Verse of the Day 12/6
Isaiah 30:21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. I English Standard Version (ESV)
I mentioned yesterday that I'm reading Spurgeon's "Beauty for Ashes: Sermons on Isaiah". Today's verse is the subject of the next sermon in the book. I've always liked the old hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and one of the key statements is "prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love'. It is in our nature to wander. Our minds drift off when we're in the classroom or at work. Our steps in life can also wander off the right path at times and this is the subject of today's verse. We don't find our way back, God, through His Spirit and His Word, calls us.
In his sermon, Spurgeon writes, "How does God find men when he declares that they shall hear a word behind them? First, he finds them with their backs turned to him. This is clear enough, if you remember that the word is to be heard 'behind' them. The sinner has gone away from God, and God calls after him from behind. He has turned his back upon his true Friend, his best Friend, his only capable Friend, but that Friend does not therefore change his temper and resent the insult; nay, he is provoked to a love more pleading and persuasive than ever, and calls to him to come into the right way."
The thoughts go back to Psalm 23 where in verse 6 David writes that God's "goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life" (HCSB). In His faithfulness God pursues the wanderer (us) and when we have wandered, His voice, His Word calls out to us and calls us back to a right relationship to Him.
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here there by Thy great help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in the blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy wondrous grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
Isaiah 30:19-22 The Message (MSG)
19-22 Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road." You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!"
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