149 Friday May 29, 2009

149 Isaiah 022 – 024; Luke 9.1 – 9.36

It is 29,035 feet high and is the quest of any serious climber. On this day in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Tibet were the first reach the top of Mt Everest. I am sure there was great celebration for reaching this summit, when so many had tried and failed. Isaiah is not a party pooper, he is just trying to figure out why the Israelites are partying. The circumstances do not warrant a party. The state of Jerusalem calls for mourning not cheering. I would surmise that when people are away from God they do not have much discernment. They become more and more blind and deaf to what God is doing and saying.

This chapter is so rich in how man behaves without God. Isaiah recounts what they had done under their own strength. The leaders assessed their defenses, what they had to do to the wall, and even gathered water. They fortified what they could in order to protect themselves. They looked and looked but they never looked to God. I believe we can be guilty of the same thing in the church and in our family’s lives. First look to God and then plan and assess. It is so easy to go with what we have been use to doing and not look up, to seek Yahweh first. Purpose this day to look up and out for God.

The training of the twelve is still the classic for today's church. Jesus called the twelve to be with Him and to train them. In Luke 9 Jesus sends them out to encounter the powers that be, equipped with God's power to defeat the devil and heal diseases. It is said that every believer needs to be in an ongoing training program and in turn training someone else. We are all to be receiving and giving out. It is in this balance of life that we truly live. You find some who only give out and therefore they burn out and some only take in and they cave in. You be careful out there.