6 March 2011
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Isaiah 30:15-22
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
-- I know it’s a little odd to have church in a doggie daycare, but there are advantages -- we’re not having to pay to rent a facility -- we have a nice open space to worship in -- and we are joined in our worship by our furry and fuzzy friends
-- one of the things I have enjoyed since we have been worshiping together in here is the way the animals join in our worship of God -- you’ve probably all noticed how the birds, especially the parakeets, just join in when we’re singing praise songs in our worship services
-- I’ve been up here a lot of times before and there’s music playing and the television is on and the birds aren’t singing like that -- but when we join together and start praising God, they just seem to join in
-- I’m constantly reminded of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees on Palm Sunday -- when they complained to Him about the people shouting “Hosanna” as He rode into Jerusalem on that Sunday, He said that if the people were quiet, the rocks and the trees would cry out -- the message that Jesus was telling us is that all creation joins us in our worship of God, although we may not always hear it
-- I was thinking of that as I started working on this sermon and it reminded me of the story of a parakeet named Chippie that Max Lucado talked about in one of his books -- Lucado said that Chippie’s owner loved him very much because he was such a happy little bird -- he would sit at the window and watch the other birds outside and as the sun came up, he would just sing and sing and sing
-- but then Chippie had a bad day -- his owner was cleaning the bottom of the Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner when the telephone rang -- she reached for the telephone without removing the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner from the cage, which was a mistake -- as she reached for the phone, the nozzle came up off the bottom of the cage and pointed right at Chippie and sucked him into the vacuum cleaner
-- when she heard the noise, she looked in the cage and saw Chippie was missing and immediately, she dropped the phone and turned off the vacuum cleaner and ripped open the dust bag to rescue her bird -- Chippie was a real mess, but he was alive -- she ran to the kitchen sink and turned the water on full force on the bird -- almost drowning him in the process
-- then, she ran to the bathroom and started trying to dry Chippie with her hair dryer -- wide open and on high heat -- almost cooking him in the process
-- finally, she got the bird dry and put him back in his cage and closed the door
-- several days later, a friend called and asked how Chippie was doing -- “He’s alive,” she said, “but he just sits in his cage and stares out into space -- and,” she added thoughtfully, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore”
-- how many of you can relate to what happened to Chippie? -- you’re just going through life, minding your own business, singing your song -- and then all of a sudden -- without warning -- life starts to suck and you get hit with a bad day
-- sometimes it’s not big things -- sometimes it’s just minor issues -- the stuff of life -- losing your keys -- losing your phone -- just minor irritations
-- but, sometimes, it is the big things -- a few weeks ago, we looked at the introduction to the Book of Job when we were talking about hearing God through our circumstances -- Job got hit with a lot of bad things all at once -- and sometimes that happens to us, as well
-- bad things -- really bad things -- come our way -- trials and tribulations -- afflictions and adversities -- things like sickness or death -- crime or violence -- wayward children -- cars break down -- our finances tank -- everything we touch -- everything we do -- just goes wrong
-- and we don’t know why -- what do you do when bad things happen? -- how do you respond?
II. Scripture Lesson -- Isaiah 30:15-22
-- well, that’s the question that the Israelites were facing in this passage from Isaiah -- just to give you the background -- at this time, the nation of Israel had split up and divided into two kingdoms -- Israel and Judah
-- Israel was the kingdom in the north of the Promised Land -- it had just been attacked by the Assyrians and all of the people were carried off into exile -- the northern kingdom had been destroyed
-- Isaiah lived in the south -- in Judah -- the kingdom where Jerusalem and the Temple of God was located -- the people of Judah had stayed out of the fight while the northern kingdom was being attacked by the Assyrians -- they thought if they minded their own business, Assyria would leave them alone and trouble would pass them by and they could just go on enjoying their life
-- but, now, as the Book of Isaiah tells us, the Assyrians have turned on them -- and are attacking towns and villages throughout Judah -- one moment, life is going on just like normal -- and, in the next, bad things are happening
-- the people don’t know why this is happening -- they don’t understand why they are being attacked -- why they are suffering the way they are -- so God speaks to them here through the prophet Isaiah -- let’s see what we can learn about how to respond to life when bad things happen through what God tells Isaiah here
-- look back with me at verse 15 again
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
-- when the Assyrians started threatening the people of Judah, the leaders of the Jewish people tried to make a deal with Egypt to come to their rescue and to fight on their behalf -- even though they were the people of God, when trouble came their way, they looked to Egypt for strength and salvation
-- so, God rebukes here for what they have done -- He reminds them that salvation and strength come from Him and not from man -- He tells them that if they had repented for their sins, He would have given them rest -- If they had come to Him with humble and trusting hearts, they would know the peace and quiet of His strength
-- He would have fought the battle for them, but they would have none of it -- instead, they went to Egypt -- and when that didn’t work their plan was to run and leave their troubles behind
-- so, what do you do when bad things happen? -- where do you go for salvation and strength?
