SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/10/2013
9:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Accusation against Sinners PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
56:9-57:2
Message of the
verses: In today’s SD we begin the
third main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s outline that comes from the book “Be Comforted,”
his commentary on Isaiah. We will begin
this section today but I am not sure how far we will get.
Introduction to the section: We will look at in this section, a series of
indictments that Isaiah brings up against certain peoples in Israel. We first will look at the leaders, and then
the idolaters, the proud and greedy, then the hypocritical worshipers, then
those who are responsible for injustice in the land. Dr. Wiersbe writes “But even in His wrath,
God remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2); for along with these indictments, the Lord
pleads with the people to humble themselves and submit to Him.”
The Leaders of the Nation (Isaiah 56:9-57:2): “9 All you beasts of the field, All you
beasts in the forest, Come to eat. 10 His watchmen are blind, All of them know
nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark, Dreamers lying down, who
love to slumber; 11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they
are shepherds who have no understanding; They have all turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one. 12 “Come," they say,
"let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow
will be like today, only more so.’
“1 The righteous man perishes, and no man
takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For
the righteous man is taken away from evil, 2 He enters into peace; They rest in
their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.”
“13 Because of the sins of her prophets And the
iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the
righteous; 14 They wandered, blind, in
the streets; They were defiled with blood So that no one could touch their garments
Lamentations 4:13-14).” These two verses
show at least one reason as to why Judah went into captivity in Babylon. We believe that if these prophets, priests,
and the leaders would have repented of their sinful ways then the Lord would
not have sent them into captivity, but they did not. Isaiah speaks of these leaders as “sleeping
dogs” and also “blind watchmen” who were not doing their job letting it be
known that an enemy is coming. The
problem was that the leaders liked to party and then sleep it off, thus they
were not watching.
Let us look at what Ezekiel has to say about leaders who
are “watchmen” “17 "Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house
of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18 "When I say to the wicked, ’You will
surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his
wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his
blood I will require at your hand. 19
"Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his
wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have
delivered yourself. 20 "Again, when
a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I
place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he
shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be
remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 "However, if you have warned the
righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall
surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.’” (Ezekiel 3:17-21 also see Ezekiel 33:1-11).
Leaders are also called “shepherds” and they must take
care of the flock. Jesus said “I am the
good shepherd,” which is found in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. He always will do His job to care for the
sheep. In Acts 20:18-38 Paul gives an
account to the leader of the church at Ephesus how he shepherded the flock when
he was there.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section by
writing “God permitted the unrighteous leaders to live and suffer the terrible
consequences of their sins, but the righteous people died before the judgment
fell. The godly found rest and peace,
and the ungodly went into captivity, and some of them were killed. Rebellious people do not deserve dedicated
spiritual leader. When His people reject
His Word and prefer worldly leaders, God may give them exactly what they desire
and let them suffer the consequences.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I see thing in
our country that are similar to what was going on in the nation of Israel
before they went into captivity. I
totally agree with the comments that Dr. Wiersbe makes, and believe that they
are being seen in our country. Our
country needs a great revival, a revival of the Church, and I believe, and pray
for God to send a spiritual leader to help bring revival back to the Church in
our country.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to pray for revival in the Church in
our country, and for our leaders, and also for the leaders in the nation of
Israel.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7).
Today’s Bible
Question: “To whom did Jesus give the
sop at the last supper?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/10/2013 10:46 AM
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