Isaiah 5:8-8:10
It must have been quite a shock. We don’t get the incidentals; what Isaiah was doing, what he was praying or what he was wearing. We just get the whoomph of it, the overwhelming realisation of the impossible holiness and glory of God. It is like Isaiah spontaneously combusts as the Lofty and High One comes and says hello to him. And this is the only bit that matters. All that really matters in life is what we think of God - everything else flows from that. Most of Israel saw God as meagre and distant so they focused on the stuff they thought was greater and closer than him - bigger houses, fine wines, their own achievements. And maybe Isaiah was in that place too. But not after chapter 6. After chapter 6 he had gone the way of the seraphs. So acutely conscious of the immensity of the Lord that they cover their eyeball to prevent them from popping at the impossibility of comprehending Him. They cover their feet to prevent them reacting with the self-preservation technique that is natural to all mankind - running away from the things that would kill us. And they continually bellow with room-shaking power about the stunning awesomeness of the God who is near them. This is the question for the church today. This is the question for the church today. Have we made God too small? Are we living like Israel or living like the seraphs? There is always more of God to discover. There is no limit to the awe-filled shuddering that he can cause in our beings. He is completely flipping awesome at every moment in every way over every being, filling every temple. Let’s set ourselves to be amazed at him again. To daily yearn for a deeper understanding of yet more of his greatness. There is always more to discover. He is the Holy God.
2 Corinthians 7:2-16
Paul has shown how Jesus’ people are called to live in the positive, uplifting, good way of Eternal Life rather than in the self-destructive, damaging and naff way of Unbelieving Life. Now he shows how Eternal Life does relationships. The word ‘love’ has been compromised but that is what Paul is drilling into. What does it mean to ‘make room for each other in our hearts’? How should we be treating our fellow believers? Pure commitment lies at the base of it - a desire not to wrong or corrupt or exploit anyone else. And then there is a longing for each other, to refresh others and encourage others and show affection for each other. All these things are huge things in the kingdom. They are not small or marginal but absolutely foundational and key. But I suspect most of us would think of these things when we hear that compromised word ‘love’. The thing that really sets apart Eternal Life’s way of doing relationships from Unbelieving Life’s way of doing relationships is sorrow. Most of me flinches at the thought of bringing sorrow to others. Most of the world around me does all it can to ever avoid offending anyone or upsetting anyone or doing anything that would seen to be judgemental towards anyone. Love, it cries, is taking pleasure in others and not ever speaking against them. If you speak against me then we are not friends. But Eternal Life begs to differ. Eternal Life sees sorrow and repentance as fundamental to relationship. Eternal Life prioritises a person’s well-being over and above an absence of conflict. Eternal Life can be happy that it causes others indignation and alarm because it knows the road to Eternal Life passed by the cross of Golgotha. And so if we see others doing wrong Eternal Life would bid us correct them. Not in arrogance, not out of superiority, but with a tear-filled longing to see them reach full maturity in Christ. That is how we can be greatly encouraged. That’s the way to our joy knowing no bounds.
Psalm 105:23-36
It’s not necessarily what I would sing in the shower but I guess it helped them remember God’s work in their history.
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