Our Faith Walk

Lessons Learned in 2023: Remembering the Sankofa Bird

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It’s that Time Again

As is our tradition with WordBytes, our first teaching each new year is a reflection on the things learned in the previous year.  What have we learned as we look back on 2023?

What were the “bought lessons” learned at great expense?  What were the “taught lessons” received with meekness and humility? More importantly, how will we use the knowledge and wisdom learned to better navigate both the challenges and opportunities of 2024?

Learn from the Sankofa Bird

The Sankofa Bird is a mythical bird with its feet firmly planted forward, but its head turned back to pick up an egg from its back. This symbolizes the importance of learning from the past and bringing that knowledge with you as you move forward.

The Sankofa Bird holds various significant meanings:

    • Honoring the past: It encourages us to learn from our history, both the good and the bad. By understanding our past, we can avoid repeating mistakes and build a better future.
    • Preserving cultural heritage: Sankofa emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural traditions and values. It reminds us that our ancestors’ wisdom and knowledge are still relevant today.
    • Personal growth: On a personal level, the Sankofa Bird can represent the continuous process of self-improvement. It encourages us to reflect on our past experiences, learn from them, and use that knowledge to grow as individuals.

For this year’s “lessons learned”, we would like to offer the Sankofa Bird as a framework for sharing what we’ve learned in 2023.  It will also help to determine what things are of value moving forward into this new year and what things are “useless baggage” best left behind.

Where do I start?  Where am I headed?

I looked to previous years’ learnings to begin my list.  I asked myself, “Has my faith grown stronger?”  “Have I grown in the knowledge of Jesus Christ?” (2 Pet. 3:18) “Was I becoming more conformed to the image of Christ?” (Rom. 8:29)

It was in reading previous learnings that I discovered my first lesson from 2023.  Like the Sankofa Bird, looking back helped me understand that spiritual growth or sanctification is a continuous process.  We never stop growing until eternity.

From this review process, “common themes” began to emerge.

    1. God should be the center of our lives. Seek Him first.
    2. The importance of relationships. With God and with others.
    3. Trust and Obedience. These are essential for a successful faith walk.
    4. God is faithful and true. His Word and promises never change.
    5. God is ever present. His Presence is always with us.

These themes helped to identify my second lesson from 2023:  the importance of learning more about God, His Kingdom, and our purpose in His plan of salvation.  This lesson is best captured in Eph. 1:17-19.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

Did I learn anything new?

My final lesson learned is probably the most impactful to me.  It was learned during our study on eternity.  Unless we intentionally focus on the importance of eternity to our spiritual welfare, it will remain nothing more than theological jargon we hear on Sunday morning.

Many Christians become disillusioned as their quest for peace and pleasure on this earth feel them with despair.  If you are one of these believers who senses you’re missing something—who have hoped for more—it may be that your perspective is distorted by your focus on this world. With heaven as our point of reference, we can learn to live a satisfying, balance, and victorious life even in a fallen world.[1]

My third lesson from 2023:  To know the true God and His Son Jesus Christ, it is important that we focus on eternity.  To live on lives with an eye on eternity, is the only “sure way” to live in the fullness of God today, tomorrow, and forever.

Carrying my egg into 2024

Like the Sankofa Bird, with my feet firmly planted forward, I’m carrying my egg into 2024 by:

    • Prioritizing my spiritual growth and development.
    • Increasing in wisdom and knowledge of God.
    • Focusing on eternity.

And what will I leave behind?  All the things (and people) that hinder my journey forward.

What will you carry into 2024?  What will you leave behind?

[1]  Dr. Joseph M. Stowell, Eternity:  Reclaiming a Passion for What Endures

Advent/Christmas

Preparing for 2024: God Goes Before Us

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Year-end 2022 Throwback Wednesday Wednesda

New Year anxieties

In choosing our year-end WordBytes, it was amazing how quickly the teaching for today came to my attention.

This WordBytes was written in 2019, as we entered the world of COVID.  At that time, we had no idea that our lives would be forever changed.  The world as we knew would never be the same.

This WordBytes was also written to address the anxiety we typically experience as we begin planning for the new year.

Are we ready for 2024?

