“Afflictions are in the hands of the Holy Spirit to effect the softening of the heart in order to receive heavenly impression. Job said, ‘God maketh my heart soft’ (Job 23:16). … This is how the previous posted meditation ended. The point being made was, “As the wax in its natural hard state cannot take the impress of the signet, and needs to be melted to render it susceptible, so the believer is by trials prepared to receive, and made to bear, the divine likeness.”
HAVE you ever noticed the necessity of heat? Cleaning a dirty plate in cold water is more effective when the handle is turned to hot. Temperature works marvelous things whether in molding steel or healing a body from the intrusion of a virus. Such illustrations are innumerable. In lessons from the garden my valued backyard fruit trees are quite asleep at the moment in the winter coolness. But it won’t be long when the lengthening of days and warming spring and summer air will awaken branches and cause the green buds to show, and once again I’ll enjoy the trees inviting shade and tasty fruit (Prov. 27:18a). Conversely, wherever the Sun only shines, a desert grows – so the rains are also needed – another metaphor for the necessity of trials for the cycles of growth and maturity.
SO whether it is heat to soften the heart, or storms to test and try the spirit, such changes and challenges are necessary to effect change and continuing growth. A path without hardships should cause us to wonder if we really belong to God, (Edward T. Welch, Matter of the Heart, Feb. 28). Which brings me to today’s consideration referencing Isaiah 6.
AGAIN, going back and revisiting these devotional thoughts that I enjoyed so many years ago, they bring back many thoughts pointing to realities learned along the path of life’s experiences. I remember a day as a younger man interrupting my beloved stepfather in his study during his quiet time, finding him quite distraught as he gazed into his open Bible. Sensing my presence and looking up from his meditation he said in humble tones, “I’m such a sinner.” I thought to myself, if he -being such a godly man as he was- is so undone by his sense of unworthiness, what hope is there for me? Now these many years as I grow nearer to the end of my sojourn, and hopefully further down the road in my Christian walk and maturity, the impressions and reality of that day have taken a deeper set in my understanding and appreciation. Each time Isaiah 6 is read and expounded as it is below, I seem to pause a little longer and ponder a little deeper it true significance and meaning as time and days wane by toward the inevitable horizon, wondering if I will hear the resonant words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord”.
WITH that, here’s another offering from Miles Stanford, None But the Hungry Heart.
In the wondrous blessings of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15 & Job 2:10
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1-8. UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!
“Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6.5).
Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This includes giving thanks for the disclosure of self! At first, we seek to hide our sinfulness and to save our life. Later, by His grace, we yearn to be freed from self, regardless of the cost. And the price is the Cross.
“Many a young Christian, who has not been forewarned of this necessary voyage of discovery upon which the Holy Spirit will certainly embark him (Romans Seven), has been plunged into almost incurable despair at the sight of the sinfulness which is his by nature. He has in the first place rejoiced greatly in the forgiveness of his sins, and his acceptance by God; but sooner or later he begins to realize that all is not well, and that he has failed and fallen from the high standard which he set himself to reach in the first flush of his conversion.
“Little does he know how healthy his condition is, and that this shattering discovery is but the prelude to a magnificent series of further discoveries of things which God has expressly designed for his eternal enrichment. All through life God has to show us our own utter sinfulness and need, in order to more fully lead us on into realms of grace.” -J.C.M.
“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil” (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
