So in my morning Bible Study time, I have been reading through Isaiah and 1 Corinthians. I like to have a good mix of Old and New Testament in my diet.
Lets start with my time in Isaiah. I read through chapters 20 and 21 today. I'm in the section of Isaiah where God is giving Isaiah prophecies of judgments against the nations surrounding Israel and Israel itself. A lot of these prophecies have already come to fruition or are end of days prophecies. It can be a little hard to discern the two, unless your a history major to which I am not. In any event, what stuck out at me this morning was a couple verses in Isaiah 20:2-3. They are as follows:
"2at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia," (NKJV).
I've read through Isaiah a couple of times and don't remember ever catching this, but I caught it today. I know it's a strange verse to be talking about, but you have to look at the details. God told Isaiah to take his clothes off. He doesn't tell Isaiah why and for how long. After 3 years, God tells Isaiah why he has been walking around naked for that period of time, which when you read the rest of chapter 20 you find out why. What is so striking about this? Isaiah is showing a level of obedience and faithfulness that is awe inspiring. Isaiah didn't have the whole picture. He just had one instruction from the LORD and he obeyed it. He didn't know why, he didn't know for how long, and he did it anyway. Why? Because in Isaiah chapter 6 he told God in verse 8, "Here am I! Send me." He made a promise to God to do His will. So Isaiah in chapter 20 is doing God's will. The question that arises is, if God asked you to do something, would you do it? Even if you didn't have the whole picture. Because God isn't going to give the whole picture. He only gives one step at a time, hence the verse "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105, NKJV). Why does God do it that way? Because it is all about having faith in Him. If your read my blog http://godcallingjr.blogspot.com/ you can see a real world example of this. I am not saying I am perfect and always obey, but I did obey in that instance, and still giving God all the praise because of it. When we accept Christ into our lives we are saying, "Here am I! Send me." Acts 1:8 says, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (NKJV). As Christians, those who have accepted Christ into there hearts for salvation, we are witnesses to the work God is doing in our lives. We are to be able to proclaim that in word AND deed, while giving God ALL the praise. So if God calls you to do something crazy, do you do it? And if you do be sure to give God all the glory for the outcome.
My time in 1 Corinthians was spent in chapter 2 verses 10-16. This is one of my favorite portions of scripture, and you really need to start reading from verse 6 to get the whole context. It is pretty much how the Holy Spirit reveals Godly wisdom to us. It's a great read and pretty self explanatory. I encourage you to read it if you haven't. Jesus says in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (NKJV). "We have the mind of Christ" as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 2:16. This was very convicting for me this morning. I have the Holy Spirit in me revealing to me Godly wisdom, but I sometimes disregard that to give myself over to sin.
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