In our text today, Moses is preparing the Israelites for the changes that lie ahead  as they prepare to enter the Promise Land with 2+million people.  Just imagine the heightened anxiety and fear of the people.  But Moses shares with them a promise they could “hang their hat on”.  God will go before them!

It’s been said, “Hindsight is 20/20.”  As we look back over the past year with new COVID variants, political division, wars around the world, and more,  we might ask this question, “Is God still going  before us?”

Assess where we are.

Take a moment and think about how God has intervened on your behalf during this past year.  It’s true that we have experienced many hardships this year. However, regardless of them, we are now planning for a “new year”.

Do you want to know why?  Because God still (even in the 21st century) goes before us.  Whatever circumstance we may face in 2024, know that God is more than able to sustain you through it.  I pray that today’s WordBytes will increase your confidence and trust in the Lord.  Have a blessed and happy new year.

 

God Goes Before Us

Advent/Christmas

Advent Revisited: God, Time, and Waiting

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God, Time, and Waiting

A Time of Waiting

Advent season is a time of waiting.  Waiting by its very definition is challenging.  It is defined as the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens.

How well we wait lies not only in what we are waiting for but also who we trust to provide our desired outcome.   That trust is based on the provider’s ability to deliver the outcome.  That’s why as believers, it is important to remember that Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith is worth waiting for.

Godly Waiting

Waiting is a discipline.  “Godly” waiting is a spiritual discipline that we must cultivate.  As with any discipline, practice makes “progress” (perfection is not always the goal).  Advent is a time in which we should make every effort to expand our capacity to wait.  That increased capacity will strengthen us for the days ahead.

While waiting, we exercise our patience “muscles” and bolster our endurance until we receive what we are waiting for (Heb.10:36).  In our waiting, faith is activated and strengthened.  It is in the waiting that our hope becomes an expectation.  While waiting, our belief and trust become rooted and grounded in the Lord (Ps. 27:13-14).

As we continue our journey through “Advent past”, we will look at waiting from a different perspective:  God’s perspective.

“GOD, TIME, AND WAITING”

Advent/Christmas

Advent Revisited: A Psalm for Advent

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A Psalm for Advent

A Time to remember

One of the things I love to do during the holiday season is to find a quiet place in the house and reminisce on how my family prepared for Christmas.    After Thanksgiving, we would receive the “Sears and Roebuck” Christmas catalog.  We called it “the dream book.” Now Christmas displays begin to appear before Halloween.

As believers, we have the liturgical calendar to help us “mark” the different aspects of this most holy season.  It begins with Advent and the practice of waiting.  It culminates with Christmas, a time of celebrating the arrival of our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

This Advent, I invite you to join us as we reminisce and revisit Advents of the past through our WordBytes devotion.  We have chosen three (3) of our most popular Advent WordBytes from past years.  We hope they will fill your hearts with hope, peace, joy, and love.

“A PSALM FOR ADVENT”

Knowing God

God’s Large Place

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God's Large Place

 

Good morning to you!

Have you ever awakened in the morning and instantly felt overwhelmed by the day?  I mean, have you been totally immobilized so that you’re unable to get out of bed?

We can be sure that it is Satan’s effort to get us off God’s plan and purpose for our lives.  Of course, our flesh also plays a part in this conspiracy.  It is in the morning that the battle for our mind and our spirit begins.

This is the time to connect with the Holy Spirit and the truth found in God’s Word.  This is the moment we can declare, “This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psa. 118:24).

This is the day…

Each day begins with our perception of what lies ahead for us.  Our calendar and day timer contains our commitments.  Our mental and physical state impacts how we receive each new day.  We are mentally challenged with fears, anxiety, depression, attention deficit, even our negative talk.  We may physically “not feel good”.  Seasonal ailments, chronic pain and disease make “jumping out of bed” a real chore.  Getting up in the morning is a complex endeavor.

Read, “Monday Morning Cup” , with Lisa Boone-Reddick

But mornings are simply “a period of time which occurs between sunrise and noon”.  The bigger issue is our ability to manage the stresses, complexities, and demands that arise during our days (and nights).  The challenge is knowing how to successfully navigate the realities of living during these tumultuous and demanding times.

What would happen if we changed our perception of how we operate each day?  How much better would our lives be if we acknowledged the real source of release and contentment?  King David gives us the answer in Psalm 118.

