PT-2 "Godly Mourning" (Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2020 10:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Godly Mourning”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verse:  “4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’”

            The condition of this second beatitude is mourning as the text says “blessed are those who mourn.  John MacArthur explains “There are nine different Greek words that are used in the New Testament to speak of sorrow, reflecting its commonness in man’s life.  It is woven into the cloth of the human situation.  The story of history is the story of tears.  And before the earth’s situation gets better it will get worse.  Jesus tells that before He comes again, ‘nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs’ (Matt. 24:7-8).  Until the Lord returns, history is destined to go from tragedy to greater tragedy, from sorrow to still greater sorrow.”  It is very interesting to me that I am studying this beatitude at the same time when what MacArthur is writing about seems to be happening, that is there are sorrows around the world that have not been seen like they are today in over a hundred years.

            Now MacArthur mentioned that there are nine terms used for sorrow, but the one used here is pentheo, mourn, and it is the strongest, the most severe as it represents the deepest, most heartfelt grief, and was generally reserved for grieving over the death of a loved one.  I have mentioned about how the OT was written in the Greek language which is called the Septuagint and we see this word used of Jacob when he thought that his son Joseph had died as seen in Genesis 37:34 “So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.”  It is also used of the disciples’ mourning for Jesus before they found out that He had been raised from the dead as seen in Mark 16:10 “10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.”  When we studied the book of Revelation we read the following verses from Rev. 18:11 and 15 “11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more.”  “15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,”

            This word we have been looking at for mourning, “pentheo” carries the idea of deep inner agony and this may or may not be expressed by outward weeping, or even wailing or lament.  We have looked at Psalm 32 before and have stated that this psalm was written by David after he had confessed his sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah as David confesses this is verses 3-5 “3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”  After David stopped hiding his sin he then states in verses 1-2 the following “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”  I did this backwards for effect.

            Now here is an important point and that is that Happiness, or blessedness, does not come in mourning itself, however happiness comes with what God does in response to it, with the forgiveness that such mourning brings.  The truth is that Godly mourning brings God’s forgiveness, which brings God’s happiness.  MacArthur adds “Mourning is not merely a psychological or emotional experience that makes people feel better.  It is a communion with the living, loving God who responds to the mourner with an objective reality—the reality of divine forgiveness!” 

            We will end this SD with an example that John MacArthur writes about in the life of David to show us how David became happy, when he became truly sad over his sin.  “David experienced and expressed many kinds of common human sorrow, both proper and improper.  He mourned over being lonely, over being rejected, over being discouraged and disappointed, and over losing an infant child.  He also mourned inordinately over the death of Absalom, whom God had removed to protect Israel and the messianic throne of David.  But nothing broke the heart of David like his own sin.  No anguish was as deep as the anguish he felt when he finally saw the awfulness of his offenses against the Lord.  That is when David became happy, when he became truly sad over his transgressions.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today: I know that David was a man after God’s own heart and I have to believe that when he disappointed God and realized that as he said “I have sinned against You,” that helps me to understand why David was a man after God’s own heart.  I desire to have that kind of mourning after I sin against God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn to be content, humble, and have joy as I study the Word of God, and to understand that when I sin that I sin against God.

4/7/2020 11:11 AM

PT-1 "Godly Mourning" (Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2020 11:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Godly Mourning”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verses:  “4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

            We have been looking at two types of mourning in the past few SD’s, however this has nothing to do with the type of mourning that Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 5:4.  Jesus does desire to give His children consoling, comfort, and also to strengthen us when we turn to Him for help, but those are not the kind of sorrow at issue here.  What Jesus is speaking of here is godly sorrow, godly mourning, mourning that only those who sincerely desire to belong to Him or who already belong to Him can experience.

