This is Our Rest, Our Refreshing - Day 260 Through the Bible

View of a trail to the top of a waterfall - from a hike this past week with a friend from Mt. Celo Church - near the church

My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

Precept Upon Precept - Isaiah 27 and 28 (What It Says - Summarized) - Isaiah is predicting the restoration of Israel.  "In that day sing to her, 'A vineyard of red wine! I, the LORD, keep...water...every moment...night and day...lest any hurt it"...Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob...blossom...and bud...and fill the face of the world with fruit."  Mercy will be extended to others around Israel.  "They will come who are about to perish in the land of Assyria...and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt...and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem."  Isaiah then predicts the destruction of Judah for their "drunkenness with wine and intoxicating drink... they err in vision...they stumble in judgment...for all tables are full of vomit and filth...no place is clean."  BUT a remnant will always be saved.  "In that day the LORD of hosts will be...for a crown of glory...and a diadem of beauty...to the remnant of His people...for a spirit of justice...to him who sits in judgment...and for strength...to those who turn back the battle at the gate."  BUT  "Whom will he teach knowledge?  And whom will he make to understand the message?  Those just weaned from milk?  Those just drawn from the breasts?  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."  For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest."  And, "This is the refreshing." Yet they would not hear.  But the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."  That...they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.  Therefore...hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men...who say, "for we have made lies our refuge...and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."

Let the Wise Observe These Things - Psalm 107:33-43 (What It Says - Summarized) - HE turns rivers into a wilderness...fruitful land into barrenness...for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.  HE turns a wilderness into pools of water...dry land into water springs...there HE makes the hungry dwell...establishes a city...sows fields...plants vineyards...a fruitful harvest...blesses them...they multiply greatly.  When they are diminished...and brought low...through oppression...affliction...sorrow...HE pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; YET HE sets the poor on high...far from affliction...makes their families like a flock...the righteous see it...and rejoice...and all iniquity stops its mouth.  Whoever is wise...will observe these things...and they will understand...the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Spiritual Warfare - 2 Corinthians 10 (What It Says - Summarized) "We do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare...are not carnal...but mighty in God...FOR...1) pulling down strongholds, 2) casting down arguments, 3) and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, 4) bringing every thought...into captivity...to the obedience of Christ, 5) and being ready...to punish all disobedience...WHEN...your obedience...is fulfilled.  Paul then reminds the Corinthians: For we dare not...compare ourselves with those who commend themselves.  But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise...But "he who glories, let him glory in the LORD."  For not he who commends himself is approved...but whom the Lord commends.

My Lessons and Applications - From the prophetic words of Isaiah to the apostolic words of Paul, we are reminded of the power...the strength...the necessity of hearing...and obeying...the Word of God - in its entirety.  Each precept...each line is built upon another.  Only in His Word - in Him - "is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest."  And "this is the refreshing." This is the testimony of the character of holy God, the frailty and corruption of sinful man, and the abyss that separates the two.  It is the history of the Sovereignty and Providence of God throughout human history, of His Plan to bring sinful man into the His holy Presence for all eternity.  It is about the prophecies of doom in the midst of the promises of mercy and grace to a promised remnant.  It reminds us of our power to overcome evil - our choice - out of obedience and trust in God through the Mediator who stands in the gap for us - Jesus Christ.  It is about what we are to be doing now as we await the Second Coming of Christ, of the spiritual war we are now fighting and how to fight that war.  It is a reminder that we are nothing in and of ourselves.  We are never to deify self, but always and only give all glory to the LORD.

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God."

 2 Corinthians 10:5

The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin:  Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption.  The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily...It is done only by a series of moral choices.  God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices.  These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest