Year 5, Day 365: Isaiah 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

There is a really neat dimension at work here in the text.  Of course Isaiah is obeying his calling from God.  God has called him to be a prophet and to make declarations against the nations.  He is absolutely fulfilling this calling from God.

Yet, when we hear the words of God through Isaiah we see something more than just a fulfillment for a calling.  We hear words of compassion and mourning.  We hear words that sound as though the judgment is righteous but also unfortunate.  There is sorrow that Moab is judged.

This is a really neat thought.  We are all called to do things.  We can do them bitterly (like Jonah called to Ninevah).  We can do them well and as called (like Noah and the Ark).  Or we can do them well and with sorrow when others are condemned (like Moses in the desert or like Isaiah here).  We always need to obey.  But we need not always enjoy the condemnation and judgment that other people receive.

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Year 5, Day 364: Isaiah 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

I have always found the relationship between Babylon, Assyria, and God’s people fascinating.  I find it fascinating because Assyria and Babylon are called by God to bring judgment upon the Hebrew people.  I find it fascinating that they are the instrument of God’s wrath yet they are themselves judged.  The prophets make it clear why this is happening all throughout scripture.  But it is still fun to study.

If we look at Babylon – which is the nation that this chapter deals with first – we can see why God is upset with them.  God isn’t upset because they came against His people.  God is upset with them because they thought that they were so great that they could even become gods.  They were proud.  They didn’t give glory to God for giving them the ability to be successful.  God judges them because they chose ambition of humbleness.

It we turn to Assyria, we find a very similar issue.  Assyria came into the land and dominated it.  But they were cruel.  They over-reached what God had called them to do.  They went about it in their own way rather than doing it as God would have them do.  In other words, they also put themselves ahead of God.  Their ambition keeps them from being able to be humble before the Lord.

The end result of all of this is that they find themselves being judged by God as well.  Our ambition often causes us to transition from God’s pleasure to His wrath.  Our ambition often takes us out from humbleness under God to doing things our own way.  That is a danger we should learn to avoid.

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Year 5, Day 363: Isaiah 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11.  The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

There is a really neat theological understanding that I speak about in my post from three years ago and I continue on into today.  It is an understanding of the word “oracle.”  The word oracle is a word that comes from an agricultural context.  It is a word that is derived from the word that describes the burden placed upon an ox.

So often we like to think about oracles from God in happy contexts.  We like to think that if God would just come and speak to us personally we would have a better life.  We like to think that if we could just see God face to face that our life would be holier.

But I really have to question this line of thinking.  Are we really ready to experience the true presence of God?  How does God feel about humanity?  How does God feel about the way that we treat His creation?  How does God feel about our choices and the way that we experience community?

If we were truly in the presence of God, wouldn’t we get to know Him and His position better?  The closer we are to God, doesn’t it make sense to think that we would know both His joy and His misery?

Don’t get me wrong.  It would be neat for us to hear more personally from God.  But it is a mixed bag.  The closer we are to God, the more we’ll understand His ways.  The more we understand His ways, the less we’ll understand the world around us.  The less we understand the world around us the more we’ll have a burden upon our chest to do something about it.  This is what the oracle of God brings quite often.  This is what being a prophet is often all about.

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Year 5, Day 362: Isaiah 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The opening stanza of this very short chapter is a profound statement upon the forgiveness of God.  “For though you were angry with me, you turned your anger away that you might comfort me.”  It isn’t just that God forgives, which He graciously does.  He forgives because He desires to comfort us.  God would rather spend His time with us comforting us and transforming us than spend His time burning against us in wrath.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t give us wrath.  It doesn’t mean that God can’t stay mad at us.  But if we are repentant of our sins, God can absolutely forgive us.  He desires it, even.

It is remarkable that God desires to comfort us.  Human nature wants justice.  We want people to get what they deserve.  We want people to meet up with the consequences of their actions.  But not God.  God would prefer repentance so that He can let His anger go.  God desires to let His anger go because He would prefer to be a God of comfort.  That’s remarkable indeed.

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Year 5, Day 361: Isaiah 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Isaiah 11 is a chapter of deliverance.  Isaiah tells the people that the day will come when Assyria will trouble them no more.  There will be a day when the Hebrew people have a highway to let them out of Assyria and enabled them to return to their homeland.  We know that this actually did happen – although not within Isaiah’s lifetime.  Babylon conquers Assyria as well as Judah.  Then the Persians conquer Babylon and decree that the Hebrew people may return to their homeland and re-establish their national identity in God.  The point of this chapter is that God will protect them long enough for that remnant to return.

In fact, this chapter is specific about how that will come about.  God will lift up shoots from the stump of Jesse.  In other words, leaders will come from the lineage of David and lead His people home.  We know that this happened from a historical perspective.  Zerubabbel is the grandson of Jehoiachin, who we know to be of the line of David.  He is the first to lead people out of captivity and back into the Promised Land.

Of course, this chapter is true on a spiritual level as well.  We know that this passage likewise points us to Christ.  He is the ultimate shoot from the stump of Jesse.  He leads us away from the captivity of sinfulness and into a spiritual Promised Land.  And God is willing to keep us and protect in that process as well.  God is willing to protect us from the natural consequences of our own actions and allow us to know His grace and peace in eternal life.

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Year 5, Day 360: Isaiah 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency, Obedience

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.
• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

When we look at Isaiah 10, we see that it is largely a chapter of warning and judgment.  I’m going to focus on the middle third of this chapter today.  But in order to do that, I need to talk about some history.  After King David, the kingdom of Israel split into two nations: Israel (north) and Judah (south).  Both kingdoms gradually slid into disobedience, but Israel did the slide far more quickly than Judah.  As such, God lifted up the nation of Assyria to come and bring judgment upon the nation of Israel.

When we look at this from an angle of competency, the nation of Assyria was certainly competent enough to conquer the nations around it.  It was competent enough to be quite victorious on the battlefield.  It wasn’t long before Assyria had subdued the land around it and it was the leading power in the land.

However, when we look at both obedience and competency we see where Assyria failed.  That’s where most of the scripture for today comes into play.  God tells Isaiah that the king of Assyria took the power that God gave to him.  But the king of Assyria gave no credit to God.  The king of Assyria did not recognize where the power came from.  He thought the power was all his own.  He was competent enough to go out and conquer, but he was not competent enough to be obedient.  He was not obedient enough to be humble before God.  He was not competent enough to reflect the glory and honor upon God where it deserved to be placed.

Most of us are competent.  God gives all of us the ability to do something well.  But are we competent enough to obey God?  When we do obey Him, are we competent enough to give Him the glory and honor?

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Year 5, Day 359: Isaiah 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

It is comforting to have a familiar passage like Isaiah 9 before us on such a memorable day as today.  The people who dwell in great darkness have seen a great light.  For unto us a child is born.  The government shall be upon His shoulder.  Counselor.  Wonderful.  Everlasting.  Prince of Peace.  He will sit upon the throne of David.  These are all descriptions of authority and the characteristics that good authority brings.

If we look at the opening section of Isaiah 9 we do really get a sense of the authority that is given to Christ.  He is the Messiah.  He is the one to rule.  He is the one God sent to us so that in the midst of this world of sin we might know what it is like to dwell with God. 

He has the authority in this life to take what the world gives to us and to turn it into something else.

However, we must also look at the rest of the chapter.  Yes, God’s Messiah is the Prince of Peace and a Wonderful Counselor.  But that is the perspective of those who listen to Christ and follow God’s Word.  If we find ourselves disobeying God and contrary to His holy will, we will find ourselves in judgment.  God has shown time and time again that those people who ignore the warning that He sends will be cast into bondage as they get the consequences of the choices that they make.  If we do not turn to Him and ignore him instead, we will get what we deserve.

That is the dichotomy of Law and Gospel.  The authority of the Gospel is that He loves us and desires to forgive us.  He is the wonderful counselor who is the Prince of Peace.  But we don’t have to accept Him.  We can choose to turn our backs on Him.  We can go our own way and violate His ways.  Then we will feel the authority of the Law as we face our consequences.

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Year 5, Day 358: Isaiah 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Isaiah contains three directives, each to a different group.  The first directive is a warning to Israel – the northern kingdom.  Israel has placed all of its faith in the strength of the nations around it.  When Assyria comes for them, the treaties and alliances into which they have placed their trust will fail.  They will be unable to save themselves.  They will be washed away under the mighty river that represents the power of Assyria.  Their identity was rooted in their own alliances and military power and they will pay the price for that choice.

