Day 8/9 – A Man Sent From God

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
A Man Sent From God
Day Two Hundred Twenty-one

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” John 1:6

God cried out through His prophet, “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.”287 God found such a man in John. And John knew that he was God’s man. He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 288. Amazingly John identifies himself by quoting from Isaiah. Apart from Jesus, I know of no other place where a person does this. He also understood his mission: to prepare the way of the Lord. And he knew his message: to call people to repentance.

With all of this, doubt and uncertainty characterized his life. Many came to marvel at him, but few if any manifested change. He drew large crowds, but was his message taken seriously? How could he know? Furthermore, Jesus seeking baptism from him confused him. He died in doubt wondering if Jesus really was his mission.

If you understand from the beginning your life mission, you are rare. Some are more vocal about their doubts than others, but most go through life wondering: “Should I be in vocational ministry or serve Christ in the marketplace? Maybe He wants me to serve Him overseas. Am I doing what God wants me to do?” Every so often our Lord gives you a glimpse of what He is doing to encourage you. Jesus sent word to John just before John died, to assure him that He was the Messiah. He assured the disciples before His death on the Mount of Transfiguration. He may give you a glimpse now and then, but don’t be disheartened if in the midst of all He does to assure you, you still have uncertainty.

287 Ezekiel 22:30
288 John 1:23

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Psalm 77-78 Romans 10 (New King James Version)

Psalm 77-78
The Consoling Memory of God’s Redemptive Works
To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.
77
I cried out to God with my voice—
To God with my voice;
And He gave ear to me.
2
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;
My soul refused to be comforted.
3
I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah
4
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5
I have considered the days of old,
The years of ancient times.
6
I call to remembrance my song in the night;
I meditate within my heart,
And my spirit [a]makes diligent search.
7
Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will He be favorable no more?
8
Has His mercy ceased forever?
Has His promise failed [b]forevermore?
9
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah
10
And I said, “This is my [c]anguish;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
13
Your way, O God, is in [d]the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
14
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
15
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16
The waters saw You, O God;
The waters saw You, they were afraid;
The depths also trembled.
17
The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound;
Your arrows also flashed about.
18
The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
The lightnings lit up the world;
The earth trembled and shook.
19
Your way was in the sea,
Your path in the great waters,
And Your footsteps were not known.
20
You led Your people like a flock
By the hand of Moses and Aaron.
God’s Kindness to Rebellious Israel
A Contemplation[e] of Asaph.
78
Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter [f]dark sayings of old,
3
Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.
4
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
5
For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
6
That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
8
And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not [g]set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9
The children of Ephraim, being armed and [h]carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
10
They did not keep the covenant of God;
They refused to walk in His law,
11
And forgot His works
And His wonders that He had shown them.
12
Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
14
In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
15
He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
16
He also brought streams out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
17
But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
18
And they tested God in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.
19
Yes, they spoke against God:
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20
Behold, He struck the rock,
So that the waters gushed out,
And the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Can He provide meat for His people?”
21
Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious;
So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
And anger also came up against Israel,
22
Because they did not believe in God,
And did not trust in His salvation.
23
Yet He had commanded the clouds above,
And opened the doors of heaven,
24
Had rained down manna on them to eat,
And given them of the [i]bread of heaven.
25
Men ate angels’ food;
He sent them food to [j]the full.
26
He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens;
And by His power He brought in the south wind.
27
He also rained meat on them like the dust,
Feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
28
And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
All around their dwellings.
29
So they ate and were well filled,
For He gave them their own desire.
30
They were not [k]deprived of their craving;
But while their food was still in their mouths,
31
The wrath of God came against them,
And slew the stoutest of them,
And struck down the choice men of Israel.
32
In spite of this they still sinned,
And did not believe in His wondrous works.
33
Therefore their days He consumed in futility,
And their years in fear.
34
When He slew them, then they sought Him;
And they returned and sought earnestly for God.
35
Then they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
36
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth,
And they lied to Him with their tongue;
37
For their heart was not steadfast with Him,
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
38
But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
And did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away,
And did not stir up all His wrath;
39
For He remembered that they were but flesh,
A breath that passes away and does not come again.
40
How often they provoked[l] Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
41
Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
42
They did not remember His [m]power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43
When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
44
Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
45
He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.
46
He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.
47
He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48
He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery [n]lightning.
49
He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
50
He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave [o]their life over to the plague,
51
And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52
But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53
And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54
And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55
He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by [p]survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56
Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
57
But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58
For they provoked Him to anger with their high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59
When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
60
So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
61
And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62
He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
63
The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.
64
Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.
65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
Like a mighty man who shouts because of wine.
66
And He beat back His enemies;
He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67
Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph,
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68
But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which He loved.
69
And He built His sanctuary like the heights,
Like the earth which He has established forever.
70
He also chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
71
From following the ewes that had young He brought him,
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
72
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart,
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 77:6 ponders diligently
• Psalm 77:8 Lit. unto generation and generation
• Psalm 77:10 Lit. infirmity
• Psalm 77:13 Or holiness
• Psalm 78:1 Heb. Maschil
• Psalm 78:2 obscure sayings or riddles
• Psalm 78:8 Lit. prepare its heart
• Psalm 78:9 Lit. bow shooters
• Psalm 78:24 Lit. grain
• Psalm 78:25 satiation
• Psalm 78:30 Lit. separated
• Psalm 78:40 rebelled against Him
• Psalm 78:42 Lit. hand
• Psalm 78:48 lightning bolts
• Psalm 78:50 Or their beasts
• Psalm 78:55 surveyed measurement, lit. measuring cord

Romans 10
Israel Needs the Gospel
10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [a]Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Israel Rejects the Gospel
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who [b]preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
“Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:
“I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
20 But Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I was found by those who did not seek Me;
I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
21 But to Israel he says:
“All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Footnotes:
• Romans 10:1 NU them
• Romans 10:15 NU omits preach the gospel of peace, Who