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Daily Devotion May 16th

SATURDAY 16th

Jonah 4 – or read all of Jonah it will not take long.

Jonah 4:1 ‘But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.’

The context of this verse falls into the fact that God had relented of the disaster that he had said he would bring upon the people of Nineveh, and he did not do it (Jonah 3:10) Jonah was angry with God because of the decision God had made! (we read of David getting angry with God as well in 2 Samuel 6:8)

It was not my original intention to share from Jonah again today, but as I was reading what got my attention was that Jonah was angry with God and I felt I should share something along these lines,  an even shorter devotion than normal, so here goes!

You will have got used to me using my imagination during the time I’ve been sending these devotions out, here as I picture Jonah getting angry with God, I imagine a tiny squatty little mouse standing on his hind legs waving his front foot fist in anger towards a large roaring majestic lion. Now for some honesty, I wonder if you have ever been like Jonah, and got angry or upset with God?  I have (thankfully it’s not lasted for long) and I know of others who have because they have been honest enough to tell me so, yet in a sense we know that to be angry or upset with God is as pointless as a mouse putting its fist up to a lion, the lion is going to win every time, and thankfully even if we do get angry with God, he still wins every time, not because we didn’t have a legitimate enough reason to feel angry or upset, but simply because of who God is – God, and he is a God of love, in fact he is love and love always wins!

There are many reasons why we may begin to feel angry or upset with God, a sickness, the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, you can put your own reason in this space .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. but what I want to say today is this, that God understands! Yes, God understands our hearts, he understands our emotions, he understands our feelings and frustrations, after all he created us, but more importantly God is big enough to take our anger, our outbursts, our frustration and he is able to come alongside us and to help us overcome it, and the wonderful things is that even though we may have felt angry or got upset with God or toward God, as he comes in love he can turn our anger, upset feeling into joyful praise as we realise that what we saw as harm or as a disappointment or a negative in our lives, God can use it for good and for his glory. Now, I know that some would say (for this reason I was almost reluctant to write about this, but have done because I have had to deal with it in pastoral ministry) that we should never get angry or upset with God, and of course it is better to never get angry or upset with God, but sometimes because we are human our emotions can get the better of us, it can happen in the natural realm, we can get angry or upset with someone we love, but because love wins, the anger or upset feeling is soon forgotten.

God is so much bigger than we realise, even the lion in my imagination at the beginning of this devotion is puny in comparison to our Almighty God, he knows our hang ups, he knows our foibles, he knows us inside out, and yet he still cares for us, he still loves us, and even if we get angry or upset with him, he is still willing to come alongside us and to carry us through. Love wins.

Bigger than all my problem, Bigger than all my fears

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my question, Bigger than anything

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

He’s bigger than all the shadows that falls across my path

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than my confusion, Bigger than anything

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my problems, Bigger than all my fears

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my questions bigger than anything

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

He’s bigger than all the giants of fear and unbelief

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my hang ups bigger than anything

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my problem bigger than all my fears

God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see

Bigger than all my questions bigger than anything

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Daily Devotion May 14th

THURSDAY 14th

Reading – John 4:1-54

In our devotion on Monday, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan, I mentioned a verse from our reading today (v9) that says that the Jews do not associate with Samaritans. In this chapter today, we discover that Jesus practised what he preached in that he was willing to associate with those who his kinsmen would refuse to associate with.

We probably know the story well, having just read it, I don’t need to recount it all but what we will have discovered is that as a result of Jesus being willing to associate with this woman, it led to many more Samaritans coming to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (verses 39-42)

Now this woman was not just a Samaritan, but she was an adulterer, a serial adulterer, that is why she had to come alone to the well, she shouldn’t even associate with her own people, let alone a man who was a Jew! But in God’s plan she had a divine appointment, that would take place, regardless of the protocol or prejudice of the time. It wasn’t by chance that Jesus had to go through Samaria, it wasn’t by chance he sat at the well at the time when this woman would come, it wasn’t by chance that the disciples were not around, it wasn’t even by chance that Jesus was weary, thus needing at that moment to stop and rest. It was all because of a divine timetable. The woman did not know it at the time when she arrived at the well, but she soon discovered that this was a moment that was going to change her life forever. An encounter with Jesus. She went to the well to get her daily supply of natural water, but got far more than she had bargained for, she came away with living and eternal water.

Thinking back to the parable of the good Samaritan, we saw how the Samaritan, who according to the culture of the time, should have walked past the beaten up Jew, but he threw protocol or prejudice out of the window and went to his aid and actually went above and beyond. (Luke 10:34-35) Continually through the life and ministry of Jesus, we read that he also did the same, he was willing to associate with the publicans and sinners, he went to the outcast, he reached out to the helpless and hopeless, he listened to the cry of the beggar, he answered the call of those who were of the upper strands of society or the lower strands, he was willing to go to anyone who called out to him for his help.

