Isaiah 6:1-7:25 ~ 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 ~ Psalm 54:1-7 ~ Proverbs 23:1-3
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Old Testament - Wonderful readings today in Isaiah chapter 6 as Isaiah is commissioned as a prophet by the Lord! Great stuff!
The seraphim mentioned in this chapter are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible by name, though they do seem similar to the "living creatures" described in Revelation 4:6-9. It is intriguing to note that even the seraphim with two of their wings "covered their faces" (verse 2) before God. No wonder Isaiah got very scared in verse 5 because he saw the Lord with his own eyes in this vision! It is thought by some commentaries that this vision of Isaiah's may have taken place in the Temple in Jerusalem. Below are two pieces of artwork depicting the seraphim and verse 3: "In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!"" Amen...
In Isaiah chapter 7 today we read about the sign of Immanuel in verses 14 through 16! "All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel--`God is with us.' By the time this child is old enough to eat curds and honey, he will know enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong. But before he knows right from wrong, the two kings you fear so much--the kings of Israel and Aram--will both be dead." I don't know about you, but when I read this today I immediately thought of the virgin Mary and Jesus. With good reason, as we'll recall from the gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verse 23: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." Commentaries suggest that yes, indeed, these passages in Isaiah are ultimately wholly fulfilled in Jesus, who truly is "God with us." But, commentaries also suggest that this prophecy in Isaiah had a double fulfillment - first in a young woman from the house of Ahaz who was not married, but would marry and then have a son - and by the time the son was the age 2, the two invading kings would be destroyed. Then, the second fulfillment of this prophecy was indeed in the One we now celebrate as the true Immanuel, Jesus Christ, God with us!
New Testament - Amazing words from Paul today in Second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 30! "If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am." Why would Paul say he would rather boast about things that show how weak he is? Why would Paul want to be weak in any way? Why would you or I want to be weak in any way? If you must boast, what are you boasting about these days?
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Second Corinthians titled "The Reluctant 'Fool'" is at this link and "Boasting in our Weakness" is at this link.
Psalms - I like Psalm 54 verse 4 a lot - "But God is my helper. The Lord is the one who keeps me alive!" Is this true in your life? Is God the one who keeps you alive? Or are you trying to lean on other things as your source of life? I believe it is such a blessing to surrender more and more to God until we get to the point where truly this true for us - God is the one - and only - who keeps us alive. I am not saying I am there yet - but I'm trying to get there. I'm trying to surrender more and more each day to God and to Jesus - all that I am - all that I am living for. I pray that in your life and in mine God will be the one who keeps us alive!
Proverbs - Proverbs 23 verses 1 through 3 today teach us: "When dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you. If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat, and don't desire all the delicacies--deception may be involved." This is a fascinating Proverb. I think the key to remember here is that if you are dining with a ruler that you really need to be very well prayed-up! Seriously. Rulers don't just mean presidents or politicians. I think of rulers as perhaps our bosses or key people in our community who are well known, but whom perhaps we don't know that well. If one of these people invites you to dinner, very simply put - beware. Why? Because... deception may be involved. It may not be involved - it may be a very innocent invite to dinner - but you should be cautious. If you are a woman and a well-known man invites you to a one-on-one dinner, and it seems out of context or strange in some way, my first inclination would be to not go. We all obviously know the risk in a situation like this. But men being invited to dinner by men, or men being invited to dinner by women, or women being invited to dinner by women all need to be careful too. One-on-one dinners with someone other than your spouse, someone you are courting, or a good friend could be risky business. I'll briefly share with you that I got put into a crazy bad situation once being invited to a dinner by a "ruler" in my community. I didn't see at all what was coming. (I'll spare you the details...) By the grace of God it all turned out fine in the end - in fact, in some ways I have never felt the Spirit of God rushing through me as powerfully as when I was in that horrible situation over dinner. But, it was a lesson learned! When dining with a ruler - pay attention to what is before you! Not only the food & drink... but the psychological game of deception that may very be before you as well...
Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8 NIV
Prayer Point: Pray that you will go wherever God calls you to go. Pray that you will serve wherever Jesus asks you to serve. Pray that you will be sent wherever the Holy Spirit sends you!
Comments from You: What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!
God bless,
Mike
Isaiah 6:1-7:25
In chapter sixth, God sends Isaiah out to give a message to His people after the death of Uzziah the king. It is hear that we get a glimpse of how Isaiah was called and his acceptance to The Ministry he was called too,
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. (Isaiah 6:5-8 KJV)
Here we see that not only did Isaiah receive a call from God, he had to accept what God had for Him. “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14 KJV)
God is calling; are we ready to accept? Will we say, “Here I am; send me”?
O.K. this is the first time in reading through this book that I realized Ahaz was a corrupt king. Reading his name today in Isaiah just triggered my memory of what was written about him in II Kings 16 and II Chronicles 28. For an ungodly man to use the excuse "I don't want to ask; I don't want to put the Lord to a test." (Isaiah 7:12 NET.), as if he followed after the True God puts God’s prophetic response in a new perspective in my understanding. This also says to me that many times I will read something and not understand and think God is being unfair. God is never unfair or unmerciful and if I think He is then I am lacking not only information but also understanding.
May I not be like Ahaz who was given a Word of comfort and assurance then turned and trampled on that Word and threw it out.
II Corinthians 11:16-33
2 Corinthians 11:16-20 MSG Let me come back to where I started--and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. (17) I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. (18) Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. (19) Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. (20) You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down--even slap your face!
Let me see, this church had been taught the Truth of the Gospel by Paul and his companions and now they had begun to accept every kind of pseudo-teaching and false gospel from every kind of “three-ring preacher” who then turned around and abused them. This was done by choice.
Geeze today people run from meeting to meeting, convention to convention trying to “Get a Word from God,” allowing themselves to be spiritually abused. What happened then happens today. Thank you Mike that you took your desire and love for God’s Word to a level where you encourage people to read what the Word of God says. We may still allow ourselves to be charmed by the “three-ring preachers” but we cannot say we didn’t have the True Word to compare what those preachers say is “Thus sayeth the Lord”.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Psalm 54:1-7
It has just occurred to me that these past two three days we have found ourselves reading Psalms written after David was either pursued by treacherous man out to have him killed or just musing about the wickedness of men who say that God doesn’t exist. Whatever the case God protected David even when it appeared that David was a goner. What something appears to be and what it actually is, is something we need to ponder and understand.
When we have our back against the wall and it “appears” that we will never get out, remember appearance and truth are not mutually synonymous even in the lions’ den.
Proverbs 23:1-3
If you ever need to see the truth of this Proverb just watch foks at the company picnic, Christmas Party or get together where Alcohol is flowing freely: Boy, o boy, o boy!
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: Ramona | September 10, 2011 at 08:51 PM