            Let us look at an example that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11a “10  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you.”  We can see here that the only sorrow that brings spiritual life and growth is godly sorrow, sorrow over sin that leads to repentance as godly sorrow is linked to repentance, and repentance is linked to sin. I believe that we can link 1 John 1:9 her “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

            John MacArthur writes “As the first beatitude makes clear, entrance into the kingdom of heaven begins with being ‘poor in spirit,’ with recognition of total spiritual bankruptcy.  The only way any person can come to Jesus Christ is empty-handed, totally destitute and pleading for God’s mercy and grace.  Without a sense of spiritual poverty no one can enter the kingdom.  And when we enter the kingdom we should never lose that sense, knowing ‘that nothing good dwells in [us], that is, in [our] flesh’ (Rom. 7:18).”  As one reads over the 7^th chapter of Romans we can be assured that what Paul wrote there was something that he totally got over, but struggled with it for the rest of his life as Paul wrote that chapter speaking of the issues that he was going through, issues that we all go through from one degree to another.  The verb tense found in that section indicates this to be true.

            It is the poor in spirit who become those who mourn.  Psalm 51 was written by David about his sinfulness of adultery with Bathsheba along with the killing of her husband, and in this Psalm David repented and expressed his godly sorrow as seen in verses 3-4 “3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.”  Now we want to talk about Job who according to verse one we read “1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”  God still had things to teach Job about His greatness and Job’s own unworthiness along with some things about God’s infinite wisdom and Job’s own very imperfect understanding.  Most of know what happened to Job, how he lost his children, and all of his wealth, not realizing that this was God’s plan for him.  After God allowed everything that was dear to Job to be taken away and then He lectured His servant on His sovereignty and His majesty, did Job finally come to the place of godly sorrow, of repenting of and mourning over sin as Job would confess “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but no my eye sees Thee; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).  MacArthur adds “God loves and honors a morally righteous life, but it is no substitute for a humble and contrite heart, which God loves and honors every more (Isa. 66:2).”  “"For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD.”But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

            “As seen in the discussion of the first beatitude, makarios (‘blessed’) means to be happy, blissful.  That happiness is a divine pronouncement, the assured benefit of those who meet the conditions God requires.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  If I follow the highlighted portion of Isaiah 66:2, then I will be able to follow the highlighted of this last paragraph from John MacArthur, to meet the conditions God requires.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust that the Lord continue to teach me things that I desire to learn, that of contentment, humility and to have joy as I study His Word.

4/6/2020 11:51 AM

PT-2 Proper Mourning (Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2020 9:45 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Proper Mourning”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verse:  “4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’”

            It is my desire to finish this last portion about proper mourning by looking at some more verses from the Word of God to help us better understands what proper mourning is all about.

            We begin with Jeremiah 9:1 “Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people!”  Jeremiah was in anguish about the sin of the people of Israel as we can see from this verse and many more why Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet.”

            In the 20^th chapter of the book of Acts Paul is visiting the elders from the Ephesian church and in his heart he knows that they will fail in their walk with the Lord which is actually seen in the letter that our Lord sends to them in the 2^nd chapter of the book of Revelation as indeed this church had lost is first love.  Paul talks about what was on his heart in this 20^th chapter of Acts:  "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears” (vs. 31).  “38 grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship” (vs. 38).”

            In the gospel of Mark we see the earnest love of a father which caused him to be grief-stricken over his demon-possessed son, which is still seen when he brings his son to Jesus.  He first brought him to the disciples as Jesus along with James, John, and Peter were on the mount of transfiguration, and when they came down that was the scene they came into.  We have one of the rather famous verses in Mark 9:24 as the man says to Jesus “I do believe; help my unbelief.”  The man was surely showing proper mourning over his son.

            This next verse was the background for a book that Joseph Stowell wrote “Why it’s Hard to Love Jesus.”  The story is about a sin-sick woman who came to see Jesus while He was at the home of a Pharisee and Jesus says to this woman in Luke 7:47 “"For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’”

            John MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Immeasurable divine love caused our Lord to weep at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and over the sinning people of Jerusalem, whom He wanted to gather into His care as a mother hen gathers her chicks (Matt. 23:37).”

4/5/2020 10:09 AM

PT-1 "Proper Mourning" (Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/4/2020 10:53 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “Proper Mourning”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verses:  “4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

            We spent some time looking at improper mourning in our last SD, and so today we want to look at some things about proper mourning today, which could be seen as sorrows as these sorrows bring about mourning.