The view from the other side

Psalm 118 is an excellent source of encouragement when we are perplexed with the struggles we face in our lives.  King David probably penned this psalm after he had weathered the battles and challenges to gain full possession of the kingdom to which he had been anointed (1 Sam. 16:13).

In Psalm 118, David acknowledges the struggles but more importantly he witnesses to the presence and favor of God in the midst of those struggles.  David begins and ends this psalm (vv. 1, 29) with praise and recognition of how Israel had made it through its most challenging days.  David’s psalm was a call for all to remember God’s presence, God’s protection, and God’s provision.  It was a time to give thanks for God’s goodness and His mercy.

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,

for He is good, and

His mercy (lovingkindness) endures forever.

God granted David gracious favor in his distress.  Matthew Henry describes this favor as “vouchsafe”.

God heard his prayer (v. 5): “He answered me with enlargements; he did more for me than I was able to ask; he enlarged my heart in prayer and yet gave more largely than I desired.” He answered me, and set me in a large place, where I had room to bestir myself, room to enjoy myself, and room to thrive; and the large place was the more comfortable because he was brought to it out of distress (Ps. 4:1). [1]

Getting to God’s large place

David’s view “from the other side” (of his rise to power) was the result of his personal relationship and experience with God.  David remembered God’s faithfulness.  He trusted God (vv. 8-9).  This strengthened his belief that God would always be there (vv. 6-7; 17-18). David’s experience of God’s large place would prepare him for what lay ahead as he ruled the great nation of Israel.

We too can enter God’s large place through prayer and receiving His engrafted Word (James 1:21).  We are invited to be intentional in recognizing and accepting God’s providence in our lives.  Whether good or bad, morning or evening, God is always present to see us safely to the other side.  God’s large place can be a place of victory, growth, and freedom.  Let us declare, like David:  Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.

[1] Matthew Henry Commentary, Psalm 118.

Victorious Living

Return to Fellowship

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Return to Fellowship with God

We must draw near.

There are two (2) biblical truths that should motivate believers to live their lives “more fully and abundantly” (John 10:10).

The first truth is that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, presently lives within us.  Jesus promised this to those that “believeth on and in Him” (John 14:16-17).  The second is that we live continuously in the presence of God (Ps. 139:7).  There is never a time nor is there any circumstance in our life where we will find ourselves outside God’s love and purview.

Both truths are “spiritual blessings” gifted to us from our heavenly Father (Eph. 1:3).   But even with God’s commitment to be in and among us, we as believers have a responsibility to draw “near to God” (James 4:8) by entering into intentional fellowship with Him.  God will not force His presence upon us.  God is daily inviting us into the joy of fellowship.

What is Fellowship?

What does “fellowship with God” look like in the life of the believer?  Fellowship has been described as the sharing of experiences with likeminded people.  However, fellowship with God is much more, for “who has known the mind of God (Romans 11:34)?” Through Jesus Christ, believers are able to “know by experience” God’s heart and mind.  Such was the case with the Apostle John.  John and the disciples were uniquely privileged to witness, firsthand, the person and works of Christ.

    • “That which was heard” were truths that Christ declared concerning the kingdom of God and His offer of eternal life (Luke 4:43; 9:11).
    • “That which was seen” included the many miracles of Christ; miracles that would attest to the coming of the promised Messiah (Matt. 11:2-5).
    • “That which was looked upon and our hands handled” recounted the disciples’ examination of Christ’s glorified body after the resurrection (John 20:27).  All of the disciple’s senses were engaged as Christ manifested (revealed) Himself and the Father.  

Get up close and personal!

The disciple’s experience with Christ was not viewed from a distance but “up close and personal”.   Since Father and Son were one (John 17:11, 22), the disciples concurrently experienced fellowship with the Father (v. 3).  Fellowship is translated as “communion” and “participation in a common life.”

John’s personal witness was an invitation to the early church to participate through a common lifestyle that was centered on relationship—unending communion with God the Father and the Son.    Therein is the basis for John’s statement that their “joy may be full” (v.4).

Fellowship with God is a lifestyle.

