Isaiah 42:10-17
God’s entrance into the world is a reason for rejoicing and proclaiming His wondrous deeds. God will triumph, and we must give Him the praise and honor, and all things of this world will pass away, but God and His Kingdom are eternal; therefore, we must keep ourselves from putting anything above God in our hearts and minds.
New Year, New Praise
Just as we talked about New Years’ and New Resolutions last week, the Epiphany of the Lord reminds us that our praise and devotion must be made new daily, even in the cycle of life. Often, we allow our praises and prayer to become routine and rote. However, we must remember that the God we serve is worthy of our prayers, and just as we have new experiences and new reasons for prayer and praise, we must incorporate that into our worship life and not hold anything back. The purpose of worship and praise is to honor God and not only check items off the to-do list. Therefore worship must be an expression of our utmost devotion, and we must have undivided loyalty to God. Isaiah warns Judah of the results of divided loyalty and that the people must always serve God far above and beyond any other objects or items clamoring for our devotion.
Isaiah 42:10-17
10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them. 11 Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. 12 Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands. 13 The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout, he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. 14 “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools. 16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. 17 But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame.
Bring Praise Everywhere We Go
Just as God goes everywhere with us, we must bring our praises for God everywhere. These cannot merely be the same prayers that we have said repeatedly, but rather these praises must be authentic, bringing our experiences, thoughts, and feelings to God in worship. Many things are pulling us to veer our gaze away from what the Almighty is doing in our hearts. Still, the faith we have in God, the praise we bring to God must be new and continually being renewed in the face of the hurts and fears and in the presence of all the things that grab our attention and pull us away from God.
As we look at the world’s events, temptation leads us to react out of an abundance of hurt and pain, but it depends on us to remain focused upon God. We must rededicate our hearts to worship and praise of God and a renewed spirit of prayer that lead us to where God would have our hearts, our minds, and our focus. If we trust in God and praise God new, then we understand that God wants our hearts even in our pain. We cannot condone the ways of this world that depend on hurting and violent acts, but instead, we must ask God to leads us in teaching the world to love people, give hope to all people, and be the peacemakers that Jesus calls blessed.
God Conquers All
We do not need to focus on being the traditional warrior because God is the warrior. God calls us to serve, and our Service to God must be our paramount focus. Service is antithetical to a call to pick up arms and is preferably a call to place our faith in God. We must firmly believe that God can conquer anything in this world or outside of this world. Trust in God renews our faith, and we must continuously act toward renewing our faith in God daily. When we live with a renewed confidence that God conquers all of His enemies, then we can focus more fervently on how God wants us to act and behave in our world. If we live our lives in such a way that speaks anything other than serving an all-conquering God, then we must re-devote our hearts to God.
However, we should sit back and ignore what is going on, but instead, it is an opportunity for Christians to stand up for God’s truth in the world. That truth calls the church to bring God’s love in all we say and do, to embody God’s hope and share it with others, and to ensure all people are made whole, and that we strive after peace. Otherwise, we follow the world into destructive practices that God will ultimately conquer and destroy.
Be Led By God and Not Idols
If we listen and pray and read scripture with a mind toward renewal, God promises to lead us, even if we are blind. This type of renewal is like you are reading scripture for the first time. Many people look upon the Word of God and have the audacity to think that they don’t have anything more to learn from a particular passage. In reality, our arrogance and previous readings blind us to God’s light. We must look to God when we read any scripture and ask God to show us and lead us to the truth, and if we are faithful, God will lead us, bringing light where our previous knowledge may have left us in the dark.
Anything can become an idol. Previous teachers, pastors, church leaders, political figures, sports figures, celebrities, kings and queens, ideologies, and countries all become idols and threaten to pull us away from God. None from the previous list will be able to save you. Many of the people at the time of Christ looked for their salvation in things of the world. They looked to politicians, to warriors seeking to throw out Rome, to kings with false lineage, teachers, and even the church for salvation, but God brought salvation in an unorthodox way. Jesus came, and people called him by many of the names shown above. However, God brought Christ to lead the people through sacrificial love and through the Holy Spirit’s power that is far above the power of this world.
Devotion to anything or anybody other than God is idolatry, and we must be careful in all that we say and do to give our allegiance to God and God alone. Our lead must come from God and not from man. Only then can our praise and our faith be made new.
Elpis and Shalom 