Another Scripture we used on Monday, was from the book of James, which reminded us that we should show evidence of our faith by our works, in this same letter James also says that we shouldn’t show prejudice toward anyone, in the ESV I use, the heading is ‘the sin of partiality’ the NIV heading is ‘favouritism forbidden’ the text is James 2:1-9 ‘My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”  have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable name by which you were called? If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.’

We are living in a multi-cultural society and we are living in a depraved society, and although we would not accept so much that comes from other cultures, such as religion and practise etc, and we would not accept the lifestyle of many in society, and although there is so much going on around us that we as the redeemed of the Lord do not like and cannot embrace, we should never be prejudice against individuals, the gospel is for the whosoever, Jesus loves the whosoever, Jesus came to die for the whosoever, and he wants us who are born again, to be the conduits of his love and the demonstrators of his compassion in the world around us to day. It doesn’t mean we should overlook the sin, Jesus didn’t, remember he told the woman taken in adultery, to go and sin no more, but we should seek to love them, and pray for them and look for opportunities in sharing God’s love and compassion, to point them to Jesus, the only One who can enable them to know their lives turned around and to bring their lifestyle in harmony to what the Word of God reveals.

The days are long gone where we could think that we are all chips off the same block.  There is so much variance amongst us in our communities, lifestyle, religion, race, culture, behaviour, but there is still only One true and Living God, there is still only one way to eternal life, there is only one source for eternal hope, and it is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who know him, need to reveal Jesus to the people around us that together, as they come to believe we will become one in Christ Jesus.

As I close this devotion, we will look at Revelation 5:9-10 as you read it, imagine how different it would read if Jesus had been prejudiced to any who were not a Jew! ‘And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’

Thank God, he found me despite who or what I may have been and that he is no respecter of persons. Thank God he found you and thank God he is still finding. We who are saved know a Man who is the answer to the communities around us, his name is Jesus. Acts 10:34-35 ‘So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’ In the KJV ‘Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.’

I can’t take a heart that’s broken

Make it over again

But I know a man who can

I can’t take a soul that’s sin sick

Wash it white as the snow

But I know a man who can

Some call him Saviour, the Redeemer of all men

I call him Jesus, for he’s my dearest friend

When you feel no one can help you

And your life is out of hand

I know a man who can

I can’t walk upon the water

Calm the dark and raging sea

But I know a man who can

I can’t cause blind eyes to open

Or make the lame to walk again

But I know a man who can

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Daily Devotion May 13th

WEDNESDAY 13th

The Parable of the Persistent Widow – Luke 18:1-8

In our final parable for this week, we have a parable which speaks to us of persistency in prayer. The opening verse tells us who the audience was for this parable, ‘’Then Jesus told his disciples a parable. . .’

When I left school at sixteen I went into the motor trade to train as a panel beater, sprayer and refinisher, I had to learn what was going to be my trade for twenty years from someone who already knew and had practised it. I was very fortunate in that the guy who was going to train me, was very experienced, he was nearing retirement and had spent many years working for Rolls Royce in the paint shop and had had his own vehicle repair business – so when it came to learning from him, he not only knew what he was talking about, but he also knew what he was doing. I spent three years with him, and I can honestly say that that period was the most enjoyable years in my secular employment. I learned from the best, and it became obvious as I progressed into other places of employment, for I had learned skills that I soon discovered others had not been taught.

When we come to our parable today, the disciples were in a position similar to what I was, they were learning, they also spent three years with the Master, and they could say that they had learned from the best! See, when it says ‘Jesus told his disciples a parable, he wasn’t going to teach them something he knew nothing about, he was going to teach them a lesson in prayer and he could teach them the lesson because he himself had learned and practised what it was to pray.

Hebrews 5:17 tells us that Jesus prayed and how he prayed, ‘In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.’ And the gospel writers often mentioned something about Jesus prayer life, Mark 1:35 ‘And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.’ Matthew 14:23 ‘And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.’ Matthew 26:36 ‘Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here, while I go over there and pray.’

In Luke 11:1 we have a combination of Jesus both praying and then teaching the disciples to pray, they had seen his example and they wanted to follow. ‘Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’  And learn they did from the great teacher. For we find when we come to the book of Acts they continued in the (respectfully I put it this way) trade they had been taught, which included prayer.

Acts 1:14 ‘All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.’ Acts 2:42 ‘And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.’

The disciples learned the lesson of the importance of prayer, and the lesson taught in our parable today is of ‘persistent’ prayer. It portrays a widow who keeps pestering a judge to grant her justice against an adversary, now the parable isn’t saying that God will only answer our prayers to stop us bothering him, what it is teaching us is not to give up. I have to admit, that there have been many times when I have agreed to pray for a particular, need, situation or person and I’ve been faithful for a few times and suddenly another matter arises and the original need either goes on the back burner or even gets forgotten about, I’m sure it happens to us all. But there are other times perhaps we have prayed for a need so many times and have then just given up! Jesus when he taught the disciples is also teaching us ‘Don’t give up’.

What are you seeking God for at this moment? It may be for the salvation of a family member, or a healing, it may be for direction, it may be any number of things, do not give up, keep seeking, keep asking.

