Day 10/16 – The Ways of God

——://///

Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Ways of God
Day Two Hundred Eighty-nine

“Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22

The Bible appears to teach that God dealt differently with His people in the Old Testament than He does with New Testament saints. The Law is full of promises of blessing for the obedient and the opposite for the disobedient. If His people live in accordance with the Law, they can expect the rains in their season, good crops, healthy livestock, safe borders, and much more.

The New Testament gives a different picture. The more faithful you are, the more prone to persecution and tribulation. “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”367

This apparent difference reflects how God deals with the nation as opposed to individuals. The Psalmist calls attention to how the righteous suffers and the ungodly prosper.368 The nation, a corporate entity, is promised prosperity when faithful, but not necessarily individual believers. Thus, even in the midst of Israel’s abundance, individual believers experienced injustice, oppression, disease, and pain.

If you fail to understand this distinction between how God deals with His nation and how He deals with individuals, you can easily establish unrealistic expectations as to how He ought to treat you. When He fails to meet your expectations, discouragement sets in and you conclude that He is chastising you for unacceptable behavior, or worse still, He has lost control and Satan reigns. God has never promised His people abundance and the absence of opposition, irrespective of how obedient they may or may not be.

367 II Timothy 3:12
368 cf. Psalm 73

———/://///

Isaiah 47-49 1 Thessalonians 4 (New King James Version)

Isaiah 47-49
The Humiliation of Babylon
47
“Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
Tender and [a]delicate.
2
Take the millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil,
Take off the skirt,
Uncover the thigh,
Pass through the rivers.
3
Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
Yes, your shame will be seen;
I will take vengeance,
And I will not arbitrate with a man.”
4
As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5
“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you shall no longer be called
The Lady of Kingdoms.
6
I was angry with My people;
I have profaned My inheritance,
And given them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy;
On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.
7
And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’
So that you did not take these things to heart,
Nor remember the latter end of them.
8
“Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,
Who dwell securely,
Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow,
Nor shall I know the loss of children’;
9
But these two things shall come to you
In a moment, in one day:
The loss of children, and widowhood.
They shall come upon you in their fullness
Because of the multitude of your sorceries,
For the great abundance of your enchantments.
10
“For you have trusted in your wickedness;
You have said, ‘No one sees me’;
Your wisdom and your knowledge have [b]warped you;
And you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11
Therefore evil shall come upon you;
You shall not know from where it arises.
And trouble shall fall upon you;
You will not be able [c]to put it off.
And desolation shall come upon you suddenly,
Which you shall not know.
12
“Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
13
You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now the[d] astrologers, the stargazers,
And [e]the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.
14
Behold, they shall be as stubble,
The fire shall burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
15
Thus shall they be to you
With whom you have labored,
Your merchants from your youth;
They shall wander each one to his [f]quarter.
No one shall save you.
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
48
“Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth or in righteousness;
2
For they call themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
3
“I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4
Because I knew that you were [g]obstinate,
And your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
5
Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’
6
“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7
They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
8
Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called a transgressor from the womb.
9
“For My name’s sake I will [h]defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
10
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11
For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel
12
“Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.
13
Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.
14
“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15
I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16
“Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord God and His Spirit
[i]Have sent Me.”
17
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.
18
Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19
Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
20
Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
21
And they did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22
“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles
49
“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The Lord has called Me from the womb;
From the [j]matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
2
And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”
3
“And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’
4
Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my [k]just reward is with the Lord,
And my [l]work with my God.’ ”
5
“And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is [m]gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
6
Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
7
Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, [n]their Holy One,
To Him [o]whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
“In an acceptable[p] time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will [q]preserve You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate [r]heritages;
9
That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
10
They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
11
I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
12
Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13
Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
God Will Remember Zion
14
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
[s]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
16
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
17
Your [t]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
18
Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.
19
“For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20
The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
21
Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My [u]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their [v]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23
Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
24
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives [w]of the righteous be delivered?
25 But thus says the Lord:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
26
I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh shall know
That I, the Lord, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Footnotes:
• Isaiah 47:1 dainty
• Isaiah 47:10 led you astray
• Isaiah 47:11 Lit. to cover it or atone for it
• Isaiah 47:13 Lit. viewers of the heavens
• Isaiah 47:13 Lit. those giving knowledge for new moons
• Isaiah 47:15 own side or way
• Isaiah 48:4 Heb. hard
• Isaiah 48:9 delay
• Isaiah 48:16 Heb. verb is sing.; or Has sent Me and His Spirit
• Isaiah 49:1 Lit. inward parts
• Isaiah 49:4 justice
• Isaiah 49:4 recompense
• Isaiah 49:5 Qr., DSS, LXX gathered to Him; Kt. not gathered
• Isaiah 49:7 Lit. his or its
• Isaiah 49:7 Lit. who is despised of soul
• Isaiah 49:8 favorable
• Isaiah 49:8 keep
• Isaiah 49:8 inheritances
• Isaiah 49:15 Lit. From having compassion
• Isaiah 49:17 DSS, LXX, Tg., Vg. builders
• Isaiah 49:22 banner
• Isaiah 49:22 Lit. bosom
• Isaiah 49:24 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, Syr., Vg. of the mighty; LXX unjustly

1 Thessalonians 4
Plea for Purity
4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who[a] has also given us His Holy Spirit.
A Brotherly and Orderly Life
9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.
The Comfort of Christ’s Coming
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen [b]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who [c]sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are [d]asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Footnotes:
• 1 Thessalonians 4:8 NU who also gives
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Died
• 1 Thessalonians 4:14 Or through Jesus sleep
• 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Dead