May 16, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. But when we continued to sin against them [Your ways], You were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on Your name or strives to lay hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and You have given us over to our sins.” (Isaiah 64.5-7)

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

And there it is, that infamous question which the disciples posed (as mentioned yesterday) when the Rich Young Ruler walked away in sorrow “…because he was very rich and had many possessions.” How then can we be saved? Is this how we measure the value and worth of our lives? Do we truly gauge our success and purpose in this world by the “things” around us; even objectifying the living things around us- people, animals and other forms of life? In so doing, are we making them to a greater or lesser extent “idols.” Could that be the underlying issue of how the Hebrews (Israelite Exiles) viewed “the Messiah”? They were not seeing the person as King and Lord, the viceroy of God who would manifest the glory of Israel amidst the darkness of the world with Jerusalem and her Temple as the beacon of authority and sovereignty. They were seeing “a servant,” be He civil or religious or domestic. They were seeing an object in much the same way the Philistines, the Amorites and the Ugarites viewed Dagon. Was it any different than the Hebrew Exiles (out of Egypt) who forced Aaron to fashion a Golden Calf as they had seen in Egypt to worship in the absence of Moses and his “God”? Is it any different today for the “things” in our lives we say we cannot live without and what of God we sacrifice in order to maintain them and keep them? Can they save us? No. That is the really big problem with idolatry. Our things cannot save us. They cannot sacrifice themselves for us. They have no true conscience or soul (when they are objectified.) Yet, how much will we sacrifice for them who can give us so little that is authentic worth, value and eternal purpose? Here we can see the difference “God” makes.

Thus, Isaiah asks the question of God to the people and more over the people to God. Isaiah stands between them and proposes the truth of God (and the falsehood of humanity) of what is said by the question “How then can we be saved?” The answer is clear by word and by deed. Only God can save. Only God can redeem. Only God gave exact true justice. Only God can mediate purposeful reparation. Only GOD! And if humanity, especially those who are exposed to the revelation of God who has done so much in great and small ways to demonstrate His love for His people, cannot see it or worse refuse to see it- “then who can be saved” and “how can they be saved.” This is the proposition which Jesus forged in during one of the many Pharisaical trials as they accused Him of being a “son of the devil.” He said, “There are many things which can be forgiven [even now] but there is one thing that cannot and it is an unforgiveable sin!” How I have listened to the inquiry of many who say there is no such thing. Do they dare to remove a teaching of Jesus which comes from His own word, Spirit and knowledge of God? If it was not so, then He would not have said it. There is an unforgiveable sin and it is “the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.” To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to deny its witness, testimony and creative authority in life about God. To deny the presence and the passion of the Holy Spirit in its most unique expression of being of God, in God and through God creates the unfortunate reality that the listener does not hear, listen to and experience the gospel truth which saves. And only the gospel truth can save! Not things nor objects. Only the truth of God which has been definitively revealed in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah of God is “the way, the truth and the life” by which eternal life with God is gained. How can one be forgiven if one refuses the word of forgiveness, the One through whom forgiveness comes and has been divined?

Without God, all things become impossible for our salvation and eternal life in peace, joy, hope, faith, love, mercy, kindness, patience, goodness and self-control. We may survive, perhaps even thrive, in this world but in the next? Do not fool yourselves, mighty ones of God, to think this world is all we have!!

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.