Matthew 7:7-11 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!’

The clouds have passed away,

I see the light of day,

The sun is shining through dispelling gloom with

hallelujahs;

I know that this is real,

For in my heart I feel,

That my Saviour heard my earnest prayer.

I know He heard my prayer;

He knows my every care,

He gives to me the blessed victory.

Oh yes I feel Him now,

My loyalty I vow,

I know the Saviour (Lord) heard my plea

The enemy had said to me,

That my faith in God was dead

And if the way was rough, He did not care

(That The Saviour did not care),

Thank God (Thank the Lord) it is not true,

He thrills me through and through

I know the Saviour heard my prayer

I know He heard my prayer.

When in the future days the fiery trials blaze

When Satan comes to me to take away my victory;

I can point him to the time when Heaven’s light did shine

I can say He heard my earnest prayer.

I know He heard my prayer;

He knows my every care,

He gives to me the blessed victory.

Oh yes I feel Him now,

My loyalty I vow,

I know the Saviour (Lord) heard my plea

The enemy had said to me,

That my faith in God was dead

And if the way was rough, He did not care

(That The Saviour did not care),

Thank God (Thank the Lord) it is not true,

He thrills me through and through

I know the Saviour heard my (earnest) prayer

I know He heard my prayer.

I know the Saviour heard my earnest prayer.

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Daily Devotion May 12th

TUESDAY 12th

The Parable of the Ten Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

The placement of this parable that we are considering today is within the conversation Jesus had with his disciples regarding the end times. In the previous chapter 24, we read in verse 1 that the disciples had drawn the attention of Jesus to the temple buildings. No doubt it was a splendid building, but Jesus makes a startling statement to the disciples that suggested that the temple buildings would be destroyed, with not one stone being left on another. We don’t know how long the gap is between verse 2 and 3, but by now Jesus and the disciples are sitting on the mount of Olives, the disciples had obviously been mulling over what Jesus had said and so they ask him, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ The whole of the remainder of this chapter is the answer that Jesus gave to them, which then leads into the parable before us today.

To summarize what Jesus had said in Matthew 24 is not the purpose of this devotion, but what we do learn is this, in his answer Jesus gives sufficient warning that his second coming would be sudden and at a time least expected. (see 24:42 and 44) This is then confirmed at the end of our parable, 25 verse 13 ‘Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’

Let us remind ourselves today in the midst of the turmoil, trouble and testing that is shaking the world at this moment as a result of the virus, we who are Christians need not fear, God is in control, and these things will happen before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 24:4-8) We need as it were to keep our eye on the ball, be watchful, be ready, for he could come at any moment.

Jesus uses a wedding scene in his parable, ten virgins who were supposed to be ready to go out to meet the bridegroom, we learn that five were wise, five were foolish. What then made the difference between whether they were wise or foolish? It all came down to whether they had oil with them to keep their lamps burning, so that when the bridegroom arrived, they would be ready.

We are told that the bridegroom was delayed, during the delay their lamps had been burning, but for five of the virgins their lamps were running out of oil and they had no spare oil to top their lamps up. They asked the other five to give them some oil, but they had to answer in the negative, for ‘if we give you some of our oil, there will not be enough for us as well.’ So, the foolish five went off to buy some oil, but alas, too late for while they were gone the bridegroom arrived and the wise five went into the feast and the door was shut. On their return the cry was made from the foolish five, ‘let us in’, but it was too late.

The purpose of the parable is to warn us to be ready for when Jesus comes again, by keeping our lamps trimmed and having a fresh supply of oil. If the wick of a lamp wasn’t trimmed regularly, the light would eventually diminish, give off an unpleasant smell and weaken, so keeping our lamps trimmed speaks to me of cutting off from our lives anything that is likely to frustrate our walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are so many things today that could hinder our walk, or our alertness and our readiness for our Bridegrooms arrival. Lacking oil could be symbolic of several things, it could refer to becoming spiritually dry and barren, through our lack of prayer, fellowship, and the reading of the Word. It could refer to our lack of dependency upon the Holy Spirit, it could simply be our loss of interest and desire for the things of God, even maybe a flirtation with the things of the world! In the parable it led to the five foolish not being ready!

The parable is all about ensuring that we watch our lives in the light of his impending coming, ensuring that we are in continual fellowship and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, being spiritually fed and spiritually alert as we wait for his arrival.

In Luke’s account of the second coming teaching of Jesus, he doesn’t include this parable, but in an earlier chapter he gives a similar warning, Luke 12:35-40 ‘Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

In bringing this devotion to an end, as you are reading this, are you ready? Is your lamp trimmed and burning bright? Do you have some fresh oil? Are you looking up in readiness for the arrival of our Saviour?

Do you know him personally as your Saviour, if not make yourself ready by allowing him to come into your life as your Lord and Master, come to the cross and repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

A final point, the five foolish virgins could not use the oil that belonged to the five wise virgins. When it comes to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot depend on someone else’s relationship to get us into heaven! Each one of us needs to make a personal decision to trust him as Lord and Saviour.

