Idols - Just super-sized versions of Self

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah, the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. Jeremiah 3:6

Israel had gone wholeheartedly into idolatry, and as a result there was gross immorality in the land. The high place was a grove of trees where an idolatrous altar had been built. All kinds of sex orgies and drunken revelries were carried on there. Idolatry and immorality fuel one another. Where one exists, the other is sure to be close at hand. Idolatry furnishes a convenient religious "pass" to perform immoral acts.

"When a man makes a god according to the pattern of his own being, he makes a god like himself, an enlargement of his own imperfection. Moreover, the god which a man makes for himself will demand from him that which is according to his own nature...

Men will be faithful to those gods

who make no demands upon them

which are out of harmony with

the desires of their own hearts.

When God calls men, it is the call of the God of holiness, the God of purity, the God of love; and He demands that they rise to His height. He cannot accommodate Himself to the depravity of their nature. He will not consent to the things of desire within them that are of impurity and evil. He calls men up, and even higher, until they reach the height of perfect conformity to His holiness. God's call to humanity is always first pure, and then peaceable; first holy, and then happy; first righteous, and then rejoicing."

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, Studies in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, p 36

Idols - Always Sensual, Enlightened, and Sentimental

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked not after things that do not profit. Jeremiah 2:8

"It is interesting to see that when man rejects God, he always will make an idol. When people make their own god, they make it as they want it. They make a god whose demands they can meet. In other words, it is actually a projection of the old nature of man." J Vernon McGee

So what are idols like? the old nature of man?

Idols are always sensual... because they're designed to pleasure the physical cravings of the present culture.

Idols are always enlightened... because they're designed to enlighten us with the worldly wisdom of the present culture.

Idols are always sentimental... because they're designed to fan the emotional sentiment of the present culture.

Idols are simply gods whose demands men can meet. It's easy (and fun!) to meet the demands of pleasure, worldly wisdom, and emotional sentiment.

On the other hand, it's NOT pleasurable to crucify my physical cravings, so I'll create an idol that stimulates them instead. That way I can have my "pleasure" and my god, too.

It's NOT "enlightened" to follow the wisdom of God's word, so I'll create an idol that illuminates my intellect in ways that the world applauds. Then I can have my "enlightenment" and my god, too.

It's NOT poignant to be driven by something as cold as God's will, so I'll create an idol that drives me by the emotional sentiment of the day. Then I can have my "sentiment" and my god, too.

After all, it's much better in this world to be associated with pleasure, enlightenment, and poignancy. People like me better. People seek me out. People pay more attention to me. People follow me. People repeat my words. People dress like me. People praise me. People... worship me. Makes me sort of an.... idol.

Defeating Anger - Fear

Anger is caused by frustration, hurt, or fear.

Defeating Fear:
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Defeating Anger - Hurt

Anger caused by frustration, hurt, or fear.

Defeating Hurt:
A Surrendered Heart
I Peter 3:15 "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts..."
Am I responding to hurt independently of God? in rebellion to God?
Am I responding to hurt with a clenched fist? or a surrendered heart?

An Anchored Hope
I Peter 3:15 "...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear..."
Our hope must be anchored in God only. Anything that we turn to for comfort instead of God becomes an idol.
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Am I responding to hurt with a hope anchored in God alone, or with an unstable substitute?

A Good Conscience
I Peter 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Am I responding to hurt in a way that produces a good conscience? Does my response cause others to be ashamed to falsely accuse me?

Defeating Anger - Frustration

Anger is caused by frustration, hurt, or fear.

Three Keys to Defeating Frustration:
Be Content Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.


Accept God's Control
Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.

Psalm 135:6 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

Don't Be Self-centered
1 Corinthians 10:23-24 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

Philippians 2:3-5 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Jeremiah - Discouraged Amid Decay, But Faithful To His Call

Commentary on Jeremiah - very encouraging...

What if some present-day preacher stood in his pulpit and persistently declared that God was on the side of the communists? That God was against America and that he was raising up the communists to be his people and his servants? That God cared nothing for the Declaration of Independence or the American Constitution or the long heritage of religious worship that our nation has had? In fact, that the things we emphasize were an offense to God?

And what if this preacher even advocated that Christians renounce their loyalty to their country and join the Communist Party? And what if the preacher---subjected to house arrest, or flung into prison, or slapped in the face in public and his writings burned, or half-drowned in a pit of slime---would not only stubbornly refuse to take back one word of what he had said but would only repeat it again? Well, this is something like the situation that is recorded in the book of Jeremiah. This is exactly what Jeremiah was called to do.

Imagine yourself as that preacher. Imagine how you would feel when no one listens to you and persecution hounds you every step of the way. You are unable to seek comfort in marriage because the days are too difficult and God has said to remain unmarried. You feel abandoned, and alone; all your friends turn from you.

And if you try to quit, and refuse to be this kind of a preacher, you find that you cannot quit---that the word of God burns in your bones and you have to say it whether or not you want to. And despite the message that you are called upon to deliver, your love for your country is genuine and deep---as you see it surrounded by its enemies and ravished and conquered and despoiled, you are overcome by a deep sorrow that breaks out in grief's lamentations.

Now, perhaps, you can understand why Jeremiah, of all the prophets, was unquestionably the most heroic. Isaiah wrote more exalted passages and perhaps saw more precisely the coming of the Messiah and the fullness of his work. Other prophets speak more precisely concerning some of the future events that were to be fulfilled, but Jeremiah is outstanding among the prophets as a man of heroic, dauntless courage. For many years he endured this kind of persecution in his life without quitting. That is an amazing record, isn't it? As you read through this book you can see that here indeed is an amazing man.

Jeremiah lived in the last days of a decaying nation. He was the last prophet to Judah, the southern kingdom. Judah continued on after the ten tribes of the north had been carried into captivity under Assyria. (Isaiah prophesied about sixty years before Jeremiah.) Jeremