Year 6, Day 331: 2 Chronicles 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition, Appetite, Approval

• 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.
• 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.
• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

This section of the history of the kings is quick to sadden.  Hezekiah just brought about a great revival.  Many of the bad trends that had been occurring in Judah were fixed.  The places of false worship were torn down.  The false gods were removed.  The law was copied and spread throughout the land.  So many good reforms and revisions were done underneath Hezekiah.  The reason that this section of the kings account saddens me is because we truly see how quickly things change.

The next king to come to power is Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh.  Manasseh turns away from Hezekiah’s reform.  He puts things back the way that they were.  Soon the temple is scandalized again.  Soon the child sacrifices are being done again.  Soon the ways of God are abandoned.

I don’t know why Manasseh is so quick to change.  It could be that he was young before Hezekiah’s reform and therefore he learned to imitate the sinful Hezekiah and not the reformed one.  It could be that Manasseh was more interested in himself and his own desires than in following God’s ways.  It could be that he wasn’t a king who managed the people well and simply allowed them to do as they pleased while he did as he pleased.  We don’t know why the reversal came so quick.  We simply know that it did come very quickly.

We see here the compelling power of human sinfulness.  We all have an insatiable appetite for something.  We all will do things to seek the approval of others.  We all will follow our own ambition to get what we want.  As the Bible teaches, sin is always crouching at the door.  We, like the Hebrew nation, can slip from obedience to sinfulness in what seems like the blink of an eye.  Vigilance is necessary.  It is not a matter of if we will fall under temptation.  We will fall under temptation, the only question is when and how we will respond.

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Year 6, Day 326: 2 Chronicles 27-28

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.

Today we move quickly through Jotham, a righteous king who did most of the things right, and straight into Ahaz.  Ahaz is noted for being a despicable king.  What is it that Ahaz does that is so despicable?  The list is reasonably long.

Ahaz does the unthinkable and offers up child sacrifices to foreign gods.  It’s bad enough to worship other gods.  It’s preposterous to think about killing children in an attempt to please divine beings.  But Ahaz is offering up his own children!  Here is a man who desires to slaughter his own children in an attempt to please divine beings who are illegitimate in the first place.

But this is not all that Ahaz does.  Ahaz turns to the king of Assyria to help him against his squabbles with nearby kings.  However, Ahaz bites off more than he can chew.  In inviting Assyria into the region, Ahaz has drawn their attention.  He doesn’t know it at the time, but Ahaz’s appetite is what actually brings Assyria’s eye and invites them not for allegiance but for domination.  Ahaz’s appetite for success actually leads to the doom of the northern kingdom and a great diminishment of the southern kingdom.

This isn’t even the worst of it.  When Ahaz turns to the Assyrians, he is ultimately turning his back upon the Lord.  Ahaz demonstrates that he does not believe that God can protect his people. Ahaz would rather trust in the protection of other human beings than rest in the protection of God.  As I pointed out above, Ahaz is clearly misguided and the Hebrew people will pay for this error in judgment.

Ahaz’s appetite gets him in trouble.  Ahaz’s appetite causes him to make very poor decisions.  Ahaz’s appetite actually invites danger into his life and the life of the people that he is supposed to be leading and protecting!

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Year 6, Day 322: 2 Chronicles 23

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.

Human lust always amazes me.  When I use the word lust, there, I’m not talking about just in a sexuality sense.  Lust is an uncontrollable urge for anything about which we are passionate.  Usually we use it in terms of sexuality because that is one of our most uncontrollable urges.  But it can apply to anything, especially when we are focusing on human appetite.

As we read through this chapter, we hear about how Athaliah is deposed.  It’s a pretty good coup.  The priests respect the temple and its purity.  They people get behind the coup.  All in all, it’s really well done.

However, notice what the people do once the coup is over.  In fact, the Bible gives us the idea that this is done immediately after the coup is over.  They go to the temple of Ba’al and tear it down.  Oh yeah.  The temple of Ba’al was in Jerusalem - in God’s holy city!

Kudos to the people for tearing it down.  I can only imagine how offensive that must have been to God.  He hand-picked that city to be His domain on the earth.  Then someone, probably the leaders in the city, think it is a good idea to put up a false temple to an illegitimate god in God’s holy city.  Only human appetite – uncontrollable lust – could lead to a decision of that magnitude.

The problem is that this actually hits home quite well.  Am I not a priest in God’s kingdom under Christ?  Is not my body God’s temple?  How often do my sinful lusts, my sinful human passions and my sinful human appetite, corrupt God’s temple within me?

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Year 6, Day 309: 2 Chronicles 9

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.

The Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon.  She sees all of the splendor.  She visits all of the grandeur.  She is impressed by his wisdom.  She gives him gifts and Solomon gives her what she asks.  In other words, it sounds like a trade agreement is established.  Solomon gets several tons of gold.  His wealth increases.  His wealth increases so much that silver is thought of as nothing in Jerusalem.

But here’s the problem.  Look what Solomon does with his wealth.  He beats the gold into useless decorations for his own houses.  Anyone who has even used gold knows that it isn’t suitable for weapons if your enemy has bronze or even iron.  Solomon makes an incredible throne for himself to sit upon.  Solomon makes drinking vessels and other implements so that when he eats the kings portion he can eat in all kind of style.  He imported horses from Egypt – once more, the key phrase that shows that Solomon is relying upon himself and straying from relying upon God.

You see, I believe that this chapter is more about Solomon’s appetite than God’s provision.  This chapter is about the amassing of wealth under Solomon’s reign.  But here’s the problem.  Do you know what we fail to hear?  We do not hear about the care of orphans and widows.  We don’t care about the generosity into the people.  We don’t hear about the care of the poor.  We don’t hear about making God’s name great.  What we hear about is Solomon’s appetite for wealth.

This appetite is the small footstool upon which the rebellion of the kings to follow is built.

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Year 6, Day 264: Zechariah 5

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 Zechariah 5, we have two very unusual symbols.  I’d recommend looking back at my theological commentary from three years ago to get a firm understanding of each vision.  As we saw yesterday, Zechariah is a good bit clueless about each vision until it is explained to him.  We shouldn’t feel too badly about needing each vision explained to us, either.

As we look at the meaning of these visions, though, there is something that jumps out.  Human beings have a sinful appetite.  It doesn’t really matter the sin.  We can always find human beings who are willing to sin in a particular manner.

If we look at the scroll, we notice that there is a distinct connection to people who steal and lie.  Honestly, how many of us have never told a lie?  If we are honest about it, how many of us have never wished we had something that someone else had, either?  The reality is that our appetite for sin is deep within each of us.

Furthermore, when we look at the second vision we can notice even more about God’s witness to our sinfulness.  God claims that wickedness is in an ephah, which is the largest of the Hebrew measures.  Not only do human beings have sinfulness within, we have an incredible amount of sin within.

Zechariah has to be told God’s point, but once told it is really clear.  We have a tremendous appetite for sinning.  We think of ourselves.  We make decisions about what we want and what is best for us.  We say things that aren’t true to protect ourselves.  We do indeed have an appetite for sinning.

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Year 6, Day 242: Micah 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.

Micah 2 continues its declaration against the people.  In the beginning verses, we hear the continued theme of people willing to take advantage of others.  Micah accuses people of lying in bed and contemplating ways that they can oppress them.  What’s worse is that when they wake up, these people go about the business of enacting on their plans!  They covet the fields of others.  They seize houses away from their rightful owners.  They oppress people.

A little later on in Micah 2:11, we get another vivid example of God’s opinion of the people.  God says through Micah that if there was a person who would preach to them on wine and other alcohol, the people would listen to them!  In other words, God is accusing the people of only wanting to listen to people who will encourage them to pursue the things that they want to pursue.  In other words, the people are only interested in their own appetites.

It is sad when a culture falls into pursuing their own desires.  It is sad when a culture allows the rich and wealthy and well-blessed to plot the oppression of the poor and scantily blessed.  Our human appetite can cause us to justify many things in our mind, all of which God finds deplorable if our appetite is for things that are not of Him.

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Year 6, Day 232: Obadiah

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.

Obadiah is a book written against the people of Edom.  Remember that there is a connection between the people of Edom and the Hebrew people.  The people of Edom are Esau’s descendants.  That means that while they may not be from Jacob, they are certainly from Abraham.  They are kin to the Hebrew people.

Obadiah writes because he sees Jerusalem in ruins.  They have been conquered by Babylon.  That was at God’s hand, so that is not what Obadiah is speaking against.  When Obadiah looks to a ruined Jerusalem and the surrounding land, he sees the Edomites coming in and taking advantage of their downfall.  They are taking over the land.  They are rounding up escaped Hebrew people and selling them as slaves to other nations.  They see the downfall of the Hebrew people as a means to gain.

Generically speaking, that is what the book of Obadiah is all about.  Our human appetite thirsts for opportunities to take advantage of the downfall of other people.  This is why we have sayings like “top dog” and “kick them while they are down.”  Human appetite loves the easy victory.  We love to increase our wealth and standing, and if possible we will take the easiest route.

This is horrible.  There is nothing wrong with taking the easy route, mind you.  There is no point in making things more difficult than they need to be.  However, we should not consider taking advantage of people as the easy way.  Easy victories over people who are in no position to do anything about it is not a victory, it is bullying.  It’s not good business, it is indecent human behavior.  We should have an appetite for honest gain through honest work, not biggest gain by taking advantage of other people and their circumstances.  That is what God finds absolutely deplorable in this passage.

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Year 6, Day 230: Amos 8

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 read through Amos 8, we hear many complaints of the Lord.  The people can’t wait for the holy days to be over so they can get back to their regular life where their interests lie.  They trample the needy.  They walk all over the poor.  In fact, they are even willing to buy the poor like slaves.

Do you hear what God’s grievance truly is?  The appetite of the people is interfering with a lifestyle that is congruent to God’s ways.  The appetite of the people is causing them to look upon fellow human beings as a means to profit rather than as a means to express grace and love.  The appetite of the people for economic gain is pulling the people away from the Lord in general.

Look down towards the end of the chapter.  Do you hear the natural conclusion to human appetite?  When we hunger and thirst for things that are not of the Lord – especially when we do it as a nation – God will cause a spiritual famine to come among us.  I don’t think that it is a coincidence that our hunger for things that are not of God causes a famine of spiritual proportion.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder if the famine is really God’s doing or God’s allowing us to reach the natural conclusion to our actions.  After all, if only a very small percent of a population cares about God and His ways, where would the spirituality come from?  Where would the examples be?  Where would God draw out His prophets and teachers and evangelists?  Our earthly appetite results in a spiritual famine of our own making – a famine God presents to us as the consequence of our choices.

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Year 6, Day 205: Hosea 4

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.
• 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.

As I read through Hosea 4, I hit a particular verse and it stuck with me.  What is it that God finds despicable about the Hebrew people of the northern kingdom of Israel?  It is simple: they have forgotten God’s laws.  But there is something really deep that we can get at if we delve into this.

Look at Hosea 4:7 closely.  The more they increased, the more they sinned against me.  Do you see the pattern of humanity?  The more we get, the more opportunity we have for sin within us.  This can be taken as a whole population, as God means it here.  The more people there are in a locale, the more kind of sin can be involved.  There is greater opportunity for sexual sin.  There is a greater opportunity for cheating.  There is more opportunity for lying, stealing, malicious slander, all kinds of abuse, etc.  The greater the amount of people in an area, the more opportunity we have to sin against them.

However, I think we can also look at this in a personal sense.  The more money I have, don’t I want yet more?  The more power I have, doesn’t that increase the amount necessary to appease me in the future?  The more popularity I have, don’t I require even more in the future?  The more success I have, doesn’t that cause me to need more success in the future to be content?  This is the danger of ambition working in conjunction with appetite.  When I get used to a certain level of almost anything, it requires even more to satisfy me in the future. I get into trouble when my ambition is derived out of my appetite and my appetite is not coming from that which God wants for me.

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Year 6, Day 161: Ezekiel 35

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.

Ezekiel 35 gives us a unique perspective on Edom.  Yes, we’ve heard a judgment oracle regarding Edom already.  However, God is continuing His point that while the Hebrew people were judged and will be restored, many of the surrounding nations will be judged and be assimilated.  Their culture will become absorbed into the culture of a different people.  There are many reasons for this to happen.  In Edom’s case, it has much to do with their appetite.

Do you hear how in the opening few verses the Edomites are accused of enjoying violence?  They did not do anything to stop the slide of Israel or Judah.  In fact, they planned what they were going to do with the land once the Hebrew people were removed from it!  They enjoyed watching the brutality of Assyria and Babylon against the Hebrew people.  But because they had an appetite for violence, they would likewise be consumed by violence themselves.  People who enjoy violent pursuits usually have other violent dynamics to their life.  Our appetite – that which we desire and crave – usually comes around to get us in the end if it does not come from God in its origin.

As I’ve already said, the Edomites appetite for violence fueled their appetite for accumulating resources.  They planned what they were going to do with the Hebrew land.  The coveted the land that God gave the Hebrew people.  They coveted the status that this particular area of the world commanded in global trade at the time.  They had a distinct appetite for their neighbors’ possessions.  That appetite led them into peril and judgment.

Al of this continues to cause me to look at the modern world.  Are we content with our lot in life?  Are we content with the resources God gives to us?  Do we not covet?  Do we not dream about what we could do with the resources of other people?  Are we any less guilty than the people of Edom?

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Year 6, Day 160: Ezekiel 34

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.

Ezekiel 34 is a very interesting chapter because it contains God’s truth proclaimed on multiple levels of society.  First we hear the declaration against the shepherds.  Remember yesterday when God told Ezekiel that if he did his job as a prophet that the people would be accountable for themselves but if he didn’t do his job as a prophet then the guilt of the people will be on him?  Here in this chapter we hear that in general the people have no shepherd.  In other words, there are no people even trying to lead anymore.  Everyone is doing whatever they want, making it neigh impossible to lead them anywhere!  Leadership is always hard, but it is especially hard when the people seek their own desires – their own appetite – and do not even seem willing to listen.

The next level of condemnation that we hear from the Lord with respect to appetite is far more literal.  Do you hear God talking upon trampling down the grass or muddying the waters?  What God is saying is that the Hebrew weren’t content living in his blessing.  They wanted more; therefore, they were willing to trample down what little blessing had been given to others so that they could maximize their own blessing.  This sounds a lot like business owners charging high prices for finished products but paying their employees low wages.  Or it sounds like wealthy countries taking advantage of developing countries by exploiting their willingness to work for pittance.  It sounds like people going into restaurants and throwing away half of their food.  It sounds like a country who throws away and rebuys rather than fixes and restores.  Through Ezekiel, God is issuing a grand declaration to all people who are so intoxicated by their own blessing that they are willing to help bring the blessing of others to a ruin just so they can get more for themselves.

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Year 6, Day 152: Ezekiel 26

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.

Today we come across the nation of Tyre.  When Judah falls, Tyre celebrates.  You see, Tyre and Judah were not only neighbors but they were competitors.  Bith nations made money off of trade.  The Phoenicians, the people of the region Tyre was located, were incredible seafarers.  They made great ships and sailed all over the Mediterranean Sea.  But when it came to land trade, Judah ruled the market.  So when Judah fell, Tyre saw its opportunity.  They saw an opportunity to rise to the top of the trade market.  Their appetite for success grew at the loss of another.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  How many times do you see a human take advantage of another human?  How many times do you see one corporation salivate at the lost market share of a competitor?  Our appetite often drives us.

Here’s the problem.  Tyre longed for the greater opportunity.  But what they failed to realize is that as Judah fell and they flourished, it was natural for the eye of Babylon to focus upon them.  They became the next nation to be attacked.  Their appetite for success and prosperity actually brought them into the targeting cross-hairs of Babylon.  They would fall too.  Their appetite caused them to be blind to their threats.

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Year 6, Day 142: Ezekiel 16

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.

This is a very sad chapter.  Here we have an allegory to God’s relationship with the Hebrew people.  God found a child, abandoned and for whom there was no cared.  God picked up that child, placed them in a safe place, and allowed them to mature.  Yet, just when they were becoming mature and truly useful, the child rebelled and turned away.  The child scorned God’s love.  The child intentionally spent time pursuing things apart from God.

But there’s something more.  God claims in the allegory that the forsaking child is flittering away that which God has given to it in order to pursue things apart from God.  This child is not just rejecting God, but using God’s grace to reject Him even more!

What drives this?  Appetite.  We want, so we pursue.  We want what we should not want, so we pursue what we should not pursue.  We do not find satisfaction in God’s things; we find satisfaction in what we want.  So often, it is our appetite that fuels our rebellion against God.

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Year 6, Day 94: Jeremiah 41

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.

Ishmael is clearly a man who has an appetite for world goods.  He is driven by materialism.  After all, we see him in this story as a mercenary, doing the bidding of the king of Ammon.

For a price, Ishmael betrays Gedaliah.  For a price, Ishmael destroys the Babylonian vassal-king who was finally listening to the will of God for the people.  For a price, Ishmael counters the very hand and will of God.

But Ishmael doesn’t just work as a mercenary.  Mourners come from the northern kingdom to mourn with Gedaliah at Judah’s fate.  Ishmael sees their supplies and slaughters them.  Furthermore, ten of them reveal that there is a cache of supplies that Ishmael can have if he agrees to free them.  We see Ishmael’s appetite once more as he agrees to let them live in exchange for materialistic gain.

But we still haven’t seen the appetite of Ishmael come to it full force.  Ishmael takes what remains of Gedaliah’s court and begins to march them back to Ammon.  Ishmael thinks that he can use them as prisoners of war and sell them to the king of Ammon.  He is still looking for profit and willing to use his fellow human beings to make a profit.