We will have an old Sunday school classis as our song for today

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.

Give me oil in my lamp,

Keep me burning,

Keep me burning

Till the break of day.

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King of kings!

Sing Hosanna! sing hosanna!

Sing hosanna to the King!

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Give me joy in my heart, I pray.

Give me joy in my heart,

Keep me singing.

Keep me singing

Till the break of day.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting,

Give me peace In my heart, I pray.

Give me peace in my heart,

Keep me resting.

Keep me resting

Till the break of day.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Give me love in my heart, I pray.

Give me love in my heart,

Keep me serving.

Keep me serving

Till the break of day.

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Daily Devotion May 11th

MONDAY 11th

Luke 10:25-36 – The Good Samaritan

When I decided to look at some of the parables during this week, I set about choosing which ones to look at, but then I had to make a decision on what to concentrate on for each one as it is far too easy to make a devotion into something that becomes an epistle! (Perhaps you already think that 😊)

With this parable it was the introduction to it that caught my attention. Whereas yesterday the parable came as a result to a crowd gathering around Jesus, today we discover this parable comes as an answer to a question an individual asks Jesus. The question was to test Jesus, but Jesus turns it around to bring a challenge to the challenger! The initial question is ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ To which Jesus responds, ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’

Who was it that came to Jesus with the question? The ESV says ‘a lawyer’, the KJV and NKJV ‘a certain lawyer’, the NIV and CSB ‘an expert in the law’, the NET and NLT ‘an expert in religious law’, the one who asked the question was an expert in religious law, he would have or should have known the Old Testament law inside out, every jot and tittle, therefore Jesus puts him to the test. ‘What is written in the law? How do you read it?’ The lawyer then answers by using Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as his answer, ‘And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” (10:27) Jesus then tells him, ‘You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.’ But this wasn’t enough for the lawyer, he continues further, ‘Who is my neighbour.’  We then have the parable which Jesus gave to answer the question.

We know the parable, I remember having to learn it to be able recite it in Sunday school when I was a youngster, to my shame I would struggle to recall it to mind today, but I can still remember what it was all about. A man is on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, a journey of about 17 miles when he is attacked by robbers. Three people came along the road, the first two were a priest and a Levite – the third was a Samaritan. In those days, it was the first two who SHOULD have been the ones to have gone to the victim’s aid, but they chose to walk by, it was a Samaritan – an enemy of the Jew, who came to the victims aid. (John 4:9 ‘For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.’) And Jesus asks the ‘expert’ in the law, ‘Which of these three, do you think proved to be the neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?’  The ‘expert’ relies, ‘The one who showed mercy.’ The conclusion to the matter comes from Jesus, ‘You go, and do likewise.’

I wonder how the ‘expert’ felt afterwards? To be told that he would have to love his enemies if he wanted to inherit eternal life!

I commenced by saying that it was the introduction to this parable that caught my attention – ‘a lawyer’ or as the NIV puts it, ‘an expert in the law’ stood up to put him (Jesus) to the test. As an ‘expert’, he thought he had it all wrapped up in his ‘knowing’ the law, but Jesus ends the conversation by reminding him that it is the ‘doing’ that matters as well. Obviously, here in this parable Jesus isn’t teaching that good works will save us, he is saying that if we truly love the Lord our God, etc. which we know from comparing Scripture with Scripture is demonstrated by our yielding to him and obeying him, which includes the outworking of the Cross in our lives, then our faith and obedience will be demonstrated through our works. I wonder if James had this parable in mind when he wrote his epistle, especially chapter 2:22-25 ‘But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.’ And again in 2:14-17 ‘What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’

To sum it up, the ‘EXPERT’ needed to become an ‘EXAMPLE’. As Christians we can become ‘experts’ in many different things, in our knowledge of spiritual things, in our ministries and callings, but what we need to become is ‘examples’ and to ‘excel’ in living out the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love

Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord

And where there’s doubt, true faith in You

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace

It is pardoning that we are pardoned

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we’re born to eternal life

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

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Daily Devotion May 10th

SUNDAY 10th

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23m- The Parable of the Sower

For some of this week, we will take a brief look at some of the parables of the Lord Jesus. The parable before us today is a well-known story, the sower and the seed. Jesus gave the parable to the crowd who were listening, (v2) but, it seems that he only gave the explanation to the disciples (v10-11).

Let’s set the scene, Jesus had gone to sit down by the sea, I can imagine him just listening to the gentle sound of the breaking waves, watching the sunlight glistening off the sea and the birds diving to catch the fish that swum too close to the surface. A moment of personal space, but not for long as the crowds arrived and so he got into a boat and began to speak to them in parables.

When I read this parable, I like to think (forgive my imagination) that Jesus was not only looking across the crowd, but out beyond them and in the distance he could see a man who had not joined them, he was too busy, he was one of the local farmers and he had work to do. He needed to get the fields planted to enable a harvest in a few months and so the inspiration comes for the parable.

