Readings for today: Isaiah 54-58
There are three basic movements to the Christian faith. Three fundamental principles that undergird who we are as believers in Jesus Christ. Christians are a people who seek hard after God, willingly and gladly surrender to His will, and live in the fullness of joy as they celebrate all He has done. We see this dynamic played out in today’s passage from Isaiah 55.
“Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.” (Isaiah 55:6-7 MSG) The Christian faith arises from a deep sense of spiritual hunger. A desire for spiritual food that will satisfy. This hunger - created by the Holy Spirit - prompts a person to seek God. To seek the only one who can fill the hole each of us has in our hearts. Thankfully, He is near. He delights in being found. He doesn’t play cosmic hide and seek. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. The result is transformative. The wicked abandon their way of life. The evil abandon their way of thinking. The sinner repents and returns to God who is merciful and quick to forgive.
“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Isaiah 55:8-11 MSG) Having received the mercy and forgiveness of God, the Holy Spirit now begins to open our eyes and minds to the vastness of God. The holiness of God. The beauty of God. The majesty of God. These things bring us to our knees in surrender. We acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Our finite minds cannot contain, much less explain, His infinity. Having caught a glimpse and being overwhelmed in awe, we are drawn into His work as servants. People who willingly and gladly give all they have to serve a cause much greater than themselves.
“So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines— Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.” (Isaiah 55:12-13 MSG) As we give ourselves to God, He gives Himself to us. As He is the source of greatest joy in the universe, we are now able to draw on that well every day of our lives, in every circumstance of our lives. We walk in joy. We walk in peace. We are given new eyes to see the world around us as it bursts into song in praise of it’s Creator. We join the singing because we cannot help ourselves and our lives become living monuments to God.
Readings for tomorrow: None