Though John’s letter was written thousands of years ago, its message is still relevant for today.  Fellowship with God begins with a lifestyle that seeks to draw near with faith (Heb. 10:22) and learn of Him (Matt. 11:29).

It includes our living by “that which we have heard”—the truth found in God’s Word and the counsel of the Holy Spirit.  It involves our personal witness to “that which we’ve seen”—God’s unconditional love and salvation in exchange for our sin and brokenness (1 John 1:3-4).

Are we experiencing fellowship with God?   We must daily ask the Holy Spirit to show us those things that stand in the way of being in fellowship with God and how we can draw closer to Him.

Spiritual Discipline

Return to Joy

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Returning to joy

What is Joy?

Joy is defined as gladness of heart.  It is listed among the top five things[1] people desperately want in life yet “never seem to be able to get”.  Joy’s allusiveness, in many cases, is the result of our tendency to define joy as external to ourselves.  We believe it is a person, place, or thing.  Once we have “it”, we’ll have joy.  Wrong!

Joy under Attack

As we survey the world we live it, gladness of heart is under attack.  Our attempts to navigate 21st century living seem more daunting and challenging with each new day.  Financial worries served as a significant source of stress ranking higher than three other causes of concern: work, family responsibilities, and health concerns.

Work, family, and health concerns have exploded.  So how can we find joy?   The Apostle Paul shares the secret of not only how to find joy but also how to return to it in spite of the pressures we might face.

Source of Joy

In Philippians 4:4, Paul exhorts the Church at Philippi to holy joy and delight in God.

Delight yourselves in the Lord, yes, find your joy in him at all times.  (Phillips Translation)

God has furnished us with joy even in the worst of circumstances.  Nehemiah in the midst of hostility and threats, said that “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” (Neh. 8:10).

David acknowledged that “in God’s presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11).  Jesus instructed His Disciples “to live in The Vine”—in Jesus’ holy presence (John 15:5-11).  By living in the Vine, Jesus’ joy would remain “in them and be full.”  These same offers of joy are extended to you and I who live in the 21st century.    Jesus is the source of our joy.

Returning to Joy

It is God’s desire that we return to joy regardless of life’s circumstances or difficulties.  Jesus describes these as “tribulations” (John 16:33).  Tribulations and trials are “natural outcomes” we suffer as a result of living in a fallen world.

We experience the effects of fallenness every day.  They include death, disease, and difficulties.  However, in Christ and as God’s children, we have been provided with God’s Presence (The Holy Spirit), God’s blessings (Eph. 1:3-17), and God’s inexhaustible grace to sustain us (Phil. 1:6).

Strengthen our Joy

Returning to joy strengthens our resolve and helps us to continue the purpose God has set before us. Such strength can only come from Eternal God Who helps us through the worst of circumstances.   When we come into the presence of the Lord, we connect with His great and eternal power.  God’s power exceeds anything we can do in our own strength (Phil.  4:13).

We are invited to return to the joy that comes from serving God who is sovereign and who has overcome the world (Ps. 119:89-91).

[1]  Top 5 include:   Happiness, Money, Freedom, Peace, Joy

Spiritual Discipline

Return to Faithfulness

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The basics of backsliding.

As a child, I remember our worship services especially the ones with sermons that warned our congregation of the dangers of “backsliding”.  After the minister’s fiery discourse, a few members would approach the “welcoming” altar, many times weeping and repentant.

The word backslide, in a Christian context, implies movement away from Christ rather than toward Him. A backslider is someone who is going the wrong way, spiritually. He is regressing rather than progressing. The backslider had at one time demonstrated a commitment to Christ or maintained a certain standard of behavior, but he has since reverted to old ways.   Backsliding in Hebrew mean “turning away, turning back, or apostasy”.  It infers “defection”—turning away for the wisdom of God (Prov. 1:32) and away from Jehovah—the Covenant Keeping God (Jer. 3:6, 8, 11, 12).

Return to the wisdom of God.

We don’t hear much about backsliding these days.  Perhaps our focus has shifted to the “lost” versus those who “appear to be” in the ark of safety.  But backsliders are as important to God as the unsaved in that backsliding is an indication of the lack of one’s faithfulness to Him.  Faithfulness to God was an important part of the prophets’ proclamations and is central in appreciating Hosea 11.