The second directive is to the nation of Judah.  Most of them have likewise abandoned God as the source of their identity.  They are up to their necks in disobedience, but they are not completely lost.  Some remain who are in God.  Therefore, God will not abandon them.  While most of the nation has fallen away from God, because there is a remnant who still get their identity from God He will save them in the end.

However, I find the most important directive to be the last one.  This is a personal directive for Isaiah.  God reminds him to stay one of the loyal ones.  God tells Isaiah specifically to keep his identity in God and not the other things of the world.  God reminds Isaiah to not fear what the other people fear.  God reminds Isaiah that the only place where faith can reside confidently is in Him.

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Year 5, Day 357: Isaiah 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.

Isaiah 7 gives us an interesting perspective through which we can view the concept of information.  I didn’t used to like Isaiah 7.  It has always felt overused and abused to me.  After all, we always read this passage at Christmas – but only at Christmas.  I always felt on some level that modern Christians were not getting the fullness of scripture in pushing this passage into the niche into which it goes.

Then I went to seminary.  I learned deeply about the history of God’s people and the especially the kingdom period.  I remember being taught about this passage of scripture specifically by a teacher who shared my views.  You can read my theological commentary from three years ago if you want to hear about the true depth within this passage.  But what I found was a new level to this passage of God’s Word that wasn’t present in my life before that professor.  (Thanks, Dr. Brooks Schramm!)

What I learned about this passage is that these verses gave King Ahaz information.  The persecution Ahaz was facing from the nearby kings would end in a three year time period.  God had not forgotten about His people.  Furthermore, God told Ahaz through Isaiah that in only a short period of time that many of his opponents would fall instead of his own kingdom!  That’s the history of the passage that we never hear about because we as Christians instead focus on the application of this passage only to Christ – which I’ll readily admit is a very good truth as well.

However, when we go into the history of the passage we can also see how Ahaz makes a mistake.  Ahaz gets the information but doesn’t believe.  He doubts.  He doesn’t assimilate it and live out in faith as a follower of God.  He doubts instead.  Because he doubts, God tells him that Egypt and Assyria will be constant thorns against him.  Historically speaking, they were! 

When we look into the historical context of this passage we get an opportunity to see how God blesses us with information all the time.  We can take that information and apply it to our life and draw closer to God and imitate Him.  Or we can doubt His promise and not trust His Word.  When we do that, we invite disaster into our life as we see happen with Ahaz and the curse that is brought down upon him in this passage.

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Year 5, Day 356: Isaiah 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

I am pretty sure that the Isaiah 6 chapter is one of my favorite books of the whole Old Testament.  I have always loved this chapter.  After all, who wouldn’t think it cool to be in the presence of God?  Who wouldn’t think it cool to see God face to face?  Who wouldn’t think it cool to see God take a coal from His altar and cleanse us?  Who wouldn’t want to be in Isaiah’s shoes right here?

Then I read the commentary that I wrote 3 years ago.  I was reminded of a better reason to love this chapter.  In this chapter we are reminded of what it really looks like to come into the presence of God.  Look at what happens.  The seraphim are so humble that they cover their eyes and don’t think to gaze upon God.  Isaiah himself realizes how ill-prepared he is to be in the presence of God and expects to die right there until the Lord cleanses Him.  What we see in this chapter is how creation should interact with the Creation King.  What we see is humbleness.  We see people who know their place.  We see people who submit to God and allow Him to be the center of attention.

We also see the King give a command to Isaiah.  The King wants Isaiah to go forth with a two-fold message.  The first half of the message is that there will be judgment.  God is going to come forth and take His people into captivity because of their sins and their transgression against Him.  But the second half of the message is just as important.  A remnant will remain.  There will be people who remain who will carry on the message and live faithfully.  God does not leave us alone and helpless.  We may have to walk through some dark times, but we need not think we are alone in doing it.  The King loves us.

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Year 5, Day 355: Isaiah 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

Isaiah 5 is a very interesting passage.  In this passage we get a clear discussion of God’s loves.  As God prepared to bring His love to the world through His chosen people, He set a plan in motion.  In the analogy, He chose a piece of land that was capable.  He built a wall around it.  He set up a tower to watch over it all.  He planted good seed.  He gave it every provision for success that He could possibly give.

