Continue reading ‘Panic Podcast: A Handful of Psalms, Part 2’
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Panic Podcast: A Handful of Psalms, Part 2
Published August 31, 2020 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: answered prayer, deliverance, Panic Podcast, Psalm 39, Psalm 40, stress
ISAIAH, Part 9
Published August 17, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: answered prayer, fasting, injustice, Isaiah
How to NOT get your prayers answered
Isaiah 58:1—9
Isaiah 58 begins the final section of Isaiah’s book. In chapters 49-57, the prophet presented us with the spiritual agent of our salvation; now he will show us the spiritual conditions of our salvation.
The prophets were not only predictors of the future, they were preachers of righteousness. They were not only “seers,” they were “doers of the Word.” That’s not always an easy thing to do, and faithful servants of God are hard to find for that reason. Isaiah was faithful because he wasn’t timid; he wasn’t afraid to “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.” Isaiah was being asked by God to preach a stern message of rebuke and reproof to his people. His message was meant to correct the people’s false way of thinking in how to receive the favor and even salvation of the Lord.
Isaiah’s message was not meant to be deep, theological treatise, but rather an intensely practical one:
Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. (verse 1)
1. Their sinful condition, verses 2—5
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. (verse 2)
Back in chapter 1, Isaiah dealt with the empty ritualism of the people and here he picks up that theme again. What must have made Isaiah’s task particularly difficult was that he was not preaching to completely godless people. In fact, this message was addressed to people who looked faithful; they appeared to be faithful to the teachings of their Scriptures. They were utterly meticulous in following the forms of worship. They may have actually enjoyed attending worship services. Yet their lives did not reflect the spirit of God’s Law in any way.
The people to whom this message was addressed had drifted into a formal observance of faith, but at heart it was a practical ungodliness. Reading these verses puts us in mind of what Samuel said to King Saul:
Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
People like King Saul and Isaiah’s listeners were the kind of people who, like many Christians, think they can “live like the Devil” all week long, assuming their weekly attendance at church and their periodic religious feasts were enough to atone for their gluttony and insincerity.
Verse 3 drips with arrogance and reveals the people’s true motives in their rigid adherence to the Law:
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ (verse 3a)
Although Isaiah focuses on fasting, this petulant attitude probably extended to all their observances. What makes the fasting issue particularly interesting is that the people seemed to have made regular days of fasting part of their religious observances, but God never gave the people of Israel “fast days.” In fact, God gave His people “feast days.” It is true that from time to time the people were to fast in connection with their sins, and in particular with the Day of Atonement, but the people had made fasting a form of worship which ministered more to themselves than it did to God. So of course, their fasting did nothing to move God.
In effect, these people were cheating God. Instead of giving God what HE required of them, they gave God what THEY wanted to give Him, because it was easy and convenient. And they had deluded themselves into believing they were “OK.”
What the people failed to realize, and what Isaiah was desperately trying to convince them of, is that true religion is a personal relationship with God. For the Christian it is no different; true faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And that intimate relationship we have with Christ is precious, personal, and private. Of course, we witness for Him, we share our faith with others, but just like in a marriage, we don’t brag about our intimate time with our Savior. Yet this is what Isaiah’s people were doing; bragging about what they were doing, fasting, for God.
In fact, they fasted and they observed these fast days and so-called holy days, but they’re hearts were miles away from God, as evidenced by their behavior. They fasted, but turned right around and took advantage of people, they argued, they fought, and they generally treated other people badly. What more proof is needed to show that these people, in spite of outward appearances, were nowhere near God.
God’s response to their so-called demonstrations of worship is stern:
You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. (verse 4b)
Proper fasting, done for the right reasons, can produce all kinds of good things in a persons life or in the life of a congregation. But when fasting is done as a duty, for the wrong reasons, it produces bad things, like irritability and anger and jealousy. Prayers offered against that kind of backdrop would never reach God’s ears.
God must be approached HIS way, never OURS. The Bible proves this time and time and time again, yet even to this day, Christians think they make up their own rules; they can invent “new and improved” ways to approach God, but it doesn’t work like that. When we make up ways to worship God so as to make it convenient for us or easy for us, and if those ways are contrary to Scripture, God cannot and will not be moved no matter how many tears we may shed or songs we may sing.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12, KJV)
The only way to approach God is His way, and there is no mystery about it; you find the right way in the Bible.