In our modern age it is too easy to think in modern ways, but we need to remind ourselves that this farmer didn’t have a tractor and a seed drill that could cover a vast area each time he drove up and down the field. Back then it would have been an extremely hard day’s work, walking back and forth sowing the seed in the scorching sun. The sowing would have taken place by ‘broadcasting’, that is by taking a handful of seed from a sack or bag hanging from the shoulder and throwing it out across the soil. I remember when I was about 14 years of age, my dad saying to my brother (18 months younger) and I that we were going to spend a few days at a great uncle’s farm near Leominster. We assumed that we were having a few days holiday, but soon learned, not so, (we should have known better) our great uncle had some work that needed to be done and we were going there with the purpose of helping him out. We soon discovered that he needed a field to be planted with grass seed, and no, we weren’t going to be using a tractor and seed drill, we were going to have to do it the old fashioned way by walking in straight lines back and forth using a seed riddle. It was hard work, even for farmer’s boys!

And the sower in our story for today was working hard, up and down, back and forth, sowing the seed in readiness for a harvest.

We know the story well, some fell on the pathway and became food for the birds, some on the rocky ground where the seed had no soil to root, and so it withered and died, some fell among the thorns and thistles and as it began to grow it became tangled and choked, but some fell in the good soil and it rooted, grew and produced a harvest.

We could look at the farmer and think well why was he not a bit more careful with where he sowed? Why did he cast some seed on the pathway, why cast some seed among the rocky ground, why cast it among the weedy areas, why not be more careful? Well, we could ask these questions and never find any answers, but the one thing that is so important in this story is this – at least he sowed and at least out of what was sown he reaped a harvest, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.

Can I use my imagination again? As I look back in my mind and see Jesus sitting in the boat, telling the parable to the crowd that were listening, and at the same time seeing this man sowing, even if some of the seed fell on the path, or in the rocks, or among the weeds, at least some of it fell in good soil and he got a harvest! Is it possible that we can become so content sitting at the feet of Jesus, coming into fellowship week after week, listening to sermon after sermon,(and yes I believe in the importance of and priority of preaching) that we forget to sow! We are wanting to be spiritually fed ourselves (and yes this is vitally important) while at the same time we can easily forget that outside there is a world full of people that are dying in their sin and heading to a lost eternity. I wonder how often we have heard it said, ‘God will bring them in,’ well although this may happen, the reality is God expects us to go and get! (Matthew 9:37-38 ‘Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’)

We have the answer, it is the seed of the Word of God, the seed that was planted in our hearts however many years ago it may have been is producing fruit, but the same seed needs planting into the hearts of men and women around us. (1 Peter 1:22-25  ‘Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.’)

I have already mentioned that back in Jesus’ day, sowing wasn’t easy, and often we don’t find the task of sowing the seed of the gospel easy, but just as modern methods have made it easier for the farmer today, so modern methods make the sharing of the gospel so much easier today. We have easy accessibility to so many tools to help us in our ways of sharing the gospel.

May God help us individually and collectively to be willing to become sowers of the seed of the Word of God, looking for opportunity to share the good news of the gospel, yes, we may get rebuffed, we might come across stony hearts, or hearts that are full of weeds, but at the same time we will come across hearts that are ready to receive the seed as we plant it. Just remember this, no sowing, no harvest!

In John’s gospel, after Jesus met with the woman at the well, we read of him saying to the disciples, (John 4:35) ‘Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.’ During this difficult few months with the pandemic, hearts have become troubled, people have realised not only how fragile life is but also how precious it is, we need to be praying that one of the outcomes will be that hearts will also be ready to receive the seed of the word of God, that will bring to them hope not only for the here and now, but hope that will last into eternity.

I do not ever remember going back a few months later to see how successful my brother and I had been in sowing the field with grass seed. Our great uncle did not come looking for us so I assume it must have been okay! (and we went back to help him again) The point here, we had sowed but he (our uncle) got the benefit. We may sow but never see the benefit, we may sow and as the seed grows the individual may end up going somewhere else, what matters is that we have sowed. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.’

To the work! to the work! we are servants of God,

Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;

With the might of His power our strength to renew,

Let us do by His grace what He calls us to do.

Work for Him by His grace;

Work thru Him for His praise;

Work with Him all the days;

And work in Him in many ways.

To the work! to the work! let the hungry be fed;

To the fountain of life let the thirsty be led;

In the cross and its vict’ry our glory shall be,

While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”

To the work! to the work! in the strength of the Lord,

By the pow’r of His Name, with the light of His Word,

All the slaves of the darkness of Satan set free

And His riches of grace in His glory we’ll see.

CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 9th

Saturday 9th – Isaiah 40:21-31

We come today to the last verses in Isaiah 40, and today I will bring the devotion from verses 28-31 ‘Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’

These verses commence with two question, ‘Have you not known?’ and ‘Have you not heard’? Known and heard what? That ‘the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.’ That is good, but listen further, ‘He does not faint or grow weary.’