In spite of God’s love and preparation, the land only gave wild grapes.  The land only gave small and unproductive fruit.  The land didn’t produce what it had been expected to produce.  It underperformed.  It was a disappointment.  It did not rise to God’s challenge of becoming all that it could become.

This is a great passage to consider challenge.  How often does God prepare life for us?  Yet how do we spent our life?  Are we developing people around us?  Are we engaging them with grace, love, and mercy as a reflection of what God does for us?  Or are we taking all of God’s blessings and keeping them for ourselves and thinking of our own desires?

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Year 5, Day 354: Isaiah 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

• Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  We do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

Isaiah 4 is largely about grace.  After judgment, the time will come when God lives among His people.  The time will come when the sinfulness of humanity is washed through us and out of us.  The time will come when the Lord will guide us personally.  What a glorious day that will be.

It is easy to be sad as we pine for that existence.  I’ll confess, I do pine for that existence.  It is difficult to see sinfulness impacting the world around me and feel so helpless to do something about it.  But in truth, while I confess that I pine for that time I also confess that I’ve gotten it wrong.  Jesus didn’t come so that we could have hope that we will one day know the kingdom.  Jesus came so that we might know the kingdom now and look forward to a greater revelation.

I can know what it is like to be guided by God personally.  I can know what it is like to be washed of my sins.  I can know what it is to have God live among me.  I can know what it is like to be in His presence.  As Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven has drawn near.”  It’s here.  It’s now.  It may get more intense after judgment, but we can know today this kingdom that Isaiah foretold.

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Year 5, Day 353: Isaiah 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Isaiah struggled against appetite in his whole ministry.  I’m not talking about his human appetite and hunger.  Isaiah struggled against the appetite of the people around him.  He saw a nation that focused on its own desires while abandoning God’s ways.  He saw a nation around him that was caught up in the appetite for the sinful desires of the flesh and that abandoned the ways of God.

The natural consequence of appetite is given to us by Isaiah.  God will allow us to come into judgment.  But here is the neat thing about God’s judgment.  God didn’t bring about some supernatural smite against His people.  God allowed them to have their way.  God allowed them to follow their appetite to its natural conclusion.  God allowed them to reap what they had sown.

That’s the beauty of God.  He has all the power to smite us with every sin.  But He doesn’t need to do that.  He lets us have our way.  He lets us win.  He lets us find a judgment of our own choosing.  We can hunger for Him and His righteousness or we can hunger for our own flesh.  Either way, God lets us follow the course of our action until the natural consequences come to play.

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Year 5, Day 352: Isaiah 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

God is King.  There is nothing that can come against Him.  There is nothing that can out-maneuver Him.  There is nothing that can catch Him by surprise.  There is nothing more righteous than Him.  There is nothing that will not bow to Him.

That is really the point of the last two-thirds of this chapter.  What will stand against the King of the universe?  What thing in the midst of human arrogance can hope to stand in the midst of God and His righteous judgment?  In the great Day of Judgment, do we really think that we can stand in the presence of the Lord?

This brings us back to the opening section.  There will come a day when God is King.  There will come a day when human arrogance will be put in its place.  There will come a day when we beat our swords into plowshares.  That day will come when we acknowledge that God is King.  We can actually taste that day now!  God is looking for His representatives in the world.  God does want us to be the people that brings forth His truth from Jerusalem.  He wants us to play a role in that process!

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Year 5, Day 351: Isaiah 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

Much of the book of Isaiah will have to do with the rebellion of the Hebrew people.  This is readily known.  The Hebrew people rebelled away from God beginning slowly under the influence of Solomon and rapidly gaining ground with many of the succeeding kings.  Yes, there were a few moments of reform.  But those moments of reform are few and far between.  Eventually God brought Assyria to conquer Israel and then Babylon to conquer Judah.

The important question is why.  Not why did God judge the people, of course.  God judged them because they rebelled.  Why did the people rebel in the first place?  Why would the willingly sacrifice a relationship with God?

God points to it in this chapters quite plainly.  He abhors their offerings.  Their sacrifices mean nothing to Him.  They are just going through the motions.  They aren’t in genuine relationship with Him.  They are pursuing their own desires and trying to appease God whenever they need to.

Fundamentally, this is a conversation about Up.  What are we worshipping in life?  Are we truly worshipping God?  Is He truly our hearts desire?  Or do we desire the fleshly passions of our heart while trying to appease God to avoid judgment and wrath?

