What is God to You?
Alpha and Omega
Tuesday Quiet Time
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus,
Open my eyes, I want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch
Him, to say that I love Him.
Open my ears Lord, I want to listen, open my eyes Lord, I
want to see Jesus.
Amen!
Adaption of Open Our Eyes, Lord by Robert Cull; ©1976
Maranatha! Music!; The Humnal of Worship and Celebration; ©1986; Word Music;
Page 383
With
this prayer we understand what and why we are doing this, so let us focus on a
section of scripture from Isaiah:
1 And in that day thou shalt
say, O Lord, I will praise thee:
though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou
comfortedst me. 2 Behold, God is
my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is
my strength and my song; he
also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water
out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise
the Lord, call upon his name,
declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing
unto the Lord; for he hath done
excellent things: this is known
in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the
midst of thee.
Isaiah 12:1-6
(KJV)
In
this text, we see three important things:
§ What God did for
the people? (Verse 1): He turned away His anger and showed compassion.
§ What did the
people do because God was their “salvation?” (Verse 2): They trusted in Him and
were not afraid.
§ What four things
would God do for them? God would love
them, forgive them, give them safe passage, and He would demonstrate His
greatness.
Summary:
Even
though God was angry with the Chosen Children of Israel, we was in His anger
judging them for the things they had done; the sins they committed. But even in His anger He still loved them.
In
love He saved them from disaster and destruction. He gave them hope and safe passage into the
Promised Land.
In
the end they could give praise to God, who was not absent; a God who will not
ever fail or falter.
Application:
When
we consider who God is to us, we need to remember that He is a God who
disciplines us.
But when we are
judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the
world.
1 Corinthians
11:32 (KJV)
For whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:6
(KJV)
Now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.
Hebrews 12:11
(KJV)
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:
therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore,
and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
Job 5:17-18
(KJV)
When we are disciplined it means we
belong to Him. Proverbs 3, the Wise
Parent (Solomon), gives the wise words that we are to follow the path of
rightnss and righteousness, trusting God in al things. Additionally, we are instructed that we are
sons when discipline comes our way.
We are creatures with feet of clay,
we are imperfect, human, sinful creatures and because of this we act and react
wrongly and need correction. As such, we
submit to Him, the Father, and He will correct our waywardness and lead us
along the path of life and light.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. This is also a quotation from Proverbs 3. It means
that it is a universal rule that God sends trials on those whom he truly loves.
It does not, of course, mean that he sends chastisement which is not deserved;
or that he sends it for the mere purpose of inflicting pain. That
cannot be. But it means that, by his chastisements, he shows that he has a
paternal care for us. He does not treat us with neglect and unconcern, as a
father often does his illegitimate child. The very fact that he corrects us
shows that he has towards us a father's feelings, and exercises towards us a
paternal care. If he did not, he would let us go on without any attention, and
leave us to pursue a course of sin that would involve us in ruin. To restrain
and govern a child; to correct him when he errs, shows that there is a parental
solicitude for him, and that he is not an outcast. And as there is in the life
of every child of God something that deserves correction, it happens that it is
universally true that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."
And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Whom he receives or acknowledges as his child. This is not
quoted literally from the Hebrew, but from the Septuagint. The Hebrew is,
"even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." The general sense
of the passage is retained, as is often the case in the quotations from the Old
Testament. The meaning is the same as in the former part of the verse, that
every one who becomes a child of God is treated by him with that watchful care
which shows that he sustains towards him the paternal relation.
As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Revelation 3:19
(KJV)
Verse 7. If ye endure chastening. That is, if you undergo, or
are called to experience correction. It does not mean here, "if you endure
it patiently, or if you bear up under it," but if you are chastised or
corrected by God." The affirmation does not relate to the manner of
bearing it, but to the fact that we are disciplined.
God dealeth with you as with sons. He does not cast you off, and regard you as if you were in
no way related to him.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? That is, he evinces towards his son the care which shows
that he sustains the relation of a father. If he deserves correction, he
corrects him; and he aims, by all proper means, to exhibit the appropriate care
and character of a father. And as we receive such attention from an earthly
parent, we ought to expect to receive similar notice from our Father in heaven.
He that spareth
his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Proverbs 13:24
(KJV)
Verse 8. But if ye be without chastisement. If you never meet
with anything that is adapted to correct your faults, to subdue your temper, to
chide your wanderings, it would prove that you were in the condition of
illegitimate children-cast off and disregarded by their father.
Whereof all are partakers.
All who are the true children of God.
Then are ye bastards, and not sons. The reference here is to the neglect with which such
children are treated, and to the general want of care and discipline over them:
"Lost in the world's wide range; enjoined no aim, Prescribed no duty.
and assigned no name."
Savage. In
the English law, a bastard is termed nullius filiua,.
Illegitimate children are usually abandoned by their father. The care of them
is left to the mother, and the father endeavours to avoid all responsibility,
and usually to be concealed and unknown. His own child he does not wish to
recognize; he neither provides for him, nor instructs him, nor governs him, nor
disciplines him. A father who is worthy of the name, will do all these
things. So Paul says it is with Christians. God has not cast them off. In every
way he evinces towards them the character of a father. And if it should be that
they passed along through life without any occurrence that would indicate the
paternal care and attention designed to correct their faults, it would show
that they never had been his children, but were cast off and wholly disregarded.
This is a beautiful argument; and we should receive every affliction as full
proof that we are not forgotten by the High and Holy One who condescends to
sustain the character, and to evince towards us, in our wanderings, the
watchful care of a Father.
—Barnes'
Notes on the New Testament
Be thankful that God is the creator,
sustainer, redeemer, and returning King.
He wants to love on you, hold you, draw you close, make you holy. Submit yourself to His guiding hand and walk
in His ways. He has called you and
sealed you; you are His child.
We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (KJV)
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