
he was transitioning between the old ways of the Old Covenant relationship
between God and his people to the way of the New Covenant relationship with God
and his new people – followers of Christ. So, he had to unlearn some old ways
and learn some new ways. Many today are not willing to do that.
Because Peter obeyed God, God used him to speak the message
of the gospel to Cornelius, his friends and his relatives, and I am certain
many of them went on to share the gospel with others who shared with others who…
and the Gentiles throughout the world heard the gospel, many received Christ as
Savior and Lord, and the number of salvations multiplied.
Excuses, excuses,
excuses!
So, what objections or excuses for not obeying God’s voice plague
you? Is there sin in your life you know needs to be cleansed? Do you use this
fact as an excuse for disobedience? Do you feel ill-equipped because you are
young in the Lord, or because you lack much Biblical knowledge or training or
experience? Do you use your lack of experience as an excuse for not obeying Christ?
Are ignorance, fear of man, laziness, selfishness, a desire to be liked by men,
seeking man’s approval, lack of commitment to Christ, wanting to control your
own life, etc. what stand in the way between you and obedience to God? Or, are
you holding on to traditions of men, religious upbringing, theological beliefs
or cultural upbringing and therefore your mind and heart are not open to
hearing from the Spirit of God?
Whatever your objections or hesitancy to obedience to Christ
and to his calling upon your life may be, know that God has already made the
way through those concerns, and he has provided the way to obedience, and to
surrender to his will. He has removed the worries (all excuses), and has shown
us, through Biblical examples, and by the teaching of scripture, that he is
able to provide all that we need, and he can handle all obstacles in our way,
even those of our own making. All we have to do is to listen to him, heed his
call, believe what is true, and choose to surrender all our doubts into his
capable hands, and then step out in obedience. He will take care of the rest.
Trust and Obey / John H. Sammis /
Daniel B. Towner
Trust and obey, for
there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
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