Passage:Isaiah 26 -- A Song of Salvation.
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open the gates,
That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
3 You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
4 Trust in the LORD forever,
For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.
5 For He brings down those who dwell on high,
The lofty city;
He lays it low,
He lays it low to the ground,
He brings it down to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down—
The feet of the poor
And the steps of the needy.”
7 The way of the just is uprightness;
O Most Upright,
You weigh the path of the just.
8 Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O LORD, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
9 With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 Let grace be shown to the wicked,
Yet he will not learn righteousness;
In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly,
And will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
11 LORD, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see.
But they will see and be ashamed
or their envy of people;
Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
12 LORD, You will establish peace for us,
For You have also done all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, masters besides You
Have had dominion over us;
But by You only we make mention of Your name.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
They are deceased, they will not rise.
Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,
And made all their memory to perish.
15 You have increased the nation, O LORD,
You have increased the nation;
You are glorified;
You have expanded all the borders of the land.
16 LORD, in trouble they have visited You,
They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.
17 As a woman with child
Is in pain and cries out in her pangs,
When she draws near the time of her delivery,
So have we been in Your sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain;
We have, as it were, brought forth wind;
We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth,
Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead.
Journal:
Yesterday, we started listing the birth marks of those who will be inhabitants of the great city of God. We listed the first three. Today, we continue with these five distinguishing characteristics:
1. The righteous.
2. The blessed.
3. Those who long.
4. The peacemakers. [26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. 26:12 LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us.] "Perfect" peace is tied to a mind that is "stayed" on the Lord. A mind that is "stayed" on the Lord is tied to "trust." It is not only a trust that there is salvation through God's Son, but also a trust that God disciplines His children and that sin is consequential. Would you trust a father that says he loves you but leaves you to your own way? Sin is most often born out of a hope that He who sees also ignores. Yet, He who sees is unable to ignore. He who loves must discipline within that love. The children of God, those who will inhabit His great city, are wise as they fear the One who loves them. There is great peace in trusting Him who brings to perfection and fruition the grace and justice of eternity. We have a stone retaining wall around our home, and within a segment of that wall we have a stone bench constructed. Within that stone bench we have Isaiah 26:3-4 [NIV] carved within the rock -- "You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the rock eternal."
5. Those who confess. [Isaiah 26:16 LORD, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.] The trust now becomes confession. It is a realization that "self" salvation is futile, and that genuine salvation must come from the Lord. The prayer is tied to chastening, and chastening is tied to sinfulness. It is the repentant heart that God comforts even as He chastens. His justice is powerful and right. His grace I am unable to describe, for words have bounds but His grace is limitless and timeless.
Heard 'Round the House:
As strange as it may sound, Jill and I fell asleep last night with our sides hurting from laughter as Jill related a conversation she had at the funeral home visitation for her grandmother Nonnie. She was near her open casket when a man she didn't know struck up the following queries concerning the two rings on Nonnie's fingers --
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: Are they going to take the rings off of her before they bury her?
Baffled Jill: What?
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: Are they going to give the two rings to the granddaughters?
Baffled Jill: What?
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: You're a granddaughter, aren't you?
Baffled Jill: Yes.
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: Are they going to give the two rings to the granddaughters?
Baffled Jill: Uh, well, there are four granddaughters, so I wouldn't think so.
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: Let's see, there are two sons, right. So, with two daughters-in-law, I guess they will give the two rings to them . . .
Baffled Jill: Do you work for the funeral home?
Inquisitive Man and Stranger to Jill: No. I went to church with your grandparents.
Note: Uh, "Baffled Jill," people who "work for the funeral home" usually doesn't hang around the coffin hoping for further instructions from bystanders who perhaps could be related to the dearly departed. Yesterday, I told you that Nonnie tended to say whatever popped into her mind. Well, my dear wife occasionally will dive head first into that gene pool as well . . .