Trust me, God knows the difference.  He knew it back then and He knows it now.  He is not fooled by our lip-service.  He knows whether He truly is the focus of our Up or not.

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Year 5, Day 350: Song of Songs 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

In this concluding we have a great passage of reconciliation, love, and comfort.  While that is a great message, I am going to focus today on the community’s response.  In this book we’ve seen Solomon and his bride court, marry, and then overcome an emotional barrier in the marriage.  As the book comes to a close, we hear the response of the community as they witness this progression.  As the book comes to a close, we get an opportunity to see In at work.

The community around the bride reflects back upon the bride before she was married.  They worried about her.  They protected her.  They tested her to find out where she was strong and ready to be built upon.  They also tested her to find out where she was too open and needed a door in her life to be built so that she could be protected.  But here’s the point.  The community was there to support her.  The community was there to protect her.  The community had a stake in her upbringing.  The community had a stake in her future.

This is what In is all about.  In helps to teach us.  In helps to protect us.  In supports us. In celebrates when we grow and mature and find ourselves in a position of success.  That’s what we hear at the end of this book.  The community around this bride of Solomon looks back at a time when she needed to be taught, protected, developed, encouraged, and mentored.  Now they look at her and realize where she’s come.  They celebrate.

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Year 5, Day 349: Song of Songs 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

It should make sense that after spending so much time looking at forgiveness and reconciliation that we should talk about challenge.  When we sin, we err.  When we err, we need to be forgiven.  When we are forgiven, we experience reconciliation.  This whole process implies that we have an area that needs to change.

How is it that we change?  Far more often than not we change because we are challenged into it.  We change because there is a need to change and that need is revealed to us.

In Song of Songs 7, we get the opportunity to hear how the love between Solomon and his wife has grown, matured, and become stronger in spite of the emotional barrier that his wife had erected.  The relationship was challenged.  Instead of dying, the relationship grew and got stronger!

We should all be this way in the face of challenge.  It is easy to give up when things get hard.  It is easy to walk away from challenge believing that we cannot overcome it.  But the challenge is there to see who we are deep down inside when it counts.  The challenge is there to help us grow, stretch, and become more than we thought we could be.

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Year 5, Day 348: Song of Songs 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Today we get the opportunity to complete what we began yesterday.  Yesterday we spoke about Solomon’s wife and her desire to be forgiven.  Today we get to see that forgiveness enacted.

Here’s the cool thing.  You’ll notice that when Solomon gets a chance to describe his love for his wife that his love is largely unchanged from his wedding day.  That might not sound like a big deal, but think about it.  His wife has created an emotional barrier between herself and him.  His wife has emotionally turned him aside.  The natural response to this would be for Solomon to build a barrier of his own and shut out his wife.  But that is not his response.  His response is to say that his love for her is unchanged.  She may have put up a barrier, but he will not retaliate in kind.

That’s forgiveness.  In fact, I find it a brilliant example of the forgiveness that God gives to us.  We put up all kinds of barriers against God as we seek to do our will and not His will.  How does God respond to us?  He loves us all the same.  He sends His Son to us to die for our sake.  He sends His Spirit to dwell within us.  That’s forgiveness.

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Year 5, Day 347: Song of Songs 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Song of Songs 5 is an interesting chapter to read because at first it sounds like it has no place in a love poem like Song of Songs.  However, one of the key understandings in this chapter is that the first half of it is a dream.  The bride is asleep, but her heart was awake.

In the dream, the husband comes to his bride seeking intimacy.  Yet the wife has established barriers to her husband’s intimacy.  She’s already taken off her cloak.  Her feet are already washed.  In other words, how can she be bothered by intimacy in her life?  Perhaps the most condemning evidence is that her door is locked and her husband doesn’t even have a key to the door! The wife as established emotional barriers against her husband and especially against intimacy with him.

However, what makes this an interesting chapter is its humanity.  The woman wakes and realizes her mistake.  She immediately thinks upon her husband and remembers him fondly.  She doesn’t desire the barrier that she’s established.  Rather, she desires company with her husband.

In other words, she repents.  She needs to be forgiven of her selfishness.  She recognizes her error and needs to make amends to repair the relationship that has become barred.