            I have heard at different times in my life that a person is not able to cry over perhaps the death of a loved one, and it is said of them that they need to cry.  Why do you suppose that this is true, the need of crying?  MacArthur writes “To express these sorrows and to cry over them opens an escape valve that keeps our feelings from festering and poisoning our emotions and our whole life.  It provides the way for healing, just as washing out a wound helps prevent infection.”  A couple of days ago I got a phone call a 1-800 phone call, something that I rarely answer, but I did answer it then.  The phone call was from a lawyer’s site, a lawyer who is actually one of our President’s lawyers.  The lady was looking for a donation as this lawyer is and has been working on getting Rowe V Wade overturned and stated that there is much progress being made.  All of a sudden I had a hard time talking to her because of emotions that came up in my heart over this awful practice that has kills millions and millions of innocent babies.  I had a hard time even finishing the call, especially after she asked me to pray over this, something that I told her I do most every day.  I have to say that after reading about proper mourning that this was exactly what I was having then, and something that I should continue to have.

            When trouble comes we actually learn more and mature more from times of sorrow than from times when everything is going well as seen in a poem written by Robert Browning Hamilton:

“I walked a mile with Pleasure

She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,

And ne’er a word she said,

But, oh, the things I leaned from her

When Sorrow walked with me.”

            I told a brief story of a Pastor friend of mine and how today, three years ago that his beloved wife went to be with the Lord.  It kind of reminds me of when Abraham’s wife Sarah died, Abraham was the “father of the faithful” as seen in Gen. 23:2, and he did not weep from lack of faith but for the loss of his beloved wife, and just like my friend he had every right to do so.

            John MacArthur writes “Loneliness for God, from whom he felt separated for a time, caused the psalmist to declare, ‘As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God’ when shall I come and appear before God? My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ (Psalm 42:1-3).”

            Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:3-4 when defeat and discouragement was causing Timothy to mourn “3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.”

            We will look at some more Scriptural examples, Lord willing, in our next SD as we try to complete this section.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The section from Psalm 42:1-2 has always been a favorite of mine to read, and it gave new meaning to me as I went over it today.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Desire to learn more about proper mourning, to learn more about contentment, and humility along with having a joy as I study God’s Word.

4/4/2020 11:28 AM

Improper Mourning (Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2020 11:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  Improper Mourning

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verses:  “4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

            You may remember that in our last SD that we looked at a preview of the things that we will be looking at as we go through this section of Scripture guided by some of the things that are written in John MacArthur’s commentary.  We are going to look at some of the things that Jesus meant from this verse and some of the things that He did not mean as we look through a series of main-sections and sub-sections from the main sections.  The first section we will be introducing today is “The Meaning of Mourning” and then we will look at the first sub-section “Improper Mourning.”

            I will quote the introduction from MacArthur’s commentary on this first main section “The Meaning of Mourning.”  “Certain kinds of sorrow are common to all mankind, experienced by believer and unbeliever alike.  Some of those sorrows are normal and legitimate, sorrows which concern the Lord and for which He knows our need.  Others are abnormal and illegitimate, brought about solely because of sinful passions and objectives.”  So now we move on to talk about improper mourning.

            I don’t really like to bring about politics into my Spiritual Diaries but when I look at what the meaning of improper mourning there is a good example in America politics that has been going on for three years as a certain party has never gotten over the people’s choice of who is our President and so they continue to scheme to try and over through the 2016 election in a number of illegal ways and when they fail they most assuredly mourn over their lost efforts.  This is improper mourning.  To those who mourn in these improper ways the Lord gives no help or solace.

            An example from Scripture is the story of David’s son Amnon “2 Amnon was so frustrated because of his sister Tamar that he made himself ill, for she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her.”  We see here that Amnon’s grief was caused by incestuous, unfulfilled lust.