I want us to think sheep and Shepherd again, and when it says ‘The LORD is . . .’   think ‘The SHEPHERD is and then consider what it says about this Shepherd. ‘He does not faint or grow weary’

You can ask any farmer who works alone during the lambing season and they will tell you that it is hard work and it can be very tiring because you have to be available to watch the flock day and night, it is a 24 / 7 job. And the first night or two are not so bad, but then you begin to get faint and weary through lack of sleep, through toil and hard work and through the demands of needing to give the sheep your full attention. NOT SO WITH OUR SHEPHERD! He does not faint or grow weary and imagine the size of his flock! Imagine also how awkward and time demanding some of the sheep might be and yet he looks after the flock with his full and undivided attention.

Continue the picture of these verses referring to the Lord as our Shepherd, and it tells us that not only does he not grow tired and weary but that he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. Taking Thursday’s thought, he sees us when we are like the weak helpless lambs and he is willing to nurture us back to strength and to revive our cold hearts. Without wanting to seem irreverent with my illustrative mind, there have been many times when the Shepherd has needed to wrap me in a hessian sack and warm me up, and bottle feed me till I have gained strength again. Maybe that is where you are today, feeling weak and helpless, maybe low in spirit, allow the Shepherd to nurse you back to strength again, to revive your faint heart and to reinvigorate you in your weariness.

See, there is not one of us who can say we never feel like this, verse 30 says ‘EVEN the youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.’ We all know periods of weakness and lacking in power or strength spiritually, but our Shepherd in his care for us comes to renew.

The final verse is so well known, ‘but they who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength’ – there is no doubt about it – we need to know what it is to come and to wait in the Shepherd’s presence, come into his ‘farmhouse’, come into the warmth of his love and care and know what it is to mount up again with wings like an eagle, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.’

Thou Shepherd of Israel, and mine,

The joy and desire of my heart,

For closer communion I pine,

I long to reside where thou art.

The pastures I languish to find

Where all who their shepherd obey

Are fed, on thy bosom reclined,

And screened from the heat of the day.

Ah! show me that happiest place,

The place of thy people’s abode,

Where saints in true happiness gaze

And hang on a crucified God.

Thy love for a sinner declare,

Thy passion and death on the tree;

My spirit to Calvary bear,

To suffer and triumph with thee.

‘Tis there, with the lambs of thy flock,

There only, I covet to rest,

To lie at the foot of the rock,

Or rise to be hid in thy breast.

‘Tis there I would always abide,

And never a moment depart,

Concealed in the cleft of thy side,

Eternally held in thy heart.

How good is the God we adore,

Our faithful, unchangeable friend,

Whose love is as great as his power,

And knows neither measure nor end.

‘Tis Jesus the first and the last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home,

We’ll praise him for all that is past,

And trust him for all that’s to come.

Charles Wesley CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 8th

Friday 8th

Today we will pause in our devotion from Isaiah 40 and reflect for a short while on what today is all about – the 75th anniversary of VE Day or Victory in Europe Day.

Britain along with its allies had been through a bitter and bloody world war, the second in the space of 30 years. It was a war that caused devastation around the world with the estimated loss of between 70 – 85,000,000 people. VE day marked the end of the conflict in Europe, the war would not come to a complete end until the 15th of August when Japan finally surrendered. The arrival of the Coronavirus has meant that all the planned celebrations for this anniversary have had to be cancelled. Just for a few moments today, spend time honouring those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today and pray for all those who are serving in the armed forces today to continue to provide the freedom we enjoy. It would be a good opportunity to pray for peace in the troubled parts of the world today where there is conflict.

Reading for today – Colossians 2:6-15 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Earlier this week our subject was celebration, and the day is coming where there is going to be the biggest and the greatest celebration ever, and it will not take place on earth it will take place in heaven. The battle took place two thousand years ago where Jesus took on the devil, the powers of darkness and death and he came out of the battle as the Mighty Conqueror. Colossians 2:14b-15 ‘by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.’

And 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 ‘When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

There has been a constant celebration of victory ever since as many millions have been brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, men and women born again by the Spirit of God, set free from being captive to sin and Satan, as we saw in earlier devotions, the angels in heaven are rejoicing. But the biggest celebration is yet to happen, and the good news is we will be there! We read of it in Revelation chapter 5 and again later in chapter 7.

Revelation 5:11-14 ‘Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.’

Revelation 7:9-12 ‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”’

What a celebration this is going to be, the whole of heaven rejoicing, every blood washed man and woman joining with the host of heaven in celebration, giving a victory shout, declaring ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne.’ He has conquered, he has triumphed.

When World War I ended it was hoped that such a thing would never happen again, the same after World War II, but the sad fact is that because of the fallen state of humanity and its utter depravity war will continue to happen until the end of the age.

When Jesus conquered it was a once for all battle, it will never need to be repeated, because he has triumphed for ever and ever. He has already dealt the final blow, and the victory is already won!

