In my reading of Isaiah this week, I was struck by a verse that says, “You come to the help of those who do right, who remember your ways” (Isaiah 64:5). Another translation says, “you meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways” (ESV). This latter translation jumped out even more because it inferred that it is in the action of obedience that God meets His people. Encountering God is in the action. God does not meet or come to the help of those who are merely thinking about obeying Him, but He comes to the help of those who practise righteousness. Indeed, those who are doers of the word are the ones who get to see Jesus. Is it possible that we often don’t see God or hear from Him because we are not doing what He loves, what honours Him? Is it possible that we miss out on the greatness of God because our actions reject Him? In today’s post, I would like to look at the faithfulness of God through His words, his consistency and how that can help us be more obedient and expectant.
Throughout the scriptures, God has repeatedly revealed Himself in a consistent manner. Even when He gave the commandments to His people, He repeated it to them in several other ways, but His commandments remained the same. The idea was to ensure that His people understood what was required of them. However, understanding what the LORD wanted or expected was never the issue, it was obeying what He said that was always the issue. Today, God is still looking for those that will “tremble at his words” (Isaiah 66:5) and trembling at God’s words lead to rapid obedience often marked with zeal. This is shown in Ezra when upon his return to Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile to rebuild the temple of God, he is confronted with the sin of the people of the land, mainly the priests and Levites who have married with foreign women. Ezra is mourning and does not eat anything until the evening sacrifice, and we are told that “all who tremble at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness to the returned exiles” sat with him (Ezra 9:4). This brings home the idea that trembling at the word of God brings deep sorrow and brokenness when one has sinned, it does not bring condemnation as one might think but a quickening to repair, fix and make things right. Which is precisely what Ezra and his brothers that feared the LORD did; they repented and separated themselves from the women they had married and their kids (Ezra 10). Those who tremble at the word of God hold it in high esteem, to them there is life in the word, out of it flows righteousness, goodness, purity, wisdom and everything else the psalmist talks about in Psalm 119. I would encourage you to read it for yourself, although it is the longest psalm, it is nonetheless the best at showing how to savour the word of God and its benefit for the one who submits to it. Once again, in all this we are the ones who wander but God remains true to Himself.
Whenever I read passages like the one in Ezra where the sin committed is by those that should lead the people, those that should know best, it always humbles me as it shows that no one is infallible. Everyone can fail, fall and sin majestically against God. That is why Paul warns us saying “So be careful. When you think you are standing firm, you might fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12). This word is a reminder to us that we must not boast in ourselves, in our discipline, our accomplishment and the work we put in to stand because it is only the grace of God that sustains us and keep us standing, without it, we are vulnerable and fall into the trap of Satan and the flesh. Indeed, apart from God we can do nothing. As He has promised, He will be there for those whose trust is in Him. I am aware that this is easier said than done because for most of us we don’t think we have “arrived”, nor do we think we are “standing”. Yet, when put in a certain setting that reveals the true nature of our heart, we realize that we are not too different from the one that falls. Indeed, as fallen beings who seek their own glory, we love to tell tales where we are the heroes, stories where we can show off to our audience of how strong, smart, intelligent we are. This desire to not be seen as a failure is usually what creeps in and pushes us to walk in pride when the Bible calls us to walk in humility. Once again, in all this, God’s commandments are the same, His expectation has not changed nor has He.
In conclusion, God’s love for us has not diminished nor does it diminish when we sin. It is a love that is always ever so full and ready to be received. We may change, we may decide we do not want to walk with God anymore, we may even go as far as to spit in His face, yet His love for us remains the same. What a privilege and a joy to be known by this great God! Similarly, His promises too have not changed. Whatever He has written in His words concerning us will come to pass so we can hold on to those promises with assurance. God came into this world to repair what was broken, He came to reestablish the relationship we have with Him, making a way for us where there seemed to be none. Sending His son to come and die in our place so that through His son we would have our sins forgiven, righteousness imputed and credited to us and eternal life granted to us is simply beyond amazing! As the hymn by Charles Wesley rightly echoes:
How can it be that I should gain
An interest in the saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
So then, do not wait any longer to call on the name of the LORD for a time will come when He will not be available. Remember, tomorrow is not promised. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart for such is God’s call to you. Let’s draw near to this great God.
A Word Aptly Spoken 