The Old Testament prophet’s function was to not only herald the warnings of God but to also remind God’s people, Israel, to remain faithful to Him.  Through the prophets, God announced His intentions to enforce the covenant which was always in accordance with categories of blessings and curses already contained in the Law.  Even today, we need to take heed to the prophetic Word of God.  We must remain faithful to Him and if we have “backslidden”, repent, and return to faithfully follow God.

A Prophet’s view of backsliding

In Hosea 11, God speaks to the prophet as one would speak to a close friend and confidant.  God shares with Hosea His history of unbridled favor and goodness to Israel.  The opening verses (vv. 1-3) read like a doting parent, who has poured all their affection and attention upon their child only to receive, in return, opposition and defiance.  God’s “gentle cords and bands of love” (v. 3) only resulted in Israel’s ingratitude and unfaithfulness.

For Israel’s immorality and worship of idols, God’s punishment of Israel would be swift and severe.  Israel’s unfaithfulness would earn God’s judgment and doom.  God’s compassion toward Israel would be the only reason God’s mercy and grace would be extended (Hosea 12:6).  It would, however, call for their faithfulness to God.  

Why do we backslide?

God attributes Israel’s behavior to its “bentness to backsliding.”  This “bentness” is like Paul’s description of “the flesh”—that unredeemed part of man that still exists within believers (Rom. 7: 17-19).  Israel was deaf and disobedient to God’s voice, spoken by Moses and His other prophets. They rebelled and became more resolute in their disobedience; adding to Israel’s injurious behavior, was their failure to exalt God (Hos. 11:7).

The positive ending to what began as a tragic narrative is that despite Israel’s faithlessness, God was faithful. God honored His covenant and extended mercy to Israel with the promise to ultimately restore His covenant people to Himself (vv. 10-11).

Are we guilty of 21st century backsliding?

How similar is Israel’s behavior to that which we find in our nation, in our homes, and in our individual faith walk.  That same “bentness to sin” that tempted Israel still tempts us today to unfaithful behavior. Though delivered from the bondage of sin, we may find ourselves still pursuing those things that feed our fleshly desires and wants (1 John 2:15-17).  Backsliding may manifest itself in several ways, e.g., dropping out of church, losing fervor for the Lord, walking away from a ministry or a family, or falling back into old habits.

It is a great encouragement to our hope in God’s mercies to remember that “God is God”, and not man.  He is the Holy One.  He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and receives us even when we are guilty of backsliding.  God is faithful to His covenant people.  Even in our faithlessness, God remains faithful to us (2 Tim. 2:13).

Spiritual Discipline

Return to Our First Love

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Return to Our First Love

Do you remember?

Who can forget their first love?  The excitement we felt when that special person entered the room.  The anticipation of seeing them and the connection that was made as eyes met.  The experience of first love, with all its innocence and purity, was never to be repeated—for that is the way of “first things”.

Remember the first time you professed your love for Jesus Christ?  With that experience came the same excitement and anticipation as our first earthly love.  Unlike most first things that eventually lose their luster, it is important for us to make every effort to nurture and cultivate our personal relationship with our First Love, Jesus Christ.

How’s love today?

Are we feeling distant and estranged from God?  Do our prayers appear routine and repetitive?  Is our praise predictable and puny?  If we answered yes to any of these questions, then it’s time for us to examine ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5) and see what is hindering our personal relationship with the Lord.  God never changes (Malachi 3:6) nor has God moved.  Maybe it’s time to return to our first love for Jesus.

The church at Ephesus had persevered and endured hardship for the Lord.  This was a critical part of the early church’s responsibility to insure a clear and true presentation of the gospel (Eph. 4:1-2).  In general, this church had continued in its faithful service to God for more than 40 years.   While all these “efforts” were important in the development of the early church (as it is now), there was something noticeably absent.  They had left their first love for Jesus.

Time to return.

Jesus lays a charge of carelessness in Ephesus’ relationship with Him in Revelations 2:4:  ” Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

In the literal translation of today’s text, the order of the words in Greek emphatically denote the strong rebuke directed to the church. “Your first love you have left!”  This second-generation of believers, had retained purity of doctrine but were lacking in deep devotion to Christ.

