Saturday 10 September

Isaiah 24:1-26:21

Another tension which, if we really get right, will bring us into unspeakable freedom.  “A curse consumes the earth, its people must bear their guilt.”  “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples.”  We are guilty.  We have defiled the earth, we have broken the everlasting covenant.  The earth has rightly and justly been cursed for our wickedness and we deserve to be left in ruins.  Can we admit that about ourselves?  It is actually quite liberating to just be honest, to not have to pretend that we are good enough.  We’re not.  At least I’m not.  I’m horrid.  But we will feast abundantly, the tears will be wiped from our eyes, disgrace will be removed from our presence.  We will have a glorious and glad and joyful future.  Do we hold onto that, can we believe that?  I think most people slide to one extreme or the other.  People often either hate themselves and think the future will be bleak or believe an amazing future is coming because of their innate goodness and skill.  Only grace enables us go for both extremes.  It is only because of the salvation made by our God that we can freely say “I waste away, I waste away!  Woe to me!” at the same time as singing “Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD, the LORD is the Rock eternal.”

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

What a loser.  Old namby pamby Paul has taken more beatings than Mike Tyson’s face.  He lost in nearly every single aspect of his life - he lost blood, he lost health, he lost reputation, he lost arguments, he lost property, he lost sleep, he lost friends, he lost clothing, he lost peace.  He was a complete loser.  And he was proud of it!  My general practice is to shun any possibility of loss and then, when it happens, to cover it up with everything I’ve got.  But Paul went the opposite way.  Why?  Because his focus was on the God and Father of the Lord Jesus.  Paul’s focus was on praising Him forever.  And Paul knew that Jesus praised the Father by dying on the cross.  Jesus glorified the name of the Father by losing - by being handed over to evil men who took all he ever had.  God is often praised by us losing.  So how often do we lose?  How willing are we to lose?  Is our life a catalogue of things we have lost for the sake of Jesus?  If it is, it is not something to regret, it is something to boast about.  For when we are weak, then his strength is shown.  When we admit our weakness, people will give Him praise.  

Psalm 106:32-39

Goodness me.  There were a rum lot.  I’m glad I’m not at all like them...

Friday 9 September

Isaiah 20:1-23:18

I love this so much.  I imagine Isaiah was going about his daily prayers.  Maybe he’d just read a little bit of the Torah, had bent his head forward and mumbled a few lines about his family when the Lord thundered his name; “Isaiah”.  The humble, obedient prophet would no doubt have responded with “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”.  And so God did speak.  And he said something that I have everyday begged him not to say to me - “Get up, get naked, and walk out onto the street”.  It doesn’t say how Isaiah responded.  I suspected he fell off his stool and lay in the dust, head spinning with the dizzying consequences of this command.  Maybe he went back for a little clarification - “O Sovereign Lord, can I just confirm that when you say ‘naked’ you do mean that I can keep me undies on don’t you, O Great One?”   No response.  “You see the thing is I’m a little embarrassed about the size of my jubbly and it’s not really the done thing to waltz around in the nuddy in this part of town.”  Still no response.  Isaiah has a choice.  Will he prioritise obedience or self-respect.  Will he try to rationalise away the word of the Lord or will he do what he believe is required of him.  If he was anything like me he would have taken a good long while to weigh it up...  And then Isaiah lifted himself off the floor, he let the sackcloth slide off his shoulders and walked slowly towards the door.  He bared his butt to the nation.  He exposed his shame to every person.  For three long years.  Isaiah showed that our shame can lead to God’s glory.  Our shame is momentary but His Glory lasts for ever.

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Do not despise the day of small things.  I think that is a reasonable application from this passage.  When Paul went to Corinth he lowered himself, he made himself small and meek and didn’t charge people to listen to him.  He didn’t go as a trained and dynamic speaker but probably just plopped up with a simply-expressed desire to get them into the bible and to pray for them to be filled by the Spirit.  This gospel stuff isn’t fancy.  But it sure has got some power to it.  The trouble is that we, like the Corinthians, are a little bit of a sucker for ‘the next big thing’ for alluring marketing and hyped-up presentations.  We can’t stop ourselves thinking that God, if he really is God, can’t be as simple as this.  And so we look for people who flatter this false sense of excitement.  We want to get a chance to meet real on-fire Christians.  We would be honoured to get to meet a Super-Apostle.  But the trouble with this, the real trouble with despising the day of small things and always looking for ‘super-apostles’ is that we can do small things while super-apostles disempower us.  The true excitement of the kingdom is not that somebody else astounds us with their extraordinary knowledge and skill but that we get to do stuff that really makes a difference. Each and every follower of Jesus can do simple little things that somehow transform the world.  This is the simplicity that exists at the far side of complexity.  This is the brilliance that exceeds that of the superficial prancers and posers who make us feel dumb.  Our brilliance is that of Jesus who did not consider equality with God something to be gripped on to but who humbled himself even to death on a cross.  We should celebrate the day of small things.  For our God made small things powerful.