2. God’s cure
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? (verse 5a)
God’s cure is to, using Isaiah’s example of fasting, do the right thing for the right reason(s). The true and only reason to fast is not so you can appear humble, but to accomplish a definite purpose: to pray, to meditate, and to repent of sin. One scholar made the very interesting observation that true fasting is not necessarily an enjoyable experience:
A person who enjoys confessing his sins is not coming before God with an honest confession, but rather is giving a performance before men, or perhaps merely before himself, that intended to demonstrate righteousness.
Part of God’s cure for the spiritual malaise of His people included:
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“To loose the chains of injustice,” verse 6. This is not a call to some kind of general social action. The “injustice” the prophet is referring to here is the injustice they themselves were causing during the “fast.” What Isaiah was telling the people was simply this: If you are going to fast, don’t walk around looking humble and pious, stop your sinning! Stop taking advantage of other people. Stop gossiping. God’s cry to His people was, and remains, a very simple and direct one. If you call yourself a Christian, live like one; demonstrate your faith in Him by your conduct. When we do that, we will not only treat others exceedingly well, but our own chains of spiritual bondage will be broken.
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“Untie the cords of the yoke,” verse 6. Many believers are carrying around burdens that are far too heavy for them. A true believer will help carry another’s burdens. A Christian that spends time in God’s presence will be sensitive to the needs of others; in the practical world, that means he will cut them some slack; exercise patience. In the spiritual realm, it means they will pray for the one in need, exercising spiritual discernment so as to ease their burdens, whatever they may be.
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“Break every yoke,” verse 6. This is all part of “setting the oppressed” free. How does a Christian do that for another? One who is “oppressed” is one who set upon by outside pressures. This oppression can take many forms. Some people are oppressed by their work, or their family situation, or by their health. A true believer is one who will do what they can for one who finds themselves “oppressed.” A true believer sees one who is oppressed but can’t merely walk on by them. This is what happens when one spends time in God’s presence: their eyes are open to the needs around them.
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Care for the poor, verse 7. The people of Isaiah’s time had figuratively and literally turned their backs on the poor. They refused to show kindness to their own flesh and blood. Their faith had become a cold, formal exercise. Because the people had no heart for others, they had no heart for God. The Christian who can’t show compassion to the genuinely destitute can’t have God dwelling within him (1 John 3:17).
3. The guaranteed result, verses 8, 9
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. (verse 8)
There was no way for God to manifest His blessing and glory to people who practised their religion in such a lazy fashion. The word “then” is emphatic. If the people would re-dedicate their lives to the Lord and start taking their faith seriously, “then” certain things would start happening. These promises are strung together like a beautiful necklace of precious gems.
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Your light will break forth like the dawn. “Break forth” indicates speed and suddenness. If the people would focus on obedience to God and His Word in the exercise of their faith, their health, wealth, and access to God in prayer would be restored in an instant. Obedience to God’s will is like spraying window cleaner on a dirty window; once that window is cleaned, the light can shine in…or shine out…and the world becomes clearer.
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Your healing will quickly appear. Good health is always viewed in the Old Testament as a sign of God’s blessing. When His children obey, God is quick to bless and show favor.
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Your righteousness will go before you. When Christians live in obedience to God, our faith will be evident to all without uttering a word. Righteousness will go before us, and the glory of the Lord will follow us. Obedience has so many rewards; the obedient are literally surrounded by the presence of God.
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Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I (verse 9). There’s that emphatic word again: “then.” When the Lord sees our love for Him manifested in our obedience to Him, He will never fail to answer when we call. Truly, the two greatest needs of mankind are met: the need for a response and for recognition. Those needs can only be fully met by God and then only when we demonstrate our obedience to Him. There is nothing more isolating that unwanted silence and aloneness. And only God can remove them.
Our obedience to God and His Word can never be overstated. No obedience, no fellowship. No obedience, no answered prayers. No obedience, no presence of God. When sin is cleared from the heart, then the way is clear for the Lord to show us favor:
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me… (Psalm 66:18)
The only way for a child of God to receive from God “whatsoever we ask,” it will be:
…because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
(c) 2011 WitzEnd
ISAIAH, Part 5
Published July 9, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: answered prayer, Assyrians, Isaiah, Sennacherib
The Power of Prayer
Isaiah 37:14—20
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD… (Isaiah 37:14, 15)
At first blush, that seems like a strange thing to do. Why would King Hezekiah take his mail into the temple of the Lord and spread it open, as if to let the Lord read it. Understanding why leads us to see the amazing power of prayer.