See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph; see the King in royal state,

Riding on the clouds, His chariot, to His heavenly palace gate.

Hark! the choirs of angel voices joyful alleluias sing,

And the portals high are lifted to receive their heavenly King.

Who is this that comes in glory, with the trump of jubilee?

Lord of battles, God of armies, He has gained the victory.

He Who on the cross did suffer, He Who from the grave arose,

He has vanquished sin and Satan, He by death has spoiled His foes.

While He lifts His hands in blessing, He is parted from His friends

While their eager eyes behold Him, He upon the clouds ascends;

He Who walked with God and pleased Him, preaching truth and doom to come,

He, our Enoch, is translated to His everlasting home.

Now our heavenly Aaron enters, with His blood, within the veil;

Joshua now is come to Canaan, and the kings before Him quail;

Now He plants the tribes of Israel in their promised resting place;

Now our great Elijah offers double portion of His grace.

He has raised our human nature in the clouds to God’s right hand;

There we sit in heavenly places, there with Him in glory stand:

Jesus reigns, adored by angels; man with God is on the throne;

Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension we by faith behold our own.

Holy Ghost, llluminator, shed Thy beams upon our eyes,

Help us to look up with Stephen, and to see beyond the skies,

Where the Son of Man in glory standing is at God’s right hand,

Beckoning on His martyr army, succouring His faithful band.

See Him, Who is gone before us, heavenly mansions to prepare,

See Him, who is ever pleading for us with prevailing prayer,

See Him, Who with sound of trumpet, and with His angelic train,

Summoning the world to judgment, on the clouds will come again.

Raise us up from earth to Heaven, give us wings of faith and love,

Gales of holy aspirations wafting us to realms above;

That, with hearts and minds uplifted, we with Christ our Lord may dwell,

Where He sits enthroned in glory in His heavenly citadel.

So at last, when He appeareth, we from out our graves may spring,

With our youth renewed like eagles, flocking round our heavenly King.

Caught up on the clouds of Heaven, and may meet Him in the air,

Rise to realms where He is reigning, and may reign for ever there.

Glory be to God the Father, glory be to God the Son,

Dying, risen, ascending for us, Who the heavenly realm has won;

Glory to the Holy Spirit, to one God in persons Three;

Glory both in earth and heaven, glory, endless glory, be.

CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 7th

Thursday 7th – Isaiah 40:9-20

The heading for these verses at verse 9 in my ESV Bible says, ‘The Greatness of God.’

We considered the greatness of God in earlier devotions, for today I want to consider his greatness in the context of what it says in verse 11, ‘He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.’ We are back to the Lord as our Shepherd. His greatness in his gentleness.

I had got to the point of preparing the devotions for this week, I had done the ones for Sunday – Tuesday and suddenly when it came to yesterday’s devotion I had for the first time while preparing the devotions over this period of time hit a brick wall! I had two attempts at putting something together but scrapped them, but deep inside I felt it needed to be about lambs! I ended up putting my planning and prepping aside and going for a walk. The next morning, I felt an inner witness to devote the three days mentioned as yesterday to Isaiah 40 and as I went through it you’ve, probably guessed it, there it was in the chapter,  the word ‘lambs’ – ‘He will gather the lambs in his arms.’ (v11) So this is our subject for today. Believe it or not, while I was preparing this actual devotion I had an email from Iain and it was pointing me to a song he had discovered that morning it was at this point of my prepping that I decided to listen to it and guess what it was called? ‘Gentle Shepherd come and lead us for we need you to help us to find our way.’ wow, talk about a confirmation!

There are lots of beautiful things we can see in this world around us, and to me one of the most beautiful is to see a field of sheep and to look at all the lambs playing, running around and skipping together.

A happy farmer is the one who has had a successful lambing season, but every farmer or shepherd knows that during the lambing season there will always be loss, lambs that are still-born or a ewe that has died during birthing leaving orphan lambs. It then becomes the responsibility as soon as possible for the shepherd to do what he can to provide for the orphaned lamb. It could be an adoption with another ewe, or it may be to have to hand rear it, the lamb to become what we call a ‘tiddler’. Being a farmer’s son, I have been involved in this, I was never going to be a farmer, if I had had to remain on the farm it would have either have been as a maintenance worker with the machinery etc or as a shepherd. There was an inbuilt instinct in me from a youngster for the sheep, maybe that was God planting a spiritual seed in my life in preparation for being a shepherd for his flock, the Church and in particular you as the flock he has placed under my care in the present.

We often had orphan lambs which became tiddlers, they would be the lambs that we would bottle feed and during lambing season the farmhouse would become like an animal hospital as the weak, cold and starving lambs would be brought in from the cold and warmed up, wrapped in hessian sacks (sometimes in the Rayburn oven with the door left open or into an electric clothes airer that my mum had) and then fed. Often it was us the children that had the responsibility of feeding them every day. Eventually when they were strong enough, they would be placed in the barn with other lambs until time for them to go out into the field with the other sheep with their lambs. It was particularly during lambing season that you would see the gentler side of the farmer / shepherd.