Proverbs 22:7-16

The generous man... shares his food with the poor.

Thursday 8 September

Isaiah 17:1-19:25

What’s all this crazy talk of Israel being the third along with Egypt and Assyria?  Israel were God’s only chosen people.  They were the only one to whom the covenant promises were given.  They were the only ones who would be a great nation through whom all families would be blessed.  So who is this bozo who is saying “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance”.  Who the heck does this impostor think he is??  Oh.  It seems this bozo is the LORD. This impostor is The LORD Almighty.  That’s a little unexpected.  Now I feel pretty stupid.  As we read through this book it is shocking how often we find God looking at the neat boundaries we have made for him and then carving them apart with a chain-saw.  We are so keen to get things nailed, we are so keen to gets things under control.  But our control will only ever be an illusion.  Control sits in one place only and that place is a throne in the heavenly realms.  God will do whatever he wants with whoever he wants whenever he wants.  None of us run this thing.  None of us have any power or authority except what has been given us by God.  As with Damascus and Cush and Egypt the Lord Almighty can take away or give power and standing to us whenever he fancies.  It’s time for God to get big in our eyes again.  He always needs to be big in our eyes.  He needs to be shockingly big, uncomfortably big.  He is the Lord Almighty and he will do as he pleases with every person and nation in this earth.

2 Corinthians 10:1-18

This see-saw is tricky to balance.  We are called to fight, we are called to wage war, we are called to use weapons.  There should be an aggression to us, a flinty-eyed warrior spirit that looks danger in the face and starts to draw its sword.  Do you have that edge to you?  Do you ever say die??  But then we should shun the dog-eat-dog standard of this world, we should build people up and not tear people down, we should not try to frighten people, we should work by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.  Do you have that gentleness?  Does your heart ache to help out those around you?  Gentleness and aggression, they are a tricky see-saw to balance.  But Jesus shows us the way.  It is only in reverence for Him that we can hold the tipping point.  He is the epitome of meekness and fierceness.  He is the Lion and the Lamb. 

Psalm 106:16-31

Cor, that is a little depressing.  It’s a good job the psalm doesn’t end there.

Wednesday 7 September

Isaiah 14:1-16:14

Don’t be fooled; these prophecies against the nations surrounding Israel are hugely relevant for today.  Celebrity culture has always existed.  Today’s Warren Buffets and Steve Jobs and Simon Cowells and Wayne Rooneys and Richard Dawkins are just modern examples of the celebrities of the past who were discussed over drinks and copied in the cities.  The only difference is that the olden-day celebrities were nations; groups of people who lived a certain way and valued certain things.  Then, as now, people would subconsciously or consciously believe that if they were only a little bit more like a particular nation (or a particular person) then they would be happier and safer and their future would be better.  So God speaks into those longings.  God exposes the feebleness of such aspirations.  People or nations may look great now but ‘the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?’.  Now there is always stuff to learn from everyone and every celebrity will have good things to emulate but if they are fundamentally promoting values and actions that oppose the desires of God then sooner or later all their pomp will be brought down to the grave, they will turn into a place for owls and into a swampland; within a few years they will be very few and feeble.  The Lord wants us to know this not so we can gloat and point the finger of accusation but so that we can be protected from the mouse-trap, so that we won’t be drawn to that sweet-smelling lump of cheese that is conceit and personal ambition and the abandonment of his ways.  He doesn’t want us, or anyone else (including celebrities!), to waste ourselves on desires that will end in ruin and famine.  God is the boss.  His way will prevail.  And in his immense compassion he keeps reminding us of this all the time. 


2 Corinthians 9:6-15

The basic message here seems to be “don’t under-estimate the impact of what you give”.  Paul pulls two inter-connected but distinct things out of this.  Firstly, Paul celebrates the fact that God’s economy always returns to us what we give to others.  God can make all grace abound to us and grace is far more valuable than a bit of time or a bit of money.  So generously giving stuff away can really be a cheerful activity, because we know it is deepening our relationship with God.  This idea is so simple and yet I forget it so often.  I want to remember it more.  The second point Paul pulls out is that generosity to others overflows beyond a material transaction into a spiritual one, prompting the recipients to worship God and be thankful to you.  One act of generosity initiates a self-reinforcing cycle of goodness flowing between God’s people and God and some more of God’s people.  What a treat to have this on offer to us.  There is so many destructive cycles in the world but we can be part of, and even initiate, positive life-enhancing ones that God chucks his tuppence in on and which uplift and release and bind together and encourage.  So we shouldn’t underestimate the impact of what we can give - it really can change the world.

Psalm 106:1-15

He is good.