-- in order to really answer that question, we first have to know why the bad things are happening -- the Bible teaches that the things that we call “bad,” -- trials and tribulations and troubles in our lives -- come to us for a couple of different reasons
-- first, as we see here in this passage, God will allow trouble to come into our midst as a consequence of our sins -- as a means to correct us and to bring us home when we have strayed from His path
-- the Israelites had quit trusting in God with all their hearts and souls and mind and strength -- instead, they were just going through the motions of religion and were trusting more in the strength of man and in their idols for their salvation
-- instead of asking God to help when bad things happened, they asked Egypt -- instead of turning to God, they prayed to their idols
-- so, God allowed this calamity to come into their lives to get their attention and to lead them back to Him
-- the other night I came up here with Kim for the graduation of her dog obedience class and she had me work with our schnauzer, Cookie, along with the class -- I rarely walk Cookie on leash or do obedience with her, and I realized that night just how strong-willed that little dog was -- she did some things good -- but, on other things, she just dug her heels in and refused to do what I told her to do -- and so I had to force her to obey
-- you see, I knew what she needed to do -- I knew that if she obeyed and did what I said, she would get a treat -- but she had other ideas -- so when I told her to go down, and she didn’t, I pulled her down with the leash -- the opposite direction from where she thought she wanted to be -- and she fought against me, but eventually gave in and got the treat
-- that’s one way God uses adversity in our lives -- that’s what we see here in this passage --when we run away from God and go in a direction He doesn’t want us to go, He will allow adversity and affliction into our lives to force us to come back the right way
-- the Israelites had turned away from God in their faith and in their trust, so God used the Assyrians to lead them to repentance and true salvation
-- the second way God uses affliction and adversity in our life is to mold our character -- Hezekiah, the King of Judah, was a Godly man -- he was opposed to turning to Egypt for help, but he allowed himself to be swayed by the arguments of his advisors -- he gave in to peer pressure
-- so, God used the Assyrian attack to help Hezekiah grow in his faith -- to help him become more mature so that he would stick to the right path and not give in when others tried to tell him otherwise
-- In James 1:1-3, we read that God allows trials and tribulations to come our way to help us develop character and to allow us to become mature in our faith
-- it’s kind of like the refining of silver -- in order to refine silver, the silversmith has to put the silver in the hottest part of the fire in order to burn away the impurities -- as the silver is subjected to heat, the impurities come off and the silver is made more and more pure until it is fully refined -- that is the way God uses adversity and affliction in the life of a believer -- not to punish us or discipline us for disobedience -- but to burn off any impurities in our life and to make us holy and mature in His eyes
-- so, when bad things start to happen, the first thing we should do is to find out why bad things are happening -- we need to examine ourselves and to ask God if we are sinning against Him -- if we are in disobedience to His will and if He is trying to get us to repent -- or if this trial and affliction we are going through is just part of God’s refining process to mold us into the people He has called us to be
-- if He shows you that you are in sin -- that you are living in disobedience to His will -- then you must repent of your sins -- this means more than just asking forgiveness -- this means more than just confessing your sins -- it means that you actually turn away from whatever it is you are doing -- you stop what you’re doing and you turn 180 degrees and you start following God instead
-- and then you ask God to give you the strength to walk with Him rather than in the path you have been walking
-- one important thing to see here is that God tells the Israelites that He is on their side -- He doesn’t want them to suffer -- in verse 18 He says that He longs to be gracious to them -- He rises to show them compassion -- He wants the best for their life -- but they have to choose it -- they have to choose to turn away from what they have been doing -- they have to repent and accept what He has for them instead
-- just like my dog Cookie had to turn away from fighting me about going down so that she could receive the treat I had for her
-- and, what happens when we repent? -- verse 19
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
-- as soon as God hears us call for forgiveness -- as soon as He sees us repent -- God moves -- He springs into action and takes away all our tears-- He allowed adversity and affliction into our lives -- not because He was trying to harm us -- but because He was trying to teach us--either to show us the error of our ways or to refine us as silver so we would be holy as He is holy
-- God says here that when we are walking with Him, He walks with us -- He shows us the path we should follow-- and He speaks in our ears and in our minds and tells us, “This is the way -- walk in it rather than the path you want to follow”
-- in verse 22 we see the picture of a people who are finally getting it -- who understand why bad things have happened to them -- who recognize and confess their sin and turn completely away from it by getting rid of everything in their lives that had defiled them -- everything that had kept them from following God and turning to Him in the first place -- so that God would rescue them and show them His salvation and empower them through His strength
III. Closing
-- in 1929, Georgia Tech was playing the University of California in the Rose Bowl -- they were losing the game and were making a final drive to the goal for the winning touchdown when Roy Riegels, a California defender, recovered a Georgia Tech fumble, then turned and ran sixty-five yards in the wrong direction -- one of Riegels’ own teammates had to tackle to stop him from crossing the wrong goal line -- on the next play, Georgia Tech scored and went on to win
-- from then on, Riegels was known throughout the country as “Wrong Way Riegels” and endured a lifetime of ridicule
-- sometimes, we are also “wrong way people” -- sometimes bad things happen to us because we are going the wrong way in our life and God wants to stop us before we cross the wrong goal line
-- so, He allows bad things to come into our life -- not because He hates us -- not because He wants to do us harm --but because He loves us and wants the best for our lives
-- God uses these bad things to lead us back to Him when we are in sin and disobedience -- and He uses them to refine us and to make us holy as He is holy
-- bad things happen -- but our response should always be to look to God in the midst of the storm -- knowing that His sunshine is on the other side of the clouds and that He wants to bring us out of the darkness of trouble and into the light of His love better than we were to start with
-- I don’t know what trials you may be suffering through right now -- I don’t know what afflictions or adversities you may be experiencing or why -- but if you need prayer, I would be happy to pray with you and to help carry your burden to Christ
-- as we close, I want to invite you to lift up your needs to God -- and if you want me to pray with you, either come up here as the last song is playing or let me know after the service, and I will pray with you
-- Let us pray
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