May 12, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.” (Isaiah 63.16)

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

The call of Isaiah continues to reach out to the primacy of God before all things. While it would seem the world changes and never for the better, God remains good, faithful and true. Further, God remains, as we have considered, true to Himself for His name’s sake and true to the nation of Israel as His namesake. God’s belief in His creation of humanity continues in spite of their penchant for faithlessness. The crux of the human condition is the call to, as spoken by Joshua to the exiles as they entered into the Promised Land following the days of Moses, “Choose this day whom you shall serve. As for me and my house, we will choose the Lord our God.” Joshua, and Caleb, had proven themselves faithful and true to the One who is Faithful and True. In spite of worldly odds against them, they made the choice to believe in God and in the promise of God. We remember another story of a “minority” opinion which garnered the majority response of God. That story was of the shepherd boy, David, who stood against the Goliath of Gath and the Philistines to defend the name of God and God’s namesake, Israel. The continuing presentation of the smallest and the least being the greatest and the best is a prophetic reality throughout scripture. And we hear it again in Isaiah’s prayer in chapter 63.

I am speaking of the bias toward the “least of these” in that last sentence. Sin has a peculiar way to skew the way we see things of the Kingdom of God as those in the kingdom of humanity, that is- the world. From the temptation in the Garden to the bullying that occurs daily in homes, schools, business and in the general public, we see this “sin” vision. The Serpent’s intent was to convince Adam and Eve that their peculiarity as the only humans “in the world and in the garden, which was their world,” made them inferior. You might surmise the assignment of blame which Satan used in speaking about God. It was “God’s” intent to keep Adam and Eve “small” when greatness could more easily be achieved through obedience to self and disobedience to God. We hear it even today as social media et al promote “you can do anything and be anything you want to be.” Really? Look where that ideology (and some theologies) get a person. Gender confusion, business mogul-ing, political wrangling and insurrection and war are just the tip of the iceberg spawned by the frozen spirit of “anything.” Remember the musical joust from “Annie Get Your Gun” which debated “Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.” Did any of that generation give a second thought about the ramifications of that marginalizing mentality? Are any of this generation truly considering the ramifications of such pervasive thinking which has erupted out of the 50s and 60s with “equal rights and opportunities.” I am not saying there shouldn’t be equal rights and opportunities. I am saying there is a baseline and guideline specified in the Word of God and the Law of the Lord about it. Even Jesus understood that while He could do “anything,” He chose not to. This was the “debate” on Golgotha between Jesus and the Thief of Rebuke. Consider David and Goliath, for example. Goliath believed that he could do anything and get away with it. That “anything” included mocking the Most High God. David took offense. David took offense at his kinsmen and fellow Israelites. For David, the defiance of God and the lack of defending the name of God were equally bad. There was no such thing as a little sin in this regard. Of course, we would find David struggling with his own “bigness” as being beyond the reach of the Law in his seduction of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. Very few of us are exempt from the temptation.

What is the answer? Humility and trust. Jesus had to remind His disciples and followers often about being the servant, having a servant heart, being the lowest, making one’s self small as a true sign of greatness and effectiveness. It has never been a popular discipline but it is the right one. Jesus Himself became the servant, the suffering servant, the Lamb of God, for the sake of all others. He owned no property. He trusted God for provision. He exercised no military authority and eschewed Peter for taking a sword to cut off Malchus’ ear even when He asked if any of the disciples had swords in their possession. He washed the disciples’ feet. He bore the cross of shame and guilt. Shall we go on? He made Himself least so that the least would understand true greatness comes in humility and service. And I mention this because Isaiah is petitioning God on behalf of “the one not recognized by Abraham or Israel.” If you are reading a companion passage from the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14.19-22) claiming “God as our Father,” the identification is more specific listing Judah as the one not recognized. Judah is known as the least of the tribes among the 12. We know the Bethlehem was the least among the tribe of Judah. Yet, great works would come out of both. Why? Because God had chosen to act in this manner to bear witness to the power of faith, trust and belief. Sadly, God had not found “one” who would join with Him in the fight for righteousness, justice and redemption. Here is the word for us, mighty ones of God, and how we should conduct ourselves in the world. Heeding the call to “be in the world but not of it” leads us not only in the paths of righteousness but directs our actions toward all others that they might see the will and desire of God to “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly.” (Micah 6.8) The focus is on making ourselves as we should be in the eyes of God and recognizing with the eyes of faith who God truly is. He is great. That does not mean we are not great. It means we are not greater to nor equal with God. That we here from Peter about Christ Himself “though He was the Son of God, He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Mighty ones of God, it is better to live by the paradigm of the Kingdom than by the wiles of the world.

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 in whose name we pray. AMEN.