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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Learning To Stand In Awe (Isaiah 29)





Being a physical therapist, I have studied anatomy and physiology and it never ceases to amaze me how masterfully and wonderfully the human body functions. Just the other day, I purchased a new app that showed the electrical pathways conducted through the heart with colorful interactive graphics. I wanted to show it to others and my daughter commented that I was mesmerized with the human heart. And she was right,but more than being in awe of the human heart, I was in awe of the One who fashioned it. 

Sadly, I think that we aren’t in awe of God enough even though evidence of His wonder and magnificence is all around us and proclaimed to us throughout His Word.   In fact, even though we may be part of a group of “believers”, we may find that if God is not given His proper place of reverence and significance, spiritual stagnation and atrophy can occur. 

This is the situation we read about in the first 1/2 of Isaiah 29. Jerusalem was full of “religious people” but they were not really seeking a relationship with God. They were caught up in ceremony, religious appearances and the positions of man. They weren’t really paying attention to God. The result was that they lost spiritual connection. “For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."” (10-12)

God knew their hearts and He knew their motives: “... this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,” (13) 
God didn’t want forced actions. God wanted a heart connection. God wanted to be seen and known. 

But His people didn’t know how to truly “see “ God. They had forgotten that He was the Creator and they were His creation.  “You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?” (16)

God is waiting for Israel to remember “Who” He is and learn to see Him again with fresh eyes. An important part of that transformation is that the people will reconnect with God, allowing Him to transform them from the inside and they will stand in awe of all that He is. 

“Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."” (22-24)

God wants to transform us too but we have to know how to seek Him and truly see the wonder of Him. We have to know how to learn from Him and yield our hearts to Him. 

Not until we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God's holiness and sovereignty...acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours. (J.I. Packer)