April 15, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. He saw that there was no man. He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.” (Isaiah 59.1-2, 16)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

When sin was great upon the face of the earth preceding the days of Noah and the flood, God repented that He had ever created humankind. (Genesis 6.6) There is an interesting dynamic presented in Genesis 6 leading up to the introduction of Noah as a lone faithful human among all humans on Earth. That dynamic is the mention of “the sons of God” and the Nephilim who then interacted with humanity and sought to change the course of history to serve themselves. In all of this, beyond the debate of who “the sons of God” and the Nephilim were, we cannot ignore that God had given humanity both the ability and the opportunity to “choose therefore this day whom you will serve.” No, God did not say it that way, those are the words of Joshua to the nation of Israel as they were entering the Promised Land. It does encapsulate the reality, however, that God put the choice before those whom He had made from the dust of the earth and in whom He had breathed His Holy Spirit. They were equipped with what was needed to “contend.” Being equipped, however, does not make one adept in “contending” against the enemy. The equipping is not limited to objective resources but also includes subjective applications. We must live out the experience of righteousness to know fully what righteousness is. God never intended for righteousness to be a vicarious experience. Righteousness is not a fantasy of the mind lived out in dreams and imagination. Righteousness is a way of life which must be chosen and committed to. Righteousness is a “lived out” experience.

There are times when that experience is known by what righteousness is not. Righteousness is holiness. Unrighteousness is sin. Sin is real as is the consequence of sin. Scripture calls that consequence “the wage of sin.” The wage of sin is death. (Romans 6.23) Satan, the master of illusion (which is why I so dislike “magic” and all things called “magical”) presents the “things of this world” as immune to death. People so believe in the illusion of that first temptation of humanity “Surely God did not mean you would actually die” that they indulge, invite and incorporate sin in all its varieties of expressions into their lives. They become so wrapped up in their sin that the truth of God which exists within them and around them becomes muted. If a sound of it or an appearance of it becomes known, then, as in Isaiah 59, barriers and obstacles are established to keep distance between what God wants for us and what we want for ourselves. As we read the beginning verses of chapter 59, it is as if Isaiah is observing the course of life and making commentary upon it. He makes his appeal representing the truth as God sees it. He speaks the language of experience as one with unclean lips as well as one who experienced the purging of those same lips so that he could speak the truth in love. Just as we considered the misplaced hope of those who lined the road leading into Jerusalem as Jesus approached on the first day of Passover Week believing Jesus was the warrior king of Israel set to purge Jerusalem and Judea of the goliath called Rome, so Isaiah confronts the people with their false belief that God was distant from them. The truth is that their sin had built barriers and walls between themselves and God. They had become a “sin-bred” (consider the term “inbred” here) people so intertwined with self-will and self-desire that the goodness of God was less and less apparent. Perhaps they even saw it as adversarial as if God was against them and His favor was removed. How many times could the goodness of God be extended in word and deed only to be refused? Would God’s patience and lovingkindness finally and completed be withdrawn? Would God give up on His people, the works of His hands and the bearer of His image?

The answer is perhaps, one day, but that day is not yet. In the days of the sons of God who intermarried with the daughters of men, in the days of the Nephilim, there was Noah. In the days of wickedness in Nineveh, there was Jonah. By the time we get to the prophets of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah, the question was raised “Is there at least one who would bring hope back to the people of Israel?” In chapter 59, it is God Himself who steps into the gap to break down the walls and barriers and mete out justice, truth and the way of God. We know this decision to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus, Son of God and son of man. There is no one capable of redeeming creation and creature but Him alone. There is no human whose righteousness is sufficient to satisfy the debt of sin that is owed by the billions of people who have lived, are living and will ever live on planet Earth. There is no system of faith and religious ideology which can create the path of saving humanity from itself. The idea of blaming God or denying God’s existence only exacerbates the human condition. It does not enhance it. Mighty ones of God, we must take that serious look at our own lives and have those fierce conversations. We must recognize that God is not failing us. We have failed ourselves by not striving to serve Him, please Him and honor Him by loving one another as He has so loved us. His will shall be done. Jesus is the evidence of it!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.