Hi All You Guys!
I've got Ross Parsley playing in the background, "I Am Free to Run!" "On my lips there's a shout of praise, now I'm gonna dance for all my days, because I see the wonder of your loving ways, there's so much joy here in your embrace, makes me wanna sing and celebrate, because I see the wonder of Amazing Grace!" Feeling a dance coming on!
Here in DC, there is such a thrill to be in the hustle and bustle of this powerful city. Whew, all sorts of military-types and government-types. Working out this morning, I felt like a squatchy (I don't know if that is a word, but it is what my mind used just now to describe me compared to all those soldiers!) middle aged civilian. I am thankful it is them defending the country and me doing the praying!
Getting back to the study of Isaiah 54 and the theme of freedom from captivity by knowing and believing God in hope, I took a look at the imperatives we are to pursue.
Isaiah 54:1 Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord.
I am thinking that this kind of singing, bursting into song, shouting for joy, is not the whistling of the long term contentment, it is the reaction that comes from suddenly realizing liberation from long term bondage. Leaping, bounding, shouting, bursting at the top of our lungs! We are no longer the barren and desolate. God is telling the liberated that we will be abounding and fruitful. (vs 3) There is anticipation! Excitement!
Barrenness in the Old and New Testaments was a deep tragedy. Rachel in Gen 30:1 grieved because she was jealous of Leah’s child-bearing. “…or I’ll die.”
1Sam1- Hannah and Penninah, wives of Elkanah were rivals. Penninah provoked Hannah to tears regularly. Elkanah’s distribution of a double portion’s provision did little to comfort Hannah. So she, Hannah, sought God “in bitterness of soul and wept much before God.” “Look on your servant’s misery. I will give the child back to you.” She was “deeply troubled…pouring out my soul…great anguish and guilt…” Afterwards her face was no longer downcast.
Right now I could get up and pace over the truth of this; her face was no longer downcast AND SHE DID NOT HAVE THE ANSWER TO HER PRAYER YET. IT WAS BEFORE; IN HOPE AND TRUST. You guys, this is important. Knowing God, in whom we place all the trouble, anguish and guilt, is essential to our peace. The answer to the prayer is secondary. Can we walk in that? We’ve got to!
After receiving the answer to her prayer, the man-child, Hannah raises a song of worship to the Lord her horn (strength), lifts up on high- saying there is no rock like the Lord our God. “The supreme source of Hannah’s joy is not in the child, but in the God who has answered her prayer. To have one’s horn lifted up by God is to be delivered from disgrace to a position of honor and strength.” (NIV Study Notes on 1Sam 1:2) Hannah knew her God. She relied on Him. She poured out her heart to Him and was comforted.
In Isaiah 54:1-4 The song of the barren woman bursts forth because of the anticipation of God’s provision- “more are the children of the barren (desolate woman) than her who has a husband.”
2- Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cord, strengthen your stakes.
Get ready, enlarge the tent, LIBERALLY. The sovereignty of God our Provider is worthy of our trust, confidence and security no matter what we have, what has been withheld, or what we HOPE to have.
Let's go ahead and give a holler in hope!
What are the things for which you are hoping? Could you be brave enough to share so we can holler with you?
Can you hear me hollering?!?!
It is funny, because I have been thinking alot about Hope this past weekend. What I was thinking is that there was a time in my life when I dared not to even hope for things, or salvation, or peace in my life. In fact that time is not so long ago that I do vividly remember the anguish of hopelessness. It was in this cloud of complete hopelessness that I prayed (really cried out in desperation) for the first time in many years and began my journey back to our Lord. The reason my mind has been settling on that time in my life is that it is now clear to me that God not only heard but answered every cry for hope I have laid before him since that day. I am in a state of allconsuming thankfulness now. I have learned to pray where I am...for hope to feel God's love, hope to truly believe his word, hope to glorify him. I am so thankful to have hope.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is to become a deeper believer, the kind that feels it all the way to her bones. As if built around it and supported by it.
Here's something I just read this morning. I am studying Hebrews and the necessity of the complete sacrifice that Jesus was, once for all. Kay Arthur asks if we are focusing on past sin and if so, why, to which she concludes: "Don't you ever say, 'But I cannot forgive myself!' You don't need to forgive yourself. Nothing is biblical about that statement. It's a hiss from the serpent of old, the Devil himself, to put your focus on yourself rather than God. You confess your sin, God forgives, and that is that!"
ReplyDeleteI don't know about you guys, but this has never been told to me in so straightforward a fashion!
Do you realize what this does to the guilt that I have carried like an old, sick, gangrenous appendage? It is amputated, gone! If I were having to forgive myself, it'd be in deep stuff! It hasn't worked for all these 53 years! It didn't have to and I didn't realize it.
I always have these, You-think-you-would've-known-this-kind-of-thing-after-all-these-years-walking-with-the-Lord kind of moments, but I have to tell you, this is radical for me. European, Latin, Catholic, '50s, '60s upbringing, etc. all say that you have to forgive yourself for complete healing. I am still trying to let this soak in. It is a new thing for me. I am just wondering if it is new for any of you, too.
These graceful truths are really mind-blowing. Sadly, most believers miss the essence of the graceful life. William Newell said, speaking of Things Which Gracious Souls Discover... "to be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself" and to "hope to be better" is to fail to see yourself in Christ only. How humbling the Grace of God is...I am totally unworthy! In our flesh is NO good thing...and let's be honest, that is a tough one to swallow. When I continually beat myself up over things...it is my pride. "How could I have done that??" Jesus wants me to agree with Him about my sin...and thank Him for the forgiveness that He has already provided at the Cross...and move on! If the Son makes you free..you are free indeed!
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