Bible League: Living His Word Have you not known?Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. People have problems and the problems they have may cloud their judgement. They may get so wrapped up in their problems that, for example, they become resentful towards God. They may resent the fact that God has allowed them to get into trouble. They may resent the fact that God does not do something for them immediately. The immature in the faith are especially prone to this failure of judgement, but the mature in the faith may also fall into the trap on occasion. The prophet Isaiah's response to those who harbor resentment towards God is one of rebuke. He rhetorically questions their very knowledge of God: "Have you not known?" He does this because we surely do know. We know that it is foolish to fall into the trap of resentment. After all, we know that God is the solution to our problems. Resenting God, therefore, makes no sense. It is an insult to the one that can actually help. Isaiah even rhetorically questions whether they have heard about God: "Have you not heard?" We have, of course, heard about God. We are the very people of God. We have heard about God and the wonders He has performed. It is foolish for us to resent God because we surely have heard what God can do; we surely have heard that God is the one that can actually help. In order to drive home his point, Isaiah reminds them of just who God is. God is the "Everlasting God," the "LORD," and the "Creator of the ends of the earth." It is foolish to resent Him because He is the one that is in control of everything. He doesn't faint from fatigue or get weary. He is always ready to help. If a problem needs to be overcome, then He is the one you have to look to for help. Maybe things aren't being resolved the way you would like. Maybe things aren't being resolved according to your timetable. What God has allowed to happen may not make sense. Isaiah's explanation for this is that God's understanding is unsearchable. It's not always possible to figure it out. Indeed, we don't really have to figure it out. Our job is not to figure God out, but to trust Him. We must trust that He will deliver us at the right time. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 22, 23 Ezekiel 22 -- A Catalogue of Sins in Jerusalem NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 23 -- Oholah and Oholibah's Sin and Judgment NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading James 2 James 2 -- The Sin of Favoritism; Faith and Deeds NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.Insight In opposition to the false teachers, Paul affirmed that everything God created is good. We should ask for God's blessing on his created gifts that give us pleasure and thank him for them. This doesn't mean that we should abuse what God has made (for example, gluttony abuses God's gift of good food, lust abuses God's gift of love, and murder abuses God's gift of life). Challenge Instead of abusing, we should enjoy these gifts by using them to serve and honor God. Have you thanked God for the good gifts he has given? Are you using the gifts in ways pleasing to you and to God? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Proverbs 30:26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.Conscious of their own natural defencelessness, the conies resort to burrows in the rocks, and are secure from their enemies. My heart, be willing to gather a lesson from these feeble folk. Thou art as weak and as exposed to peril as the timid cony; be as wise to seek a shelter. My best security is within the munitions of an immutable Jehovah, where his unalterable promises stand like giant walls of rock. It will be well with thee, my heart, if thou canst always hide thyself in the bulwarks of his glorious attributes, all of which are guarantees of safety for those who put their trust in him. Blessed be the name of the Lord, I have so done, and have found myself like David in Adullam, safe from the cruelty of my enemy; I have not now to find out the blessedness of the man who puts his trust in the Lord, for long ago, when Satan and my sins pursued me, I fled to the cleft of the rock Christ Jesus, and in his riven side I found a delightful resting-place. My heart, run to him anew tonight, whatever thy present grief may be; Jesus feels for thee; Jesus consoles thee; Jesus will help thee. No monarch in his impregnable fortress is more secure than the cony in his rocky burrow. The master of ten thousand chariots is not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the mountain's cleft. In Jesus the weak are strong, and the defenceless safe; they could not be more strong if they were giants, or more safe if they were in heaven. Faith gives to men on earth the protection of the God of heaven. More they cannot need, and need not wish. The conies cannot build a castle, but they avail themselves of what is there already: I cannot make myself a refuge, but Jesus has provided it, his Father has given it, his Spirit has revealed it, and lo, again tonight I enter it, and am safe from every foe. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Psalm 106:6,7,23 We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. • Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. • Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them. Hebrews 3:1-3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; • He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. • For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. Hebrews 8:6,12 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. • "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE." New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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