July 7

Isaiah Warns against Relapse (Continued) - Isaiah 29:22-24, 27:2-13, 32:12-20, 33:2-24, 22:15-25

Doesn't matter how fancy your tent is...it's still a tent.

Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals;

     your eyes will see Jerusalem,

     a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;

its stakes will never be pulled up,

     nor any of its ropes broken.

Isaiah 33:20

Live in a tent for a week on a backpack trip sometime and you'll have a better understanding of what our walk in this life is truly about.  A tent gives you minimal shelter and privacy.  Everyone knows what's going on instead a tent so there are far less secrets from those who pitch their tents around you.  You are more subject to the elements.  You're not insulated from what's going on, removed, separated.  You are totally aware of the heat, the wind, the rain, the morning light that comes flooding through the fabric of a tent.  Unlike a house, a tent doesn't allow you to store much stuff, just the stuff you really need for sleeping, eating and clothing.  

But beyond the temporary and fragile nature of most tents, Jerusalem offers a bit more permanence and comfort in the knowledge that is tied down and will not be moved.  There is a constant to Jerusalem that reflects the city to come in the next life when we leave our earthly tents and move into a mansion across the river.  

Those who live in a mansion in this life fool themselves into thinking it can't possibly get better than this.  Those who live in tents, long for what is yet to come.

Lord knows.  To know God is to need God.

July 6

Isaiah Warns against Relapse - Isaiah 28:1-15, 29:13, 28:16-29, 22:1-14, 29:1-8, 33:1, 29:9-12, 29:14-21

So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:

     Do and do, do and do,

     rule on rule, rule on rule;

     a little here, a little there --

so that they will go and fall backward,

     be injured and snared and captured.

Isaiah 28:13

Can the pot say of the potter,

     "He knows nothing"?

Isaiah 29:16

Some funny stuff.  If it weren't so true.  

The first passage is what happens when we rely on our own wisdom rather than God's wisdom.  Sound familiar?  Who doesn't think religion is about the rules?  Those that know the Lord.  Because that's what it is, knowing the Lord and wanting to please Him.  It's really about approach and point-view- and attitude...and heart.  Rules are for those who want to measure their own righteousness rather than rely on the Lord's grace.  

And the second passage again when man thinks He knows more than the God who made him and relies on self rather than a savior.

God's being funny.  Maybe because if He doesn't laugh, He'll cry.

Lord knows.

July 5

Isaiah Tells of "Last Days" - Isaiah 24:1-23, 25:1-9, 26:1-21, 27:1, 32:1-8, 35:1-10

Salvation Mountain - A Folk Artwork

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare

     a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine --

     the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain He will destroy

     the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

     He will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

     from all faces;

He will remove the disgrace of His people

     from all the earth.

-Isaiah 25:6-8

We climb all our lives.  Stumble on obstacles along the way.  Take the wrong paths.  Misread directions and wander too proud to ask anyone for help.  Get headed down instead of up.  Struggle.  Despair.  Wondering what really lies ahead.  Stopping to rest along the way, unsure how much farther you can go.  Can you make it?  And the climax of life is when we reach the summit of the Lord's mountain.

I  want to be on that mountain and not just because there will be "good aged wine" there.  I've always considered the mountains geological exclamation points.  The Lord's mountain certainly is.  

Lord knows.

Reading this passages and others in today's reading I don't know how any of the Jewish sects could have believed their isn't an afterlife.  It seems so obvious here.

July 4

The Reforms of Hezekiah - 2 Chronicles 29:3-36, 30:1-27, 31:1-21

"Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.  My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense."

- King Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 29:10-11

There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.  The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, His holy dwelling place.

- 2 Chronicles 30:23-27

It's a good day for this reading.  A nation fallen away is brought back to the Lord by a God-focused leader.  

No one could have anticipated a God-fearing-and-respecting-and-following man like Hezekiah would follow in his father Ahaz's footsteps.  Hezekiah's devotion and leadership isn't met with universal appeal.  The priests had to be shamed into consecrating themselves to perform the Passover service. [2 Chronicles 30:15]  The Levites "had been more conscientious in consecrating themselves than the priests had been." [2 Chronicles 29:34] And, when the couriers are sent from town to town to invite the nation to the first national Passover observance in a long time, "the people scorned and ridiculed them." [2 Chronicles 30:10]  This rings so true.  Leading a nation from a God-fearing point-of-view would be anything but popular.