Shouldn’t that be our approach to all that should have our love?  Even in Christian community, should we not seek to make amends with those against whom we’ve created barriers?  Just as this wife wakes up and recognizes her error, so should we examine our life and ask where it is that we’ve created barriers against the people that God has placed in our lives.

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Year 5, Day 346: Song of Songs 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

This is a great chapter of identity, although we’re going to come at it from a different perspective.  However we slice it, though, our identity still needs to come from God.  Our identity still needs to be rooted in Him and how He’s created us to be.

When we look at this chapter, we get two perspectives on identity.  First of all, this bride is clearly loved by Solomon.  Solomon cannot stop praising the things that are easily praised.  She is physically attractive.  She is healthy.  She is the kind of woman for whom he is looking to raise his family.  God has created this bride to be an attractive candidate for marriage.

However, there is more to this woman’s identity than her physical beauty.  She has protection and nourishment.  She has compassion and caring.  She has wisdom and intellect.  She has an identity of not just a pretty woman but an intelligent woman as well.  Here is a woman who can live out her identity that God has given to her.

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Year 5, Day 345: Song of Songs 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

When we open up this chapter, we see the love of the bride grow.  She becomes passionate for her husband.  At first, she tries to wait it out.  However, eventually her passion wins out and she goes out into the city.

At first this seems like a foolish move.  After all, how many bad things can happen to a woman who goes out into the city on her own?  At first blush, this looks like a bad example of appetite.  Here is a woman who lets her appetite consume her, right?

Not so fast!  Look at what the woman does.  She goes to the watchmen.  She goes to the people who are supposed to keep her safe.  Her we have a woman who feels her passion and finds an appropriate way for it to come out.  This is a great story about how a person’s appetite can be managed and used to their favor.

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Year 5, Day 344: Song of Songs 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

In this chapter we hear a very specific caution about a very specific appetite.  We hear the bride caution people to not wake passion until the right time.  We are told to not stir it up until the right time.

Honestly, I don’t know that there can be a bigger obstacle to our public faith and ministry than our own sexuality.  Few things are as destructive as a misapplied lust.  Few things can damage our reputation than a sexual scandal or some kind of extra-marital affair.  There are few things in life that can damage a person’s ability to be trusted than a question about their sexual ethic.

We shouldn’t awake passion until it is appropriate.  We shouldn’t stir passion within us until it has a proper place to work.  We need to be careful that as we follow God that our sexuality only sees proper fulfillment within the bond of marriage.

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Year 5, Day 343: Song of Songs 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Chemistry

• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.

Song of Songs is going to be an unusual book of the Bible to look at through a discipleship lens.  Many of these blog posts for the next few days may all sound similar.  I’m going to try my best to not make it that way, but this book is essentially a love poem between spouses.  There is only so much that translates between a love poem and the discipleship process.

One of the things that I think does translate is this idea of chemistry.  In discipleship, we want to make sure that we can work with the people to whom God is calling us.  In marriage, this idea is even stronger.  When we consider things like dating, engagement, and marriage, we need to be certain that we have the proper chemistry with the people with whom we might be spending our life.

When we read this chapter, we get the clear impression that these lovers want to be around each other.  They want to be in each other’s company.  They want to live life together.

Obviously, that’s how it should be in a marriage.  On a less intimate scale, that’s how it should be in Christian community as well.  We should want to be around each other.  We should want to be partners in what God is doing in us and the people around us.

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Year 5, Day 342: Ecclesiastes 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Teacher

• Teacher: One who holds forth the truth and is excited by it. The teacher looks for ways to explain, enlighten, and apply truth.  A teacher's authority doesn't come from how smart they are but from the Word of God and the power of a transformed life.

In my blog post from three years ago, I focused a lot on the first section of this chapter.  Today, I’d like to focus on the end.  In fact, what really inspired me today is the part about the words of the wise being like goads and the collected sayings are like nails firmly fixed.  This leads me to the teachers in my life.

Let’s take the easier one: nails firmly fixed.  Wise sayings – otherwise known as proverbs – are reliable.  They are true.  They lead us into good choices because they have been tested throughout time and human culture.  They are firm fixtures that we can rest upon and know we will find wisdom.  They are fixtures in our life that can support our faith and worldview.

The harder one is the words of the wise: goads.  A goad is something that is designed to provoke a reaction.  A goad is something that is designed to spur someone forward.  Goads are designed to make us uncomfortable.  So what are the words of wisdom?  They are words that when we hear them we feel uncomfortable.  We feel uncomfortable because we know that we should change.