            I can only realize from seeing this happen and that is that when a person’s mate dies, even a Christian’s mate dies that there are times when they are so distressed that it will ruin the remainder of their lives.  If the Lord allows a person’s mate to come home to be with Him that has to be in His will and thus after a time of mourning that person moves on.  Some will re-marry; some will go on and continue to do things for the Lord.  I have a friend of mine, who really was not a close friend that lost his wife three years ago tomorrow.  The Lord laid upon my heart to pray very diligently for him which I did and even wrote letters to him.  Mike knew of my prayers for him and was thankful.  My prayers to the Lord were that he would begin to write again as he posts something daily on the internet and then my prayers for him would be also that he would go out and begin to speak again as he was a retired Pastor.  The Lord graciously answered my prayers and today Dr. Mike is filling in at a church near us who has lost their pastor.  Yesterday I wrote a note to him telling him that I still think of him and pray for him many times during the week.

            Now going back to the story about Amnon as this story continues to develop we find Amnon rapping his half sister and then his love turned into hate, really his lust turned into hate.  Her brother Absalom eventually killed Amnon and then ran away.  David finally allows him to return and eventually Absalom tries to take over the kingdom and actually runs David out of Jerusalem.  A war begins and Absalom is eventually killed.  All of this to say that David heavily mourns over the lost of Absalom so much that he wishes himself dead over Absalom.  Joab finally rebuked the king in saying “5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, "Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, 6 by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.”  MacArthur adds “The wickedly ambitious Absalom had raised a rebel army, driven the king—his own father—out of Jerusalem, and taken over the palace.

            “David’s love for his son was understandable, but his judgment had been perverted.  Probably because of his great feeling of guilt for having been such a poor father, and because he knew that Absalom’s tragedy was part of the judgment God sent because of David’s adulterous and murderous affair with Bathsheba, the kings’ mourning over Absalom was abnormal.  The judgment that came on Absalom was entirely deserved.”  As you think about this  a bit more we can understand that if Absalom would have won then the very happy time that David received from the Lord about always having a man on the throne, including the Messiah would then not have happened.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is important to me to understand the right things that I am to mourn over, and that does not always mean that a person has to die to mourn over something.  I can also say that because of the age of my recently passed father-in-law that I have had trouble mourning over his death.  I struggle with that to this day.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to learn more about contentment, humility, and mourning along with having joy over the studying of the Word of God.   

4/3/2020 12:07 PM

"Happy are the Sad" (Intro to Matt. 5:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2020 9:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Happy are the Sad

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 5:4

            Message of the verse:  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

            As we begun the section on the Beatitudes we stated that they are all paradoxical, and the reason is because what they promise for what they demand seems incongruous and upside down in the eyes of the natural man.  Now we will see that the paradox of this second beatitude is obvious.  What could be more self-contradictory than the idea that the sad are happy, that the path to happiness is sadness, that the way to rejoicing is in mourning.

            Let us look at Psalm 55:6-8 where David is crying out “6  I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. 7 “Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah. 8 “I would hasten to my place of refuge From the stormy wind and tempest.’”  I can’t help but think that everyone who is reading this SD has had moments like this when they just wanted to fly away from all of their troubles, they wanted a cry of release of what they were going through, and the deeper the problem the more they wanted to get away from it.  However it is not like being outside in the rain and you run into the house for shelter from the rain, as burdens are not like rainstorms where we can flee from them.  “The deeper the sorrow, the harder the pressure, the worse the despair, the more elusive comfort seems to be” writes John MacArthur.

            He goes on to write “In the routine of ordinary, day-by-day living, the idea seems absurd.  The whole structure of most human living—whether by the primitive or sophisticated, the wealthy or the poor, the educated or the uneducated—is based on the seemingly incontrovertible principle that the way to happiness is having things go your own way.  Pleasure brings happiness, money brings happiness, entertainment brings happiness, fame and praise brings happiness, self-expression brings happiness.  On the negative side, avoiding pain, trouble, disappointment, frustration, hardships, and other problems brings happiness.  Sidestepping those things is necessary before the other things can bring full happiness.  Throughout history a basic axiom of the world has been that favorable things bring happiness, whereas unfavorable things bring unhappiness.  The principle seems so self-evident that most people would not bother to debate it.”