While it is meaningful to look at Ishmael’s appetite for materialistic gain, it is especially enlightening to look at the consequences.  Many people end up dad because of Ishmael’s appetite.  If that isn’t bad enough, it is doubtful that Nebuchadnezzar is going to respond very happily when he finds out that his vassal-king, who was promoting peaceful servanthood to Babylon, was assassinated along with the royal guard that he left to make sure Gedaliah stayed in line.  There can be little doubt that Ishmael’s appetite will bring about a harsher relationship with Babylon.  The peaceful vassal life is quickly to be traded in, all because of the appetite of Ishmael.

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Year 6, Day 58: Jeremiah 5

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.

God and Jeremiah have a very interesting conversation in this chapter.  God asks Jeremiah to go through all of Jerusalem and try and find a single righteous person.  In fact, God even seems to make a wager that if Jeremiah can find one then He will relent from the judgment that God has planned.  And before you guess, I want you to know that I don’t find this passage because of the massive number of people who aren’t righteous.  I’m not surprised by that.  I live in the world.  I know just how many human beings are not righteous in God’s eyes.  I know how many human beings live with themselves as the center of their life as they “look out for number one.”

What I’m surprised by is Jeremiah’s lack of response.  I honestly believe that Jeremiah understands how much righteousness is not present.  But look at what Jeremiah never says.  He never says, “Hey, God, I’m righteous!”  He never says, “What about my disciples, God?”  Jeremiah knows better.  There are no righteous people.  There are no people who seek God’s will on their own without the help of God.  Jeremiah knows the appetite that lives within His heart.

I think that this is one of the qualities that I respect about the prophets.  In truth, I think this is one of the qualities that I respect in anyone.  I respect people who have an honest evaluation about themselves.  I respect people who are not afraid to look in the mirror and see just how sinful they really are.  I do think that it is when we can see the sinful appetite within that we are then able best to rely fully upon the grace of God the best.  After all, only when I can accept that even I am not righteous on my own can I truly cling to the righteousness that God offers me for free.

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Year 6, Day 18: Isaiah 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite, Calling

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

When we look at this chapter, we see that the Lord is angry at the nations and once more bringing judgment against them.  As I explain in the commentary that I wrote three years prior, it is easy to read these words and understand that what the Lord is truly sick about is our violent tendencies towards each other. 

Let’s use Assyria for the test case example.  God called Assyria to bring His people under judgment.  But Assyria went too far.  They enjoyed destroying the Hebrew people.  They enjoyed enslaving them.  They enjoyed crushing their spirits.  God may have given them the power to do the task, but they certainly didn’t do the task according to God’s will.  God called them; they didn’t respond according to their calling.

God hates our violent tendencies.  He hates how we look to take what we can from others.  He hates how we try to dominate over one another.  He hates how we cannot treat each other with love and respect and grace and instead simply long to increase our own status in the world.  That’s where appetite comes in.  We hunger and thirst for the wrong things and we’ll be judged for it.

But there is more to it than just God reacting to our inability to listen to His calling and instead living through our appetite.  In the end of this chapter, Isiah gives us the test case of Edom.  We are told that Edom will flow with burning pitch.  What is pitch good for?  Pitch is good for keeping out water and keeping things on fire.  In other words, pitch is good for keeping out the soothing refreshment water brings and inflaming what’s left.  In the midst of God’s judgment, He will let us do what we do naturally.  He will let our appetite keep us from enjoying the peace that only comes from Him.

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Year 6, Day 2: Isaiah 17

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.

Appetite is a great perspective through which we can view the oracle against Damascas.  After all, one of the premier words that Isaiah uses to describe the people of Syria is “fat.”  So much of this oracle is spent talking about how the people of Syria will have their possessions, their livelihood, even their very being stripped away.  They will become lean and desolate.  Their plants will produce little fruit.

Of course, this is a great place to return to the idea of appetite.  Why is it that the people will come upon this judgment?  The people come upon this judgment because they have forgotten God.  They have forgotten from where their salvation comes.  They have become a people that get their fill upon their own strength, their own productiveness, and their own thinking.  They have lost any acknowledgement that God is the main reason that they are fruitful.  Their appetite is focused inwardly upon themselves.

When our appetite is focused anywhere but God we simply grow more and more hungry.  The only way to bring us out of that hunger is through judgment.  We are weaned off of that which made us fat.  In other words, we must be made lean again so that we can learn to have an appetite that is based upon God and His ways.

This is not just the story of Damascus in Syria.  This is the story of all humanity.  We should learn what we can here.

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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 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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