Wednesday's Big Idea: Listening

Today was a very good day of prayer. Our brother Jason has returned from Mexico and joined us which led to air of celebration in the prayer room. Psalm 20 states that "We will shout for joy when you are victorious" - it is both a psalm of blessing and a psalm of prophecy. Today it was clearly a prophecy fulfilled.

The following contrast may help to explain it:

When the prodigal son returned to his father, the father rejoiced and welcomed his son back into the family reinstating his position and celebrating his sons "resurrection". The prodigal's brother, however, was resentful at the royal treatment of his brother, feeling that it was unjust - "why should the prodigal be rewarded when I have been faithful and diligent and received no such reward?" Of course the faithful son's jealousy was wrong and he was unable to a) celebrate the return of his brother and b) be content with his promised reward in the future.

Think now what it would be like if this were the situation: The son, instead of being prodigal, obeyed his father to travel to a distant place and rescue the people there from utter ruin. The son is sent off with blessing and provision, his brothers arming and supplying him. The son successfully sets up a base of operations and the people of that land begin to be loosed from their bondage. This son's return to home is not only greeted by celebration from the father, but his brothers as well who are eager to hear of his success, bless him and provision him once again.

I hope that the comparison somehow captures what it is like to have our brother Jason back. Not prodigal, but obedient it is very easy for us to celebrate his victorious return. That's not to say we wouldn't celebrate the return of a prodigal, but how much better it is to travel the path of life than death!

The big idea today comes from something Jason said that really struck a chord in me: listening to God's question. Has God asked me to be in the place I am? If so I should be here. If He has asked me to be somewhere else, then I'd better go there. It is very important for us to try and tune our ears to the questions of God and be prepared to give an answer. Too often, I am the one asking the questions, possibly to the extent that I 1) can't hear the answer and 2) miss the question that God is asking me. More and more I'm thinking that my prayer time needs to be spent seeking to hear the questions and purposes of God, then answering as Isaiah - "Send me!"

I still feel I have much to learn about prayer and certainly need to spend more time practicing.

Without bending my knee
I will never find the way
I will never do a thing
If I don't learn how to pray

Isaiah 1:4-9

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll have to be a horrible warning" - Catherine Aird

As Isaiah presents his opening arguments against Israel, it is clear that they are heading down the path of "horrible warning." Already they have suffered the consequences of their rebellion and seem to be on the downward slide if they continue to ignore the words of the prophet. Yet there is the redemptive voice always a counterpoint to Isaiah's dire judgments.

The text:

⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.

⁵ Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.

⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with oil.

⁷ Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

⁸ The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
like a city under siege.

⁹ Unless the LORD Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.

Isaiah continues his indictment from verses 2 and 3 and lays out the specific crimes of Israel: Forsaking the LORD, spurning the Holy One and turning their backs on Him. They have become people given over to corruption and evil deeds. Later in the chapter Isaiah specifically indicts the leadership of this nation and lays out their misdeeds, but worse than those symptoms is THE crime of rejecting Him who brought them out of slavery into the promised land. Taking for granted the gifts showered upon them, the prodigal son Israel has now spent its inheritance, yet seems unaware that it is sleeping in the pig-pen.

Verses 5-8 lay out the desolation that has befallen Israel, the injuries sustained as they moved away from the favor of God. Despite the obvious signs, Isaiah was compelled by the LORD to spell it out clearly to them: Exhibit A - desolation, exhibit B - burnt cities, exhibit C - stripped fields and so forth. Still, the human compulsion to fiddle while all around us the city burns seems at least as powerful as that whichcompelss us to repent.

Even in this indictment, however, Isaiah bears witness to God's great mercy. "Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." The depth of depravity was great and the course of destruction set, yet God is merciful to leave a remnant upon which to rebuild His nation. Even Isaiah saw himself as unworthy of redemption when confronted with the holiness of God. (see Chapter 6) We can rejoice that Isaiah's view of himself was not God's and Isaiah came to realized that very quickly.

I don't think Isaiah's warning was for Israel only. Today we daily face the same choices and struggles that that nation faced. Do I choose to walk with God today or travel my own path? Do I choose to take myinheritancee and strike out apart from the Father or do I remain to honor my Father in obedience? I refuse to subscribe to the notion that following God equals material wealth and comfort (Paul? Peter? Christ?) Yet, I do believe that our Father cares for us, sustains us and comforts us. It is in Him whom we live and breathe and have our being and apart from the Father we can do nothing.

I do know that choosing to spurn the Holy One and forsake the LORD leads to ruin and death. As the prodigal son discovered, the happiness that he sought through material wealth soo led to ruin as he spent all that he had with no way to replenish it - apart from his father, he could do nothing - the one time gift only lasted so long. The son came to his senses and chose to return to the Father, but it took some time at the bottom before he chose to come out.