Our Scripture tells us that the Lord who is our Shepherd is a gentle Shepherd, he knows those who are his sheep (Psalm 100) and he cares for us. These verses tell us that he TENDS his flock, that is he looks after our needs, he feeds us, he watches over us, he checks us over, he heals the wounds, he keeps us safe and should it be needed he lovingly corrects us. I love to picture the Scripture when it says that as a shepherd he gathers the lambs in his arms – I don’t know what you imagine here, but I see us as the sheep especially when we may be afraid, or downhearted, or even broken-hearted, and he the Shepherd stooping down to picks us up, to scoop us up into his arms and hold us tightly, close to his chest, where we can hear his heart beat. It reminds me of the well-known poem ‘Footprints’ where there seems to be only one set of footprints in the sand, and the conclusion is that in those moments I was carrying you in my arms. (poem at the end)

We have touched several times over the weeks about the Lord as Shepherd and us as his sheep. Today may we learn that we can always trust our Good Shepherd, he will never fail us or let us down, whatever our situation, he is with us, ready at a moment’s notice to pick us up and hold us close to his side.

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You’d walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.”

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Devotions

Daily Devotion May 6th

Wednesday 6th – Isaiah 40:1-8

Today we will start to look at some thoughts from Isaiah 40, we will return to this chapter again tomorrow and on Saturday.

I want to highlight for today verses 6-8. These few verses start off with a call for the prophet Isaiah to cry out, he asks ‘What shall I cry out’ and the response is: ‘All flesh is grass, and all it’s beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades . . .’ He then ends the cry with the words ‘but the word of our God will stand forever.’

The whole sentence is making a statement which is a comparison between the life span of mankind and the longevity of the Word of God. Man is compared to the grass of the field or to a flower – here today and gone tomorrow, but the Word of God is eternal, it will last forever. (Peter quotes this in 1 Peter 1:24-25)

It reminds us that life is fragile. If we take the comparison of the grass or the flower, we know how quickly the grass can come and grow and yet soon be affected by weather conditions which causes it to dry up and to die. The same with a flower, I love gardening, back in Rhyl I had planted hundreds of bulbs in the garden and I always looked forward to seeing the bulbs begin to show through the soil, and I would wait patiently for them to grow and for the flowers to begin to show, especially the tulips. We always had our first snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils in January and as they would be coming to an end the tulips would appear, but suddenly, after all the waiting, it seemed like the flowers had come and gone with a blink of an eye.

None of us knows how long our life span is, back in the time of the patriarchs they had a really good innings, Methuselah 969 years, but following the flood, God shortened the life span until we get to Psalm 90:10 and we read ‘The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.’

In the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12:1 we read ‘Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days draw near and the years draw near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them.’ When we link what we read here in Ecclesiastes to what Isaiah cried out in our text, it is a call for each one of us to make time for God before it is too late!

Now, I know that I am preparing this devotion for our Church family, therefore I can assume that it is being read by those of us who have already made time for God in our lives, but what I feel led to impress in our hearts today is that we make sure that we live everyday with the realisation that eternity may only just be around the corner. We should live in the light of the revealed truth of God’s Word, his Word which is eternal, we should be living in the present with eternity in view.

The Scripture I am reminded of as I prepare this is found in Luke 12:16-21 ‘And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”’

The rich man was living only for the present, no thought for eternity, perhaps he thought he was invincible, he had overlooked the fragility of life. I remember working for a guy who was very anti-God, he was determined to build up his own little empire, one day I challenged him concerning his soul and told him the day would come when he would have to stand before God, I will never forget the look of anger on his face that I should even dare to warn him. To my knowledge he has never responded, (that was nearly 40 years ago) there are many today who live this short fragile time we have on this earth with no time whatsoever for God.

Let’s make the time we do have count, let’s make it matter, yes we have to prepare for the present, for we are living in the present, but may we never make what we do in the present have a negative impact on that which is eternal. Following on from the parable in Luke 12 we have the words of Jesus (vv22-34) that are also found in Matthew 6:25-34, I quote from Matthew,  ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’ If we want to make our lives count here on earth, if we want to live life in the light of eternity, then our priority must be to seek first the kingdom of God.

Finally, the last sentence of Isaiah in these verses ‘But the Word of the Lord will stand forever.’ Can I suggest that we need to live our lives in the light of his Word, it is his Word that matters, it is his Word that counts, and it is his Word that will stand forever. In the words of an older hymn, ‘Standing on the promises of God.’

All I once held dear, built my life upon

All this world reveres, and wars to own

All I once thought gain I have counted loss

Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus

Knowing you, there is no greater thing

You’re my all, you’re the best

You’re my joy, my righteousness

And I love you, Lord

Now my heart’s desire is to know you more

To be found in you and known as yours

To possess by faith what I could not earn

All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life

And to know You in Your sufferings

To become like you in your death, my Lord

So with you to live and never die

Graham Kendrick  Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music CCLI 788682