Saturday, August 15, 2015

Waiting Patiently

"So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help."
Isaiah 30:18 NLT

As the context around this passage of scripture makes clear.... we are naturally rebellious. We don't like being instructed. We don't need it. Again, we live in the land of plenty.

As a result of our pridefulness, and God's patient, loving-kindness, He will not push a relationship on us. He wants us to want Him.
~Steve Terrell

Lalalalala

Remeber when you were a kid,  and didn't want to hear something being said? We would plug our ears and loudly say.... "lalalalala", just to shut out whatever it was. Not unlike many people in times of the Old Testament, in today's post-Christian, post-church, culture ...we don't want to be burdened with things like wise counsel, righteousness that comes only from God, nor depend upon the Lord for our daily living. No, we desire or own way, our rules, our freedom, our rebellion. A day will come that we'll be grateful for God's instruction. But not now. We live in the land, the time, of plenty.

~Steve Terrell

"They tell the seers, "Stop seeing visions!" They tell the prophets, "Don't tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your 'Holy One of Israel.'" This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: "Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won't be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well."
Isaiah 30:10-14 NLT
http://bible.com/116/isa.30.10-14.NLT

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Hope and Restoration

Reading in Isaiah 23 today... "For seventy years, the length of a king's life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life..."

There is a theme throughout all of God's word, a theme of HOPE and RESTORATION. If God destroys, it is His to destroy. But His goodness, His loving-kindness, His mercy, His very nature ...is to restore! It is NOT His will that any should perish. He is a "refiner", Who saves us from sin. If your life seems "under attack", please know that this refining God desires to re-build you, in His likeness. Never leaving, nor foresaking you. I trust that someone needs to hear that truth today.

~Steve Terrell