Friday, February 08,
2013, 6:30 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Bow the Knee” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Isaiah 57:13b-21
(NIV 1984):
But the man who makes
me his refuge
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.”
And it will be said:
“Build up, build up,
prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my
people.”
For this is what the
high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and
holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly
in spirit,
to revive the spirit
of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
I will not accuse
forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of
man would grow faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.
I was enraged by his
sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
I have seen his ways,
but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to
him,
creating praise on the lips of the mourners
in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those
far and near,”
says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”
But the wicked are
like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.
“There is no peace,”
says my God, “for the wicked.”
The Offspring of Liars
In context, the Lord
was addressing Israel’s spiritual leaders. They were blind, they lacked
knowledge, they were mute dogs, i.e. apparently not teaching what is true; they
loved to sleep, they had great and many appetites (human longings and desires,
goals and dreams), they lacked understanding, they all turned their own way,
and they each sought their own gain (see Is. 56:10-12; 57:3-13a). This sounds a
lot like many preachers in evangelical Christianity in America today,
especially in many of our mega churches.
They were also
described as the offspring of adulterers and prostitutes who mocked, sneered at,
and stuck their tongues out at God’s messages and messengers. They were a brood
of rebels, the offspring of liars. They were given over to sexual immorality.
They appeared righteous on the outside, and they even went through the rituals
of worship, yet they had hidden sins of spiritual adultery and idolatry in
their lives. They combined their worship of God with the worship of other “gods”
of men, including man-made religion. They forsook God and made agreements or
covenants with those whose beds they loved.
This still goes on
with God’s people (Christians) and church leadership today. Many have bought
into a fake gospel that gives a false hope of salvation – a gospel that does
not “slay the sinner,” but that “entertains him,” as A. W. Tozer so eloquently put
it. They are followers of men and man-made religion who have turned Christ’s
church into a marketplace, i.e. they market the church just like they would
market a business, and they run the church like they would a business. They
water down the gospel message to make it more palatable to the listener, and to
make it more inviting. Many of them do mock and sneer at the teaching of the
true gospel which calls for repentance and obedience to Christ. And, they are liars,
because they don’t tell people the truth about their sin, many use manipulation
to get what they want, and they have made a covenant with the government (via 501c3),
and with man-made teaching and marketing schemes for their own gain.
The Person Who…
BUT, the person who
makes God his refuge (sanctuary; haven) will have an eternal inheritance with
God, and will dwell in God’s eternal kingdom (the mountain of God).
God lives in a high
and holy place (heaven), but he also lives with those who are contrite (repentant;
crushed in spirit) and lowly (humble) in spirit. He lives with us to revive our
spirits and our hearts.
In terms of the New
Covenant relationship between God and his people via Jesus’ death on the cross
for our sins and his resurrection, those who make God their sanctuary are those
who are repentant and humble in spirit, who recognize their need for Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord (boss) of their lives, and who willingly leave their
lives of sin behind them; who submit and surrender to the Lord Jesus in
allowing his Spirit to transform their hearts and to make them new creatures in
Christ Jesus; and who desire and choose to walk daily in fellowship and
obedience to their Lord in surrender to his will for their lives.
When we accept Jesus’
invitation to make him Lord and Savior of our lives, the Holy Spirit of God
comes within us and God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) makes his home with us.
And, he continues his work within us to transform us, to make us more and more
like Jesus, to make us holy, to daily purify (cleanse) us from all sin, and to
encourage and strengthen us in our daily walks of faith with him. We are not
saved just so we can go to heaven one day. We are saved so that we can daily
live in victory over sin, and so we can live daily for Jesus Christ while we
are still here on the face of this earth. And, our Lord lives in us and with us
to lead and guide, to counsel and encourage, and to rebuke and correct, as well
as to train us in righteousness, so that we can live for him each day.
One of the ways in
which he helps us to grow in him, to be strengthened in our faith, to humble
ourselves before him on bended knee, and to continually seek his face is that
he allows us to go through difficulties, trials, hardships, persecutions,
rejections, and he even disciplines (chastises; rebukes; punishes) those he
loves as a loving parent would lovingly correct, discipline and/or punish a
child for wrongdoing so the child learns to do what is right. We learn
obedience through suffering, as did Jesus, and we learn to persevere, to become
more resolute, and to be more determined in our walks of faith when our faith
is challenged and/or when we have to go through very difficult circumstances.
When we go through
those difficult times, especially when things don’t make sense and we don’t
understand what is happening to us or why it is happening, we should bow the
knee. We should believe that God truly knows what is going on, that he has
allowed it for a purpose, and he will give us all we need to make it through.
Bow the Knee / Chris Machen and Mike Harland
Trust the heart of your Father when the
answer goes beyond what you can see.
Lift your eyes toward heaven and
believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don’t understand the
purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the
knee.
Build Up!
Sometimes, when God’s
people get to the point of being described as those at the beginning of this
writing who, although they had the pretense of being right with God were far
from following the Lord, and in fact were working against him, he would warn
them to change or he would send judgment upon them. That is the case here, as
well. And, the purpose of the judgment was to bring his people back to him in
repentance (contrite) and obedience, so he could heal (forgive) them, and he
could restore them to fellowship with him once again.
Sometimes he allows
us to go through difficulties as his divine discipline in our lives in order to
remove obstacles out of the way that are in our lives that our hindering our
fellowship with and our pure devotion and obedience to him. Sometimes he has to
bring judgment when his people have gotten so far away from him that they are
complacent and they don’t see their need for him any longer. And, the judgment
is for the purpose of removing those obstacles (sins, idolatry, spiritual
adultery, distractions, etc.) that are in our lives that are hindering our
walks with the Lord, in perfect harmony with him and his will for our lives.
When he removes those
obstacles, it should bring us to our knees in humility and repentance, and/or
it should send us to our knees to seek God’s face to inquire of him as to the
purpose for the particular hardship in our lives so that we can see where he
wants to get our attention, where he wants to purify us, and where he wants to
change our thoughts, attitudes, heart, etc. to make us more like Jesus. His
desire is always that or hearts are revived and that we seek his face and that
we follow him in obedience and surrender to his will. Yet, he will not put more
on us than we can handle in his strength, lest we grow faint of heart, yet he
does say we will be hated as he was hated, we will face severe persecution, and
many of us will even die for our testimony for Jesus Christ and his gospel.
When we are following
the ways of this world, of our flesh, going our own way, doing what we want to
do with little to no regard for God and his commands and his desires for our
lives, we are like the tossing of the sea, for we are not at peace, because we
are always looking for something to satisfy us and to make us happy and
fulfilled. Yet, when we submit to Christ, turn from our sins, and surrender our
wills to the will of the Father, he fills us with his peace, which is internal,
not external. There is wonderful peace in knowing that we are walking in
obedience to our Lord, that we are in the center of his will, and that he is pleased
with us. And, there is wonderful peace in resting in him, in trusting him with
our lives, and in believing in all his many promises to us. In Jesus’ arms is
the best place ever to be!
Bow the Knee / Chris Machen and Mike Harland
Trust the heart of your Father when the
answer goes beyond what you can see.
Lift your eyes toward heaven and
believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don’t understand the
purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the
knee.
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