May 16, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence. From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” (Isaiah 64.3-4)

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

The question for me is, as I read these verses, “When did they not expect God to do awesome works?” Or maybe the question is “What awesome works did they expect?” These questions do follow yesterday’s reflection based on our spiritual attitude toward praying to God for what we want over and against praying to God for what we need. By faith, while we most certainly can pray these prayers and petition God’s intervention and provision, Jesus taught His disciples (and us through them) to pray “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven; give us this day our daily bread.” The companion prayer to Jesus’ instruction is, of course, David’s prayer psalm, Psalm23. There David says, and we remember it well, “The Lord is my shepherd [and I will shepherd my sheep in the same manner], I will want for nothing because He provides safe housing, running water, peace and rest and protection from all manner of harm and evil.” Okay, that is a stylized version of that portion of “The Shepherd’s Psalm.” You get the idea, however, and you can plot the similarities between Psalm 23 and Matthew 6.9-13. In both versions, the message is the assurance of what God has promised to do and will do. It is when our worldly desires and destinations get in the way influencing our decision-making that we get a more distorted version of the prayers of most all people. Leave it to say, we intervene in God’s plan with the hope of knowing better than God what is needed that meets our wants and desires. Really?

As Isaiah speaks for the people, he does provide the sense of God’s move on behalf of those who are called “His people.” He has done many great, wonderful and mind-challenging things. Scripture is filled with examples of what God has determined is best for all involved regardless of whether they are “for or against,” “believing, non-believing and unbelieving” or “expecting or unexpecting.” The very fact that God has literally and figuratively “seen it all” should remind us of His sovereignty and will for all of creation. It should also remind us of His expectation of our dominion, power and authority to master, shepherd and grow creation into the fullness of His plan which was established from the beginning. The ultimate truth Isaiah declares, whether the people have said it or he is saying for them because they should have said it is this: There is no god like God! It is a part of the Jewish spiritual template that “remembrance” is critical. When a people forget their history they are bound and determined to repeat it, relive it and regret it. When a people remember their history (from true historians, mind you, and not the revisionist historians), they learn from it, benefit by it and overcome it to be a better self and community. This is the challenge of the Church as it exists today. We are benefitting from science that seeks out the past and is uncovering such evidence to validate what by faith we already knew was revealed in God’s word. To allow it to interpret our sitz im leben instead of the other way around is critical, purposeful and responsible. It keeps us on the side of righteousness and within the favor of God. It also inspires us to do what is right and good in the sight of God for the welfare of the human community whether they are believers or not. Jesus is the model of that thinking and that action. No other “Savior” can match it. We are commanded to model it ourselves and bring marvel to others who see it and did not expect it. Glory be to God!

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. Hear our prayer, O Lord, and be gracious to us in the name of Jesus. AMEN.