Today's Advent reading was about repentance. One thing that actually stuck with me from my Bible School days was the meaning of the word 'repentance': to turn. And that's what the reading was about - turning toward Jesus and away from our sin. The writer highlights how turning away from our sin is necessary, but "our specific hope lies in turning toward. As a result, the sin we suffered is behind us just the same, but that sin is no longer the power that occasioned our turn...When we turn toward Him, therefore, that change is not so much precipitated by aversion as by love. And look! Love is precisely what has - no and long ago - brought God with us." (God With Us, p. 68)
I really like this thought. Turning toward Jesus is so much more powerful than simply turning away from our sin. As I read today's selection from my book I was hoping for a great scripture reference to go with it, but the book was sadly lacking in this regard today. So I opened my Bible to Isaiah, thinking that I've read a lot of wonderful Scripture from Isaiah throughout these last weeks and maybe I'd find something there about repentance....the first thing I laid eyes on was this verse in Isaiah 55:7
"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."
!!! I've said this before, but I firmly believe that coincidences like this are always orchestrated by Someone :) Now I want to give you the context of that verse from Isaiah 55:6-13.
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord's renown,
for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Some thoughts:
-Isn't it a relief that God's ways are higher than ours? We might not pardon others so freely, but thankfully God is not like us.
-Maybe the "word that goes out" from God's mouth is not only His word, the Bible, but also The Word, Jesus (John 1). In this sense the following verses about the restoration of the earth really fit in with the rest of the verses from Isaiah that I've been posting about.
-I really want to see the mountains and hills burst into song one day!
I really like this thought. Turning toward Jesus is so much more powerful than simply turning away from our sin. As I read today's selection from my book I was hoping for a great scripture reference to go with it, but the book was sadly lacking in this regard today. So I opened my Bible to Isaiah, thinking that I've read a lot of wonderful Scripture from Isaiah throughout these last weeks and maybe I'd find something there about repentance....the first thing I laid eyes on was this verse in Isaiah 55:7
"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."
!!! I've said this before, but I firmly believe that coincidences like this are always orchestrated by Someone :) Now I want to give you the context of that verse from Isaiah 55:6-13.
Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord's renown,
for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Some thoughts:
-Isn't it a relief that God's ways are higher than ours? We might not pardon others so freely, but thankfully God is not like us.
-Maybe the "word that goes out" from God's mouth is not only His word, the Bible, but also The Word, Jesus (John 1). In this sense the following verses about the restoration of the earth really fit in with the rest of the verses from Isaiah that I've been posting about.
-I really want to see the mountains and hills burst into song one day!
1 comment:
And again. Thanks.
Post a Comment