Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the Sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
It is an invitation of grace, to receive free of charge the lifegiving water that is God's word. “The word of our God stands forever”, (Isaiah 40:8). His word stands as the means of our salvation for by faith we are saved and by hearing God's words we have faith.
The prophet said, “Water will flow in this desert” (2 Kings 3:17).
“It can’t happen!” The people said.
But it did!
The prophet said, “Though there is a famine, flour will sell cheaply in this city tomorrow” (2 Kings 7:1-2).
Doubters said, “That’s impossible!”
But it happened!
The LORD said, “This old sterile woman of seventy-five plus years shall bear a son next year” (Genesis 18:10; Luke 1:13).
People laughed.
But it happened just as God said.
Our Father in heaven told Gideon that his tiny little army of just three hundred would defeat an army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men (Judges 7).
They said, that's 450 to 1 odds, That's crazy talk!
But the three hundred did win that battle.
People said that Jerusalem would not be rebuilt. Israel was sold as slaves, there is no way they'll come back again. They were scattered throughout the entire world, it's just too much to expect that God can restore them again. God said they will be gathered together again and become a nation again and rebuild their temple again in Jerusalem.
People said, “It will never happen!”
God's word said it will, (Deuteronomy 29; Isaiah 11:11-13; Jeremiah 25:11; Hosea 3:4-5 and Luke 21:23-24).
He said it.
I believe it.
That ends it.
More than 2000 years later and he is nearly finished with fulfilling that promise. The people have returned. The land is flourishing. And all that is left is for the temple to be restored.
But first something else must happen. God's word must finish its work in the hearts and minds of all the people who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Once His Word is released by God to go out and find the lost sheep of Israel, it has a life of its own – a life force to bring about its fulfillment.
“His word runs swiftly” (Psalm 147:15)
The Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe; through it Jesus made the universe, (Hebrews 1:2-3). God's Word is an active powerful force of God's Spirit; it creates, it animates, it sustains and propels all things according to God's will and purposes.
And it takes His time. God's time. His Kairos, that special time of his will and grace working things out like nature works out the seasons. In our focus scripture today, the prophet Isaiah describes God's word like rainwater and snow. It falls where the wind blows and takes it there. It settles into the land, and it covers and permeates the ground. In time some of it finds the deep and abiding groundwater reservoirs that the people find and dig deep wells to draw from it. Some of it also flows quickly down the mountains into the valleys, transforming the landscape before eventually going out to the sea. And throughout it all the vapors rise up and return to the heavens to start it all again.
And so, the cycle of the word teaches us to be patient and observant, trusting in God's promises. Be patient. Continue to believe.
That’s why the Scripture says,
"For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).
And we really need to understand something critical in all of this. God is working things out in this manner because he intends for it to work it ALL out according to his will.
Romans 8:28
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
"ALL things work together..."
All of it.
God’s not just working one thing for good – but ALL things for good.
I want you to really think about that.
Others may be depending on us. Key people may fail to do their part, that’s why we must always be on guard to not let Satan hinder us from doing God’s will daily. That's why we must pray for each other continuously. That's why we must always guard our principles and ethics. We don't want to be the one who is delaying grace in someone's life. We all need to do everything we can to help God's word to do its work, we don't need to be doing anything that might prevent grace, there are plenty of Gods enemies doing that on a regular basis.
Yesterday our devotion talked about the early church, and mostly its successes, and not so much its tribulations. What I didn't share yesterday was how those tribulations were an important feature of God's plan.
In 303 A.D. Emperor Diocletian issued four proclamations to wipe out the Christian faith. For eight years this persecution swept through the Roman Empire. Many Christian churches were demolished. Many copies of the Bible were burned. And too many Christians were killed. He thought it was a complete success. He was so confident that he had destroyed God's plan that he issued a new commemorative coin to be distributed around the empire. On it was inscribed, “The Christian religion is destroyed, and the worship of the gods is restored.”
What Diocletian didn't know was God had already raised up a new man to replace him. That man was the next emperor – Constantine (313 A.D.) And we know that he established the Christian-Roman Empire.
The Communists gathered up Bibles and burned them. Hitler burned Bibles as well, and he even declared that he would write his own. The French atheist Voltaire, in the 1700’s, boasted that within 100 years Christianity would cease to exist. And less than 50 years later, the Geneva Bible Society used Voltaire's printing press and his own house to publish their Bibles.
Nations rise, nations fall. Atheists come and go into the outer darkness, but the word of God persists. Emperors, kings, dictators, philosophers, educators and fools cannot stop it. They've all tried to stamp it out, but the Word of God lives on!
Today they are all dead, and the Word of God lives on!
Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
What God sets in motion cannot be stopped.
He's calling you today to hear his word and to drink from it. Dig your own well and dig it deep. Find his reserves and draw from it.
And don't forget to share that cup of living water with others.
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).
#WordOfGodSpeak