As believers, we must ask ourselves if we too are careless in cultivating our relationship with the Lord.     Remember the first time we professed our love for Jesus Christ?  With that experience came excitement and anticipation.  Are we now guilty of taking our eyes off the Lord?  Are we more concerned with our personal agendas than practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit?  Have we left our first love?

And what can we say about the Church, Christ’s bride (Rev. 19:7-9)?  The Church needs to heed the same warning given to the Ephesians.  Orthodoxy and service is not enough.  Christ wants hearts as well as our hands and heads (Matt. 22:37).

How can I return?

Last week, we agreed that repentance is the starting point to return to God.  Once this has taken place, we might consider the following strategies to return to His side (1 John 1:3).

Recommit ourselves to Him.   Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Rom.  6:16) Recommitment involves renewing your loyalty to Christ and His lordship over your life.  This includes directing your time, talents, and treasures to the service of the Lord.  We are so grateful that there is nothing that can ever separate us from God’s love (Rom. 8:39).

Renew our love for Him.  I will love You, O LORD, my strength (Ps. 18:1).  Tell the Lord how much you love Him.  Although He is all-knowing, He still wants to hear us tell Him how much we adore Him.    We must let Him know that we desire Him with all our heart and soul (Ps. 42:1-2).  Let us show our love for Him through our praise and worship.  We are never closer to Him than when we “love on Him” (Ps. 22:3).

Reprioritize our life around Him.   Christ set the standard for priority when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt.  6: 33).  However, to make God the center of our life is counterculture.  When we place Christ first in our life, we are assured that we have chosen the “Good Part” (Luke 10:42).

It’s time to return to our first love!  He is waiting for us (Isa. 30:15, 18).

Spiritual Discipline

Return to Repentance

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The truth sometimes hurts.

As part of my devotions today, I read Isaiah 59.  Although I have read individual verses from this chapter before, today’s full reading of this chapter struck a “spiritual nerve”.   Isaiah 59:2,  in particular, caught my attention.

Your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.  (NRS)

It’s all about us!

Isaiah 59 was not written for people who had no knowledge of God; people we refer to as  “the unsaved”, but it was penned for those whom God had entered into a special covenant relationship with.

Israel had been hand-chosen by God from all the nations in the world (Deut. 7:7-9) to carry out His purpose and plan of salvation.  They were to be a “holy nation, a peculiar people that would show forth His praises” (1 Pet. 2:9).

Unfortunately, instead of heralding God’s praises, Israel went a “whoring” after other gods (Jer. 3:2; Ezek. 43:7), relying on itself and other nations.  The result was punishment—70 years captivity in Assyria and Babylon—away from the land God had promised and given to them.

How do we measure up as a nation?

In reading Isaiah 59, I see an unsettling similarity between the events leading up to Israel’s exile and where we find ourselves today as a nation and yes, as the Church.

As a nation, we have walked away from the spiritual guidance and direction of God.  If you survey our social institutions and political systems, you will see remnants of what we once knew as “one nation under God”.  We have exchanged our “moral compass” for “individual rights”.

The lines of “right and wrong” are no longer determined by God’s holy standards but have been replaced by political affiliations and social relationships.   Man has placed himself on the throne of his heart—doing “what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).  Servility and kindness, community and brotherly love have all been sacrificed on the altar of man’s selfishness.

How about the Church?

As the Church, we have retreated into the safety of our church walls.  Internally focused, we are more concerned with our personal needs and how we can achieve “our purpose to be all we can be”.

We have forgotten about the helpless, the homeless, and the hungry.  Jesus went outside the walls to serve mankind versus being served (Matt. 20:28).  Jesus came “to preach, to bind, to proclaim, and to open” (Is. 61.1).  Can we as the Church do any less?

There is hope!

Hopefully, one of the key outcomes from reading Isaiah 59 is that we will begin to recognize and repent from those “iniquities that have separated us from God” (verse 2).

God wants to be reunited with this nation and His Church.  That’s why Jesus Christ came that our sins—personally and corporately, might be forgiven AND our relationship with the Father restored (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

The Redeemer (Jesus Christ) “did come to Zion” (verse 20) and to the rest of the world—that we might turn from our transgressions.  Let us pray continuously that we as a nation and the Church will repent of those behaviors and attitudes that cause us to transgress against God.