Saturday, April 9, 2011

Isaiah 55

I love Isaiah 55! It has always had special significance to me in relation to houseboats, and I think it's fitting that we spent time sitting in it this week as a team.

First, I love that it begins "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters"... it's so appropriate for houseboats, both literally and spiritually. How cool is it that God meets us and campers and offers us Living Water (see John 4)!

But I especially love v. 10-11. I first "discovered" these verses during my barney session on Lake Shasta in 2007. I can still remember where I was sitting for solo time and which church I was serving with that week.

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

These verses are so cool to me, because it's so... logical! (shot out to my logical friend Logan Daily!) We all know the "evaporation - condensation - precipitation" from third grade... rain doesn't fall without watering the earth. It's science, people! And the earth doesn't get watered without making it bear and sprout, which ultimately produces seed for the sower and bread for the eater. Even more so, YHWH says that it is impossible for his word to leave his mouth and return to him empty. It's science! It just doesn't happen! He ALWAYS accomplishes the purposes he desires, and his word succeeds in the matters for which he sent it.

First and foremost, then, this is why we spend time in the Word (note that we often call the Bible the "Word of God"). It is living and active and is one of the primary means by which God speaks to us! And if we let it, that Word leaves God's mouth and won't return to him until it has accomplished his purposes in and through us. How cool is that?! So if I can encourage you any more emphatically to be diligent to spend time in the Word, this is it! It changes you, friends. It changes me. It changes us as a team. It's science!

And from a ministry standpoint, how encouraging of a reminder is this?! This is what was most encouraging to me when I first "discovered" this passage while on the water in 2007: THE PRESSURE IS ENTIRELY OFF OF ME WHEN I SHARE WITH OTHERS ABOUT JESUS! Whether I am talking with a student while flipping pancakes, sharing my testimony on the roof of a houseboat, or giving the message at Wednesday Night Program, the pressure is off of me to say the right thing or use the right emphasis (and on another tangent from last week's humility focus: how vain of me to ever think that in the first place!!)... as long as I am surrendered to the Lord, I can be confident that YHWH will speak through me as he sees fit... that they will be HIS words accomplishing HIS purposes in and through me... and he guarantees his words will be fruitful!

Ah, I'm encouraged. And I hope you are too. Join me in choosing to come to the water's edge to drink of Living Water. Drink deeply, and then rest in the confidence that the God who created rain and snow in the first place is accomplishing his purposes in and through us, his people!

2 comments:

  1. PS check out "come and listen" by David Crowder for some Isaiah 55 -esque musical goodness :)

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  2. They have a public dock upon which I've sat and watched the sun rise on Lake Tahoe many times over the years. It sits next to a condo development called Water's Edge. I am definitely feeling the nudge to spiritually "join you" and see the beauty of lake side sunrises as mild as compared to the art Jesus paints in flesh and blood through His children. Blessings.

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