Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - WordAction - The Foundry Publishing House of Kansas City, Missouri, United States - The Global Church of the Nazarene for Wednesday, 29 November 2017 "Accept Cleansing Way" by Duane Brush - Isaiah 1:21-31Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a whore!
Once she was filled with justice,
righteousness lodged in her;
but now murderers!
22 Your silver is no longer pure,
your wine is watered down.
23 Your leaders are rebels, friends of thieves.
They all love bribes and run after gifts.
They give no justice to orphans,
the widow’s complaint doesn’t catch their attention.
24 “Therefore,” says the Lord, Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the Mighty One of Isra’el,
“I will free myself of my adversaries,
I will take vengeance on my enemies.
25 But I will also turn my hand against you!
I will cleanse your impurities as with lye
and remove all your alloyed base metal.
26 I will restore your judges as at first
and your advisers as at the beginning.
After that, you will be called
the City of Righteousness, Faithful City.
27 Tziyon will be redeemed by justice;
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 “Rebels and sinners together will be broken
and those who abandon Adonai be consumed.
29 You will be ashamed of the sacred oaks you desired,
you will blush at the gardens you chose;
30 for you will be like an oak whose leaf fades,
like a garden without any water.
31 The strong will be like tinder
and [the idol’s] maker like a spark;
both will burn together,
and no one will put them out.”
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My mother is a great believer in bleach. Bleach kills bacteria, mold, all that yucky stuff you don’t want part of your life. A clean house requires thorough cleaning, and for her that requires bleach. However, bleach is powerful, so it must be used carefully. Bleach can spot and destroy fabrics; get enough in or on your body and it can be harmful, even deadly. Such power requires respect and careful use, a place on the highest shelf away from little hands.
God’s list of Jerusalem’s crimes in Isaiah 1:21-24 is disgusting and dispiriting. The once bright city where righteousness dwelled had become a place where corruption, murder, greed, and exploitation was common. Such foul behavior required the strongest cleansing, a purging by the fiery wrath of God against His enemies. This “strong medicine” is not pleasant, but it is necessary. All impurity, "dross" of sinful rebellion, must be removed. Half clean is never really clean.
Only submission to God’s cleansing fire will restore the relationship corrupted by sin. Yet, there is hope, “Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City” (Isaiah 1:26b).---
Hymn for Today: "Cleanse Me" by J. Edwin Orr
1. Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
2. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;
Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
3. Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
4. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
Send a revival, start the work in me;
Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need;
For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.
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Thought for Today: For the leader. A psalm of David, when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:
God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.(Psalm 51:1-2)
---Please pray: For development of Christian leaders in Albania.
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