1. Historical facts
a. Summary of history
Chapters 36 to 39 form a “historical interlude.” They break a string of prophecies and give us a glimpse of Isaiah’s world. Why do you suppose there are four full chapters of pure history sandwiched in between Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the government and judgment of God and the grace of God, that is, salvation instead of judgment? Most scholars cite three good reasons.
First, history from God’s perspective is often quite different from that of man’s perspective. God’s view of history is laced with great spiritual truths missing from secular history. One can only see these truths through eyes of faith; it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to see God’s hand and purpose in the affairs of man.
Second, the events that we read about in chapters 36 to 39 are found in three different locations in Scripture: 2 Kings 18—19; 2 Chronicles 29, 30; and here in Isaiah. We have to ask ourselves: Why did the Holy Spirit see fit to have three versions of this piece of Hebrew history in God’s Word? Without a doubt, the Lord has some special truth or truths for us to learn. Among the great lessons God wants us to learn, we see some really remarkable miracles taking place during these years:
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The death angel slays 185,000 Assyrians (Isa. 37:36—38)
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The sun moves backwards ten degrees on Ahaz’s sundial (Isa. 38:7, 8)
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God heals Hezekiah and extends his life 15 years (Isa. 38:1—5)
Third, this section opens with the Kingdom of Assyria and closes with the Kingdom of Babylon, spanning the decline and rise of two world empires key in Hebrew history. In chapter 36, King Hezekiah deals with the invasion of Assyria under Sennacherib. Chapter 37 details Hezekiah’s prayer and the resultant destruction of the Assyrian army. Chapter 38 records Hezekiah’s illness, prayer, and healing. And in chapter 39, we see Hezekiah making a fool of himself.
b. Attack of the Assyrians
To set the scene for Hezekiah’s action of 37:14—20, we look back at chapter 36.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. (36:1)
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and his mighty army came down on Judah with an army as large as a swarm of locusts. He had three reasons for this attack on Judah:
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Hezekiah had refused to pay the tribute to Assyria since the days of King Ahaz;
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He had opened negotiations with Babylon and Egypt for the sake of an alliance against Assyria;
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He had helped the Philistines of Ekron to rise against their king, who supported Assyria, and had kept that king in prison at Jerusalem.
Things were bleak in Judah, and the army of Assyria was facing the walls of Jerusalem when the commander of the army relayed a message to King Hezekiah, designed to undermine his confidence in his allies, in his God, in Judah’s military strength, and ultimately in Judah’s divine destiny.
Then the Assyrian turned his attention to the common Jew, speaking loudly to them, shut up behind the great wall, in Hebrew:
This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! (verse 14)
He tried to win the Jews over with promises of food and drink if they would just surrender to him and go with him to his land, a land as good as theirs. Worst of all, he tried to convince the people that their God was no better than all the other gods of all the other nations around Judah.
c. God’s response
Hezekiah wasn’t a good king, he was a truly great king. In 2 Chronicles 29:1 and 2, we are told that Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as David had done. He loved Judah so much that that single fact alone was arguably his greatest weakness. At one point, he attempted to stave off the Assyrian invasion by bribing Sennacherib with gold he stripped off the temple (see the story in 2 Kings 18). However, the politically expedient policy of appeasement has never worked in history; you just can’t pay an evil power to be your friend, and so now the Assyrian army was just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah turned to the Lord:
When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. (Isaiah 37:1)
The king did exactly the right thing in turning to the Lord for help. Here is a great lesson for the believer to lay hold of. You must ask for help before you can receive it. In this case, the help from God came in the form of advice from the prophet Isaiah. We don’t know what Hezekiah had in his mind when was in the temple praying, but God sent him Isaiah. This reminds us of what James wrote, “You have not because you ask not” (James 4:2). Isaiah’s message was startling and to the point:
“Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’” (Isa. 37:6, 7)
This must have been welcome news indeed for the king to hear! It was literally fulfilled, but not after the Assyrian tried one more time to capture Jerusalem by send Hezekiah one last letter.
2. What Hezekiah did
a. The cause of the king’s trouble
This brings us to the reason why Hezekiah took his mail into the temple that day. He received a final letter from the Assyrian and it caused the king great trouble. We don’t know what was in that letter, but it must have been disheartening. Consider the context. Hezekiah had just been in the temple praying about this dreadful situation. God had seemingly answered Hezekiah’s prayer through Isaiah; Judah was to be spared and the Assyrian army would be destroyed. But now another threatening letter; what did it mean? Had God changed His mind? Was Isaiah wrong in the first place?