So, what is the role of the teacher and the wisdom that comes from sound teaching?  In this chapter we hear that the teacher makes us uncomfortable.  Their words push us just beyond our comfort zone.  But they are also fixtures in our life.  They are reliable because their words are tested.

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Year 5, Day 341: Ecclesiastes 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

As I read through Ecclesiastes 11 I took a little extra time to ponder Ecclesiastes 11:5.  The truth is, we don’t actually know how life is created.  We can explain the biology.  Sperm meets eggs.  Chromosomes meet and begin to rapidly copy themselves over and over.  Soon cells form and special and the process of copying continues until an organism is produced.  But the biology doesn’t explain life.  Human beings have soul, reason, conscience.  Dogs, cats, trees, snakes, mushrooms don’t.  They have cells that reproduce just like ours.  But they don’t have the ability to think and reason and use logic to make choices over good and evil.  We can explain the biology, but we cannot explain the spirit.

How many other things is this true about in life?  How many things can we explain how it works while not being able to explain why it works?  How often do we think we understand but are really losing sight about the things we don’t actually know?

That’s why God is king.  We might not be able to explain life and we certainly cannot create it.  But God can.  God understands it so intimately that He can even create it out of nothing!  That’s why He is King.  That’s why He deserves our worship and praise.

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Year 5, Day 340: Ecclesiastes 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

Once more we get to hear Solomon speak on the comparison between foolishness and folly.  Yesterday I spoke about the need for everyone to fall under the category of circumstance in their life.  That being said, it is still better to have the character of a wise man than that of a fool.  In fact, this makes the perfect extension from what I talked about yesterday.  After all, if both the good and the evil fall prey to circumstance, why choose good?  Why choose to restrain our sinful nature and deny our fleshly desires if in doing so we can still fall prey to circumstance?

The answer is character.  The fool will fall prey to circumstance as will the wise.  However, there are moments where we do pick our own fate.  There are moments where we reap what we sow rather than reap what the world gives us.  In those moments where we actually do get what we deserve it is better to live with character than without it.

The wise person can avoid certain pitfalls.  The wise person can even influence the people around them.  The wise person can earn the gratitude of the people around them.  The wise and the foolish will both eventually die, but the wise person may have more to say about the circumstances of that event than the fool.

In the end, this is a great general theory about life in general.  I cannot earn my way into salvation.  I can’t ever completely avoid death and the consequences of my sin.  I will eventually have a bad day when the world seems against me.  But what about all the days in between?  Am I going to live righteously or unrighteously?  Am I going to do the right things or am I going to live in my own selfishness?

The wages of sin are death.  I cannot save myself.  But in the rest of the moments of life, God’s ways lead to better results than my own selfish desire.

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Year 5, Day 339: Ecclesiastes 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

I often struggle with the exact same issues with which Solomon appears to be struggling.  Why is it that people who struggle to follow God and do well all their life don’t often seem to get the better part of life?  Both the good and the bad die.  Both the good and the bad fall victim to circumstance.  How many times have I heard someone exclaim that if God was really interested in getting followers then He should arrange for His followers to all live better lives!  How many times have I thought that myself, too.

There is a problem with that kind of thinking, though.  If everyone who truly followed God lived a blessed life, then wouldn’t everyone follow God?  But if this was true, how would we ever tell the difference between a person who is following God because they love Him and a person who is following God just because they want a blessed life?  No.  The only way to allow people to truly choose God’s ways because they want to submit to God is by making sure that both the good and the evil people in this world fall into the same boat.

That’s really why I chose the topic of King for today.  So often I struggle with why the followers of God often fall victim to circumstance rather than being over-protected by God.  But that just points me back to the King.  Do I submit to the King because it’s the right thing to do and His ways are better than my ways?  Or do I submit to the King because I want Him to bless my life?  Am I submitting to the King for the right reason or for reasons of selfishness?  Do I love God because His ways are truly better than my ways or am I just trying to manipulate the most powerful being in the universe to do what I want?

In the end, it is good that both the righteous and the wicked live in the same circumstances.  It is good that the wise person isn’t always the one who is picked to lead.  It is good that sometimes the good guys finish last.  This allows people to be good – to follow the king – for the right reasons and not for selfish gain.  God needs to be king for the right reasons.

