Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.

Isaiah 58-60

Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it. Isaiah 60:21-22

I continue my deep dive of Isaiah, based on the Precept Upon Precept study series.  My study of Isaiah moves on to day 5 (of 5) of week 21, which looks at Isaiah 58-60.  Day 5 encourages us to review Isaiah 58-60, to deepen our understanding, and to extract final applications from these chapters as we prepare to move on to the end of Isaiah. 

Looking back at my posts for these chapters:

• Isaiah 58 focuses on fasting and how God seeks for us to do so wholeheartedly, not hypocritically, or as double-minded - see also Day 1 and 2 posts.
• Isaiah 59 focuses on how God promises a Redeemer for Israel, of course this is Jesus and through Jesus we have the Holy Spirit, who arms us to battle against sin - see Day 2 and 3 posts
• Isaiah 60 focuses on glory for Israel and the coming redeemer is a light in the darkness of the present age - see Day 4 post
  

This post from Chuck Swindoll helps illuminate a key application from Isaiah (including 58-60), and one that convicts me this morning - an excerpt: "In addition to its gospel message, the book of Isaiah clearly articulates the sins of God’s people—dealing with others unjustly which resulted in their offering hypocritical sacrifices to God. Do you see anything in your own life that might fall under Isaiah’s critique of injustice—treating family, colleagues, or even strangers with unkindness or even disdain? Isaiah’s message is also a call for believers to come back to purity in our love for God and for our neighbors (Luke 10:26–28)."

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who pursued me and saved me - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You saved me.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me, and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

Pages: 263-275 and Psalm 63

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live,   and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:1-8

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, continuing with Part 3 The Natural Act of Reading the Bible Supernaturally, chapter seventeen - The Indispensable Place of Prayer in Reading the Bible Supernaturally: To See, Savor, and Love with a United Heart. Here, Piper builds on the previous chapter on prayer and its critical role in reading the Bible.  He starts by reinforcing a few key points, including how "prayer does not take the place of careful interpretation (aka natural reading).  Prayer serves careful interpretation. He also points out that "God sometimes withholds the fullness of his illumination for wise and holy reasons[.]"  Piper gives us a few examples of strategies for getting insight from the Bible, including prayer to:

• "guide you to notice parts of the text that are especially illuminating
• to lead you to other passages in the Bible that would shed light on the one you are reading
• to lead you to other books or sermons or lectures that would be useful in shedding light on some problem you have run into
• for experiences, or a reminder of experiences you've had, that would make what you are reading more real
• for friends who could study the Bible with you and help you see things you haven't seen
• against any sinful habits or inclinations that might blind you to a part of Scripture you find uncomfortable
• that as you write the text down in your journal, you would notice things you missed in simple reading"
  

 A core message from this chapter is how we should unite our heart with God - using the acronym from the previous chapter: IOUS - Intent, Open, Unite, Satisfy. Piper writes that all Christians face the battle of a divided heart: "[u]ntil we die, or until Jesus comes again, the battle rages.  We Christians must daily reassert our allegiance to Jesus as supreme." We must also find satisfaction in reading the Bible and pray for this.  Piper uses Psalm 63 as the "model for us" to move from "seeking to seeing to savoring." Piper then adds a new letter "L" for lead to the IOUS acronym for us to pray that we be led by the Holy Spirit to a "beautiful transformation from selfish behavior to radical, risk-taking, loving behavior. Psalm 23:3, 119:35, 25:5, 5:8 and Matthew 6:13 are all provided as examples of how we are to pray for this transformation. 

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are indeed an amazing God who loves me and who gives me Your Word and it satisfies like nothing in creation can - thank You Jesus for Your Word and for the Holy Spirit revealing to me Your glory and it is great indeed!  Thank You Jesus! I am undeserving for how the Word and the Holy Spirit work in my life - I am blessed immeasurably.  Yet again I am undeserving because of my sin - it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.