A lot of Christians have found themselves in this exact same uncomfortable position. They have had prayers answered, been the recipients of great blessings and even miracles, yet trouble continues to come at them. They do the right thing and live their faith yet they continually hear from the “messenger of Satan.” Like it or not, the enemy of our souls never rests, and he will be active until his bitter end. That can be very disheartening to the child of God. This is why Peter wrote these words:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your fellow believers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:7—9)
His advice is worth following. When you get anxious, tell God about it. Keep your wits about you. Be aware that the devil isn’t going anywhere soon and eventually he will set his sights on you. This happens to every Christian, no believer is exempt, not even the greatest saint of the church! So resist the devil; stand firm in the faith. In other words, don’t feel sorry for yourself when you get bad news! It happens to us all; just keep trusting in the Lord and let the Lord deal with it.
b. What the king did
Verse 14 tells us that Hezekiah spread out this letter before the Lord in the temple. He didn’t read it to everybody, he let the Lord read it personally. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that when we come the God, we must come to Him in faith, believing that He exists. In other words, we must come to God in a personal way, as we would come to any human being, believing Him to be that real, which He is. Hezekiah did just that; he spread open this letter as though God were right there in front of him, ready to read it.
c. How the king prayed
And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD. (verse 15)
Is there anything else a human being can do when faced with a crisis to which his resources are inadequate? Hezekiah’s prayer is jam-packed with Biblical theology from beginning to end. True prayer never denies the facts, rather, it faces them head on but interprets them theologically. That’s how Hezekiah prayed. That’s also how the early church prayed in Acts 4:24—31.
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” (Acts 4:24b)
Sennacherib’s challenge was in essence a showdown. But it wasn’t between Nehemiah and the Assyrian commander. It wasn’t between the Jews and the Assyrians. It was between the real and the phony; between the truth and lies. Hezekiah’s prayer indicates that he realized that and he expressed it the words he chose.
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LORD Almighty, the God of Israel… The first thing the king acknowledged was that even though he was the king, there was One greater than he, and it was really God who was over Israel. Other nations had their gods, other people worshiped their rulers, but not Israel. Israel’s God was Yahweh.
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…you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. Not only is Yahweh sovereign over Israel, He is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth. This is a profound statement. It indicates that God is literally overseeing what is going on in every nation, not just Israel. Psalm 102:15–The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.
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You have made heaven and earth. If Yahweh made all that can be seen, it’s reasonable to see Him as ruler over it!
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...they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Other nations have come and gone and their so-called gods have perished because unlike Yahweh, they were not real
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Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God. Now all the nations needed to see who really is God alone. He cannot be stopped by the plans of any man. Fire cannot stop Him because Yahweh was not fashioned by the hands of man; He is an eternal spirit who dwells among the angels.
Linked to Judah’s deliverance—their salvation—was a revelation of God to all people, acknowledging that Yahweh was God alone. So, for Hezekiah, the salvation of Israel meant the vindication of God among the heathen, and the possibility that they, like Israel, would come to know Him as God alone.
3. Hezekiah’s success
Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! (verse 36)
“The angel of the Lord” is described as “going out.” The Hebrew word is usually used of going forward in battle. Though the “angel of the Lord” is distinct from God, He is identified with Him. It was God who fought for Hezekiah and the Jews. How did He slay all those soldiers?
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that that night Sennacherib’s camp became infested with rats that destroyed the soldier’s weapons and killed the soldiers. In the ancient east, rats are usually identified with some sort of terrible plague. However God did it, He decimated the Assyrian army and those left alive beat a hasty retreat.
But God wasn’t finished with the Assyrians just yet. There is a span of some twenty years between verses 37 and 38, but Isaiah seems to indicate that all the events were part of God’s judgment on Sennacherib and the Assyrians:
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword…
Sennacherib was assassinated while worshiping his false God. The God of the Jews protected them, Sennacherib’s gods did nothing for him. This was more than enough evidence that Yahweh was real.
The power of prayer is evidenced by success. Sometimes that success is a long time in coming. Ultimately, Hezekiah’s prayer was completely answered after his death. That’s a good thing to remember when we pray! We need to pray in faith believing for an answer. We need to look for the answer. But we need to realize that God’s time isn’t necessarily ours.
Is there any sadness or sorrow so great or circumstance so frustrating that the prayer of faith can’t bring deliverance and success? The words of Jesus affirm what King Hezekiah knew:
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)