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Year 5, Day 338: Ecclesiastes 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

I’m going to talk about authority, but not in the sense of the opening verses where we are told to obey the king because of God’s ability to work through the king.  Instead, I’m going to talk about authority in the context of life and death.  This is the second topic that Solomon addresses in this chapter.

Solomon addresses the age old question.  Why is it that righteous people often die before their time, yet unrighteous people prolong their life through their misdeeds?  After all, only the good die young, right?

Solomon puts this idea into context.  Yes, the unrighteous might be able to prolong their life now.  The unrighteous might be able to continue to live longer because of their ability to plot, manipulate, scheme, cheat, etc. 

But is the narrow spectrum of the years of this life really how we want to determine the final answer?  Won’t God give a far more superior answer?  Won’t eternity give a better perspective on who really prolongs their life with God?

That’s authority.  We think that we have authority in the here and now.  And on a very limited scale, we do have some authority.  But on an eternal perspective, God has the authority.  Only when we live in and through Him do we get to live knowing an authority that is eternal.

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Year 5, Day 337: Ecclesiastes 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

In Ecclesiastes 7 we have some very interesting advice.  The day of one’s death is better than the day one one’s birth.  Don’t be too righteous.  Don’t listen to what people say about you.  A good name is better than a precious ointment.

I can go on, but what we hear in this passage is a very strange perspective.  How many of us genuinely think that day that we die will be better than the day that a person is born?  Honestly, answer that question.  How many of us celebrate the day that a person dies more than a day when we hear a baby is being born?  I’d be shocked if anyone can truly admit to living as though the day of death is better than the day of birth.

I think this is why I am drawn to the topic of competency on this chapter.  This chapter challenges many of our most innate cultural perspectives.  We can often speak platitudes that makes it seem like we are on the same page as much of the advice given here.  But are we really living like it or are we just saying words that sound like we are?  Are we really competent in a godly perspective or have we heard the perspective so often that we can spit the words out without really thinking about their truth in our life?

We need to be competent about living a life that believes the day of death is better than the day of our birth.  We need to be competent about living a life that seeks genuine spiritual righteousness and not a self-serving righteousness.  We need to be competent in being able to not listen to what people are saying about us too deeply.  We need to be competent about believing that our good name is one of our most precious assets.

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Year 5, Day 336: Ecclesiastes 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

I think this is going to feel a little strange at first.  In my blog post from three years ago, I look at this chapter largely through the lens of happiness.  After all, that’s ultimately from where Solomon comes throughout this whole chapter.  If we are not able to enjoy what God has given us, what’s the point of having it or doing it?

This got me thinking about why I don’t enjoy the things around me.  I think there is one main reason why I don’t enjoy life more: me.  I don’t enjoy life more because I end up chasing the wrong dreams.  I don’t enjoy life more because I worry about the wrong things.  I spend a good bit of my life chasing after what I want instead of what God wants for me.  As Solomon says many times, this is a great evil.

This is what leads me to the idea of protection.  I need to protect myself from myself.  What good is a life spent in the acquisition of money if I don’t enjoy it?  I might want a lot of money, but if having the largest pool of money as possible becomes the goal in the place of God, am I doing any good?  Will I enjoy my life in that case?  As I read through this chapter of Ecclesiastes, I really do see my need for God to protect me from myself.  It is so easy for me to slip into a vain life just by following my own desires and not the call of God within my life.

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Year 5, Day 335: Ecclesiastes 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

I love the opening challenge of this chapter.  Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.  I always ask, guard them from what?  Guard them for what?

Each of those questions are fruitful to pursue.  We guard our steps from many things.  If we aren’t careful, we can go to the house of the Lord to be seen.  We can go for self-righteousness.  We can go out of obligation but not love.  We can go out of a need to be important.  We can go to have our way.  We can go to build our own legacy.  There are many things that we can guard ourselves from as we go to the house of the Lord.

However, I think that the second question is the more profitable question.  For what do we guard ourselves when we go to the house of the Lord?  That answer is simple.  We guard ourselves for God.  We guard ourselves so that we are in a position to truly worship Him.  We guard ourselves so that we are ready to worship and serve our Lord.  We guard ourselves on the way to the house of the Lord so that our Up can be what it needs to be.

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