Independence Day is a good time to be reminded where true independence and freedom is found:  in the Lord.  His law doesn't bind.  It frees.  And if we would come back to Him as a nation, would our economic trials and international conflicts cease?  Well, it's as good a plan as any other I've heard proposed.  

And, who knows, maybe a God-fearing-and-following leadership will come from another unexpected place and father?

Lord knows.

Another very cool passage in this reading is 2 Chronicles 30:17-20.  Hezekiah prays here that the people who came to celebrate Passover and didn't do it properly, those who didn't purify themselves before eating the feast "contrary to what was written," would be forgiven.

Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God -- the Lord, the God of his fathers -- even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.  2 Chronicles 30:18-20 

Once again, scripture suggests its more about the heart than it is keeping proper religious form.  

July 3

More of Isaiah's Prophecies against Nations - Isaiah 14:28-32, 13:1-22, 14:1-23, 21:1-10

"I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,"

     declares the Lord Almighty.

Isaiah 14:23

Hmmmm, interesting metaphor - the broom of destruction.  Not to challenge God or test Him, but it doesn't sound really ominous or threatening.  The Angel of Death.  Plague.  Famine.  Flood.  Hellfire.  Turning the Nile to blood.  Blotting out the sun.  Opening up the earth to swallow you whole.  All pretty impressive and awe-inspiring images.  And then there's the "the broom of destruction."  Reminds me of some of those lame sports team mascots that are less than threatening:  Brevard County Manatees, Delaware Fighting Blue Hens, UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, Cordo High School Clerks, Teutopolis High School Wooden Shoes, Lansing Lug Nuts, UT Chattanooga Mocs, Webb High School Feet, Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes, Montgomery Biscuits, Centralia High School Orphans, Cairo High School Syrupmakers.

All joking aside.  If the Lord says a broom will destroy them, I believe He can make it terrifying.  Lord knows.

July 2

Isaiah Prophesies against Nations (Continued) - Isaiah 21:11-12, 34:5-17, 21:13-17, 23:1-18; 2 Kings 16:7-18; 2 Chronicles 28:22-29:2; 2 Kings 16:19-20, 18:1-7

In his time of trouble, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 2 Chronicles 28:22

He [Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done....  There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him....  And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.  2 Kings 18:3-7

Very cool.  The cycle can end.  You can rise up and decide you will not follow in the footsteps of your father.  You can go your own way.  You can do what is right.  With the power of God.  Ahaz does evil.  Hezekiah does what is right.  Who taught Hezekiah to follow the Lord's will?  His mother or grandparents?  Aunt, Uncle?  Just an unnamed servant in the king's household?  It could have been any of them.  We all have the power to change the world when we change a life.  

Who was it that influenced Hezekiah's heart and so influenced the course of history?  

Lord knows.

July 1

Isaiah Prophesies against Nations - Isaiah 34:1-4, 14:24-27, 15:1-9, 16:1-14, 17:1-14

This is the plan determined for the whole world;

     this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him?

Isaiah 14:26-27

God's plan isn't just for His people.  It is for all people.  We're all part of his story.  The interplay between our free choice and His sovereign will is a mystery to me.  He knows what we will do.  Has anyone ever surprised God?  In a moment of limited fore-knowledge?  Does He even do that?  It seems like a mental gymnastics that is somehow dishonest to Himself.  God knows.  But I wonder did He ever have a moment of wonder and surprise.  Enoch maybe.  That He lived a life so perfect it didn't require that he die.  Seems like that would have surprised a God who determined that all men would die.  Or even His own son.  Did He ever wonder if Jesus would make it through all the pain and suffering without losing it and just wiping out the people who were torturing Him.  Was there relief?  

Without surprise, wonder, relief, wouldn't it get kind of boring for the Lord?  I mean He knows what's going to happen and it happens.  Is His love so great for us that He doesn't care that its all going according to plan.  His joy is in seeing our surprise and wonder and relief.  He is a really good Father to come to all of our games even though He already knows the score.

Lord knows.