Tuesday 6 September

Isaiah 10:20-13:22

Exile - destruction, being lashed with a whip, the lopping off of boughs, punishment from the Lord.  We have been in exile ever since Eve listened to the snake.  We have lived as a race and as individuals in a spiritual exile, separated from our inheritance, living under a foreign power, surrounded by enemy forces, unable to commune directly with our God.  So that pretty much sucks.  But do we really engage with this?  Is this how we see the world?  Is that the lens through which we view our work-colleagues, our neighbours and our friends?  If it is then we quite soon get pretty pumped about ‘letting our people go’.  We try and find a Moses-like figure who can lead us across the Red Sea and into the land flowing with milk and honey.  We want to leave exile behind and breathe the joy-drenched air of the kingdom.  Isaiah promises that one is coming who will indeed take us there.  He will overcome the curse on the Serpent and Eve.  Enmity between their off-spring was promised but soon a time will come when that will be over. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child will put his hand into the viper’s nest.  He will come from the stump of Jesse.  He will be the Branch who will bear fruit.  Jesus is his name.  He is the Holy One of Israel among us.  He is our mighty salvation and he has done glorious things.  If we really get this will will really shout aloud.  We won’t be able to stop singing for joy.

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5

It’s a bit mysterious this talk of Titus and “two brothers”.  I reckon Paul was just doing what I often do when I recognise a face but further detail escapes me - call people ‘brother’ while fumbling around for a clue to their name.  One of the brothers is praised by all the churches and the other is a very zealous fellow but Paul can’t for the life of him remember what they are called.  I, for one, love the reality of this.  This book deals with the comedy as well as the tragedy and the glory of life.  I don’t think there is a whole lot else in this peculiar little section.  Maybe one small thing we could pull out is the idea of spiritual authority, of Paul sending people to a church to ‘ensure’ they follow through on their commitments.  Spiritual authority isn’t the most trendy concept in the church today.  A lot of people try to slide away from it, probably because they have seen it grossly abused.  But it is there in the bible and particularly in the letters of Paul.  People going up to other people to remind them of what is required of them in the Lord and gently encouraging them to become all that they are called to.  Are we happy to submit ourselves to authority?  Are we happy to humbly exert our authority over others?  If not the whole body will suffer.  But with it then we will see the triumph of generosity and pride in others and love and thankfulness.  

Psalm 105:37-45

“They asked, and he brought them quail”.  It’s funny because that is not exactly how I remember it being described in Numbers 11.

Monday 5 September

Isaiah 8:11-10:19

Isaiah must have been royally confused by this one.  He must have realised that his ecstatic temple experience would change his perspective, but by this much?  Galilee was a grotty northern town that had had its day.  It had gone bad and gone over to the yobs (the Gentiles).  To say that Galilee would be honoured and that a great light would come from it required serious belief in the redemptive power of God.  As Isaiah wrote those words he must have felt like he was really going out on a limb.  But then, as he is stood on this limb wobbling and trying not to look down the Lord calls him to take several strides further out.  The Lord urges him in whispers to write of a child yet to be born who will be called, among other things, Mighty God and Everlasting Father.  This is pretty much blasphemy.  If not for religious Jews then at least for the human brain - it is absurd to suggest that a child could actually be God and last for ever as the Father of all others, including his mother.  Isaiah must have physically recoiled at penning such a phrase.  And yet that is the way of faith.  That is the call on us too.  We walk to the very extremities of our understanding, our concept of God pushes us to the absolute margins of our capacity and we feel vulnerable and scared.  And then God shows us more.  He shows us Jesus is more magnificent, more lofty, more brain-meltingly beyond us than we ever could have imagined. This great light that shines in the darkness is so bright that we can’t look at him direct.  But he has been given to us.  Unto us a child is born.

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

This is a challenging passage.  If we could each play a joker and chop out one passage of the New Testament that didn’t have to apply to us then I think I might choose this one.  Paul desires that there will be material equality between the churches.  He doesn’t want any believers to be financially hard pressed while others have plenty.  And yet around the world today there are many many believers who are very hard pressed.  And I can’t help feeling that I have plenty.  And I’m not sure that I excel in the grace of giving.  Part of me thinks that I have stuff I need to spend my money on but then that annoying bit about the Macedonian churches prods me in the side.  They were richly generous even during extreme poverty and gave beyond what they were able to give.  Another part of me thinks that people being hard pressed is just how the world is; that if I was to try to  do something about it I would just end up impoverished myself.  And that’s when my mind cruelly turns to that verse about Jesus.  I try to skip it out by my brain just won’t let me - though he was rich for my sake he became poor.  If he had used my logic I would still be hopelessly lost.  So I guess I better get serious about giving.  And I better start praying too.  As Paul says later in this letter, ‘God loves a cheerful giver’.  O God would you change my heart...

Proverbs 21:27-22:6

“Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  That is a proverbs I cling to.  Every day I pray this would be true for my boys.

Sunday 4 September

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.