The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 28:9-13,
"Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast?
For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there.
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
to whom he said,
'This is the resting place, let the weary rest';
and, 'This is the place of repose'—
but they would not listen.
So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured."
Here is a most amazing passage to me. The prophecy speaks of the priests and prophets of Israel as if they were staggering and befuddled with alcohol. He says when they teach, it is as if it were to children only. The message they provided was childish. All rules and do-gooder stuff, "Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here and a little there." The true and purposeful message from the Lord was displaced for religious do-gooderism.
We see it today! Week after week some pastor is up behind the pulpit carrying the same message over and over. "Stop smoking, don't drink, stop looking at the other guy's wife, give more, attend more regularly! "Let's all get with the Social Justice agenda and start to fret over our privilege!" Just fill in the blank. I'm not suggesting anything particularly wrong with some of those messages as far as they go (I do find with some though), but what about God's eternal purposes in redemption? What about the manifold perfections of God? What he is like, who he is? Where are the deeper dimensions of what God wants to communicate to us? How does his history with Israel involve us, since he has chosen to provide it to us?
Hebrews 5:11-14, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Apparently, if we teach the deeper things God wants us to know, a lot of the do-gooder stuff will automatically follow.
The misguided and shallow teaching in churches today has resulted in less than appropriately matured saints. An outcome of that is those who have not embraced Jesus Christ in faith find little interest and point to the gospel as something to ridicule and scorn, "Well, that might be nice for someone who needs a crutch to get by in life...", "I can't believe you believe in that namby-pamby stuff...", ect They find what is taught (if they ever get close enough) in church as lacking in substance, insipid, weak, indecisive, banal. For these, God's word becomes just like it did for those in Israel who could only accept God's word as a lot of do-gooder stuff and miss the opportunity, "so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured."
"Who is it he is trying to teach?
To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
to those just taken from the breast?
For it is:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there.
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
to whom he said,
'This is the resting place, let the weary rest';
and, 'This is the place of repose'—
but they would not listen.
So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured."
Here is a most amazing passage to me. The prophecy speaks of the priests and prophets of Israel as if they were staggering and befuddled with alcohol. He says when they teach, it is as if it were to children only. The message they provided was childish. All rules and do-gooder stuff, "Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here and a little there." The true and purposeful message from the Lord was displaced for religious do-gooderism.
We see it today! Week after week some pastor is up behind the pulpit carrying the same message over and over. "Stop smoking, don't drink, stop looking at the other guy's wife, give more, attend more regularly! "Let's all get with the Social Justice agenda and start to fret over our privilege!" Just fill in the blank. I'm not suggesting anything particularly wrong with some of those messages as far as they go (I do find with some though), but what about God's eternal purposes in redemption? What about the manifold perfections of God? What he is like, who he is? Where are the deeper dimensions of what God wants to communicate to us? How does his history with Israel involve us, since he has chosen to provide it to us?
Hebrews 5:11-14, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Apparently, if we teach the deeper things God wants us to know, a lot of the do-gooder stuff will automatically follow.
The misguided and shallow teaching in churches today has resulted in less than appropriately matured saints. An outcome of that is those who have not embraced Jesus Christ in faith find little interest and point to the gospel as something to ridicule and scorn, "Well, that might be nice for someone who needs a crutch to get by in life...", "I can't believe you believe in that namby-pamby stuff...", ect They find what is taught (if they ever get close enough) in church as lacking in substance, insipid, weak, indecisive, banal. For these, God's word becomes just like it did for those in Israel who could only accept God's word as a lot of do-gooder stuff and miss the opportunity, "so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured."
What an amazing passage!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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