Day 10/3 – Developing Convictions II

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Developing Convictions II
Day Two Hundred Seventy-six

“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean.” Romans 14:14

Convictions on how you should act differ from convictions regarding what you believe. In both areas, the Bible forbids personal convictions at variance with its teachings. For example, the Bible says that Jesus was born of a virgin. To have a conviction contrary to this, Scripture calls unbelief; so also if you have a conviction that it is permissible to steal when you know the Bible says that it is not. Such unbelief God calls sin, and He will judge you accordingly.

Assuming, therefore, that your convictions are not at variance with Scripture, they must, by their very nature, be personal. Your convictions regarding a certain matter may be in agreement with others, but you should not establish your convictions based on what others believe; they must come from your own study of the Word and your walk with God. They are your convictions, and only accidentally the convictions of others. Nor can you make your convictions normative for others. Each person is obligated to form his own convictions.

Remember two things in developing convictions: First, they must be established before the time of testing. It is not a good idea to wait until you negotiate a contract to develop your convictions regarding what fairness looks like. Second, shaping convictions is essential for holiness. If the commandments of God are like the edge of a cliff, your convictions determine how close to the edge you should get without fear of falling off. Without convictions, you are practically guaranteed of falling.

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Isaiah 17-19 Ephesians 5:17-33 (New King James Version)

Isaiah 17-19
Proclamation Against Syria and Israel
17 The burden[a] against Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
2
[b]The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
3
The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
4
“In that day it shall come to pass
That the glory of Jacob will [c]wane,
And the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
5
It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,
And reaps the heads with his arm;
It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain
In the Valley of Rephaim.
6
Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,
Like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough,
Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”
Says the Lord God of Israel.
7
In that day a man will look to his Maker,
And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8
He will not look to the altars,
The work of his hands;
He will not respect what his fingers have made,
Nor the [d]wooden images nor the incense altars.
9
In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken [e]bough
And [f]an uppermost branch,
Which they left because of the children of Israel;
And there will be desolation.
10
Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
And have not been mindful of the Rock of your [g]stronghold,
Therefore you will plant pleasant plants
And set out foreign seedlings;
11
In the day you will make your plant to grow,
And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish;
But the harvest will be a heap of ruins
In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.
12
Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14
Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
And before the morning, he is no more.
This is the portion of those who plunder us,
And the lot of those who rob us.
Proclamation Against Ethiopia
18
Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,
Which is beyond the rivers of [h]Ethiopia,
2
Which sends ambassadors by sea,
Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,
“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin,
To a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide.”
3
All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:
When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;
And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
4
For so the Lord said to me,
“I will take My rest,
And I will [i]look from My dwelling place
Like clear heat in sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5
For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect
And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,
He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks
And take away and cut down the branches.
6
They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey
And for the beasts of the earth;
The birds of prey will summer on them,
And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7
In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts
[j]From a people tall and smooth of skin,
And from a people terrible from their beginning onward,
A nation powerful and treading down,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,
To Mount Zion.
Proclamation Against Egypt
19 The burden[k] against Egypt.
Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will [l]totter at His presence,
And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.
2
“I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
Everyone will fight against his brother,
And everyone against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3
The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;
I will destroy their counsel,
And they will consult the idols and the charmers,
The mediums and the sorcerers.
4
And the Egyptians I will give
Into the hand of a cruel master,
And a fierce king will rule over them,”
Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
5
The waters will fail from the sea,
And the river will be wasted and dried up.
6
The rivers will turn foul;
The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up;
The reeds and rushes will wither.
7
The papyrus reeds by [m]the River, by the mouth of the River,
And everything sown by the River,
Will wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8
The fishermen also will mourn;
All those will lament who cast hooks into the River,
And they will languish who spread nets on the waters.
9
Moreover those who work in fine flax
And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed;
10
And its foundations will be broken.
All who make wages will be troubled of soul.
11
Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.
How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise,
The son of ancient kings?”
12
Where are they?
Where are your wise men?
Let them tell you now,
And let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13
The princes of Zoan have become fools;
The princes of [n]Noph are deceived;
They have also [o]deluded Egypt,
Those who are the [p]mainstay of its tribes.
14
The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst;
And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,
As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15
Neither will there be any work for Egypt,
Which the head or tail,
Palm branch or bulrush, may do.
16 In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He waves over it. 17 And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He has determined against it.
Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed
18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts; one will be called the City of [q]Destruction.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. 21 Then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. 22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the Lord, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Footnotes:
• Isaiah 17:1 oracle, prophecy
• Isaiah 17:2 So with MT, Vg.; LXX It shall be forsaken forever; Tg. Its cities shall be forsaken and desolate
• Isaiah 17:4 fade
• Isaiah 17:8 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
• Isaiah 17:9 LXX Hivites; Tg. laid waste; Vg. as the plows
• Isaiah 17:9 LXX Amorites; Tg. in ruins; Vg. corn
• Isaiah 17:10 refuge
• Isaiah 18:1 Heb. Cush
• Isaiah 18:4 watch
• Isaiah 18:7 So with DSS, LXX, Vg.; MT omits From; Tg. To
• Isaiah 19:1 oracle, prophecy
• Isaiah 19:1 Lit. shake
• Isaiah 19:7 The Nile
• Isaiah 19:13 Ancient Memphis
• Isaiah 19:13 Lit. caused to stagger
• Isaiah 19:13 cornerstone
• Isaiah 19:18 Some Heb. mss., Arab., DSS, Tg., Vg. Sun; LXX Asedek, lit. Righteousness

Ephesians 5:17-33
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of [a]God.
Marriage—Christ and the Church
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [b]sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [c]of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Footnotes:
• Ephesians 5:21 NU Christ
• Ephesians 5:26 set it apart
• Ephesians 5:30 NU omits the rest of v. 30.