"The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling like waves." Isaiah 48:17-18
Diplomats work toward a "lasting peace" in the trouble spots of the world. Worried parents long for "peace of mind" when their children are in trouble. And the harried businessman sailing his yacht wants nothing more than "a little peace." There is nothing more attractive to the human race than peace - and nothing more elusive.
God had problems with his chosen people. He could not always get them to listen to him, and when they did listen they were often incapable of understanding what he was saying. Even when they understood, they did not necessarily do what he said. So the result was chaos. now, we know that God is not a God of confusion but a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). So the chaos is not by his desire of design.
God addressed the issue through his prophet Isaiah: " Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling like waves" (48:18). God's promise of peace is directly related to observance of his principles. If the human race wants peace they can have it, but it comes at a price. The price is refusing to do things man's way and being willing to do things God's way.
This message to God's ancient people should be heeded today. We have engineered much chaos, and God calls us to order - to peace. We tend to question what God says is "good" and to doubt the path he chooses. So we go our own way and do our own thing, which results in varying degrees of chaos. We tend to regard God's commands as onerous energy resisting God's commands - arguing with them, breaking them, and enthusiastically engaging in activities and attitudes that fly in the teeth of them. A brief review of the commandments will confirm this to be true! Yet when God gave the commandments to his people, Moses told them, "Obey the Lord's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good" (Deuteronomy 10:13). God's commands are for our own good!
When things are done God's way, that's the right way, and things run as He intended, like a well-maintained machine. But disobedience throws a wrench into the works and puts sand in the gears. Profound disorder ensues! And disorder is the antithesis of peace. But where does order come from? From ordering our life according to the orders of the God of order - and that's an order!
- Devotions for men by Stuart Briscoe.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
peace in our minds and peace that is God's ideal are different, which is why there is so much disobedience. Man seeks to gain their state of mind, or state of peace, and once things are stable they just want to coast along enjoying it. This can be applied to many things, such as faith, when people praise God and are obedient, but when they get to a point where things are good they just coast along to enjoy the moment and stop being so strong in their faith.
Doesn't really have to do with hte devo itself, but something i wanted to mention
-drew rbk(2.1)
gosh it's like, UN-possible to tear yourself away from the things that block you from listening to God everyday.
Order vs Chaos... I wish i can be on the side of order but i pretty much sucked at that today.
Jono (0,2) 0 for sleeping in and being really late for church today. i went to stone church, did you go byee? didn't see you there
God expects us to listen to Him.. for order and peace to be attained. But too many times, we don't listen or even hear what He has in store for us. We even fake listen to him and go yeah yeah I know... and do what we have in mind and in our hearts.
Sunday morning was one of those days for me, where something not soo great happened on Sat. lead to a feeling of not really wanting to go to church. And even tho in my heart I knew I should go... I choose not to go. I pray that I become more diligent even in my times of hurt... not only when things are good and golden, but also in my lows.. I can trust in Him.
Brian Yee -> rbk (4,0)
Post a Comment