            As we look at that Jesus states in this second Beatitude He is saying “Happy are the Sad,” and then we see in Luke 6:25 that He states “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”  This verse is the converse beatitude of Matthew 5:4.  So what we see here is that Jesus turned the world’s principles exactly upside down as He reversed the path to happiness.

            MacArthur concludes his introduction to Matthew 5:4 by saying “To discover what Jesus meant, and did not mean, in this beatitude we will look at the meaning of mourning as it is used here, the result of mourning, the way to mourn as Jesus teaches, and the way to know if we are truly mourning.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I remember one of our Pastors at the church that I attended after I became a believer preaching on what a paradox is and he described it by talking about the fans that we had in our worship center.  There were 6 or 8 fans blowing in the worship center that in the summer they were blowing in reverse taking the heat from the lower part of the worship center and raising it to the top so that we were cooler.  That is not really what you think a fan would do to keep people cooler and this being “poor in spirit” and then being happy to mourn does not seem like the right thing to do either.  It is a matter of faith and trust in the Lord to work it out.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to be teachable as the Lord teaches me contentment, humility and gives me joy in studying and reading God’s Word.

4/2/2020 10:29 AM

PT-2 "Knowing When We are Humble" (Gen. 5:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2020 10:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-2 “Know When We are Humble”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:3

            Message of the verse:  “3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

            We begin what I hope will be our last SD on this third verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew, something that certainly has been very insightful, and something that certainly has stepped on my toes and stretches my faith greatly.  It is my desire to finish the sub-section that we began yesterday by concluding things that Thomas Watson wrote about as he gives us seven principles we may apply in determining humility, by looking at the two principles, and then move onto “The Result of Being Poor in Spirit” as this is the last sub-section in MacArthur’s commentary which we have been following.

            The sixth principle of know that we are humble is that we will take Christ on His terms, and not on ours or anyone else.  This can mean that we will not try to have Christ while keeping our pride, our pleasures, our covetousness, or our immorality.  We will not modify Christ’s standards by some kind of ecclesiastical traditions, something like the Pharisees did, and something like certain religions do today, and lastly not do this by our own inclinations or persuasions.  Stick only to the Word of God as it is our standard.  Watson said, “A castle that has long been besieged and is ready to be taken will deliver up on any terms to save their lives.  He whose heart has been a garrison for the devil, and has held out long in opposition against Christ, when once God has brought him to poverty of spirit and he sees himself damned without Christ.”

            Last the seventh principle is that when we are poor in spirit we will praise and thankGod for His grace.  There is nothing more characterizes the humble believer than abounding gratitude to his Lord and His Savior, as He knows that he has no blessings and no happiness but that which the Father gives in His love and grace.  The believer knows that God’s grace is as Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Tim. 1:14 “more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.” 

4/1/2020 10:32 AM  4/1/2020 12:21 PM

The Result of Being Poor in Spirit

            Now we come to the end of this marvelous verse and one of the things that we must remember from this verse is the meaning of “the poor in spirit,” for in my mind that is the most important thing we can remember as everyone is poor in spirit, but when you become a believer you have realized this truth as for all those who come to the King in this humility will inherit His kingdom “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Luke 12:32 states “’Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.’”

            There are some examples from the OT that help us better understand how this works, being poor in spirit.  The first comes from Judges 6:15-16 which speaks of Gideon:  “15 He [Gideon] said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house." 16 But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.’”

            The next one is a bit more familiar as it comes from Isaiah 6:1-7 “1  In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2  Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.  5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."  The highlighted verses are the ones we want to focus in on, and I also want to mention that Isaiah was a believer when all of this happened.

            MacArthur concludes “Those who come to the Lord with broken hearts do not leave with broken hearts.  ‘For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’ (Isa. 57:15).  God wants us to recognize our poverty so that He can make us rich.  He wants us to recognize our lowliness so that He can raise us up.  ‘Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord,’ James says, ‘and He will exalt you’ (James 4:10).

            “In giving up their own kingdom, the poor in spirit inherit God’s.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Isaiah 57:15 is what I look at from this section as I want to claim that promise.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to learn, as I study God’s Word, to be content, to be humble, and to continue to have joy as I study His Word.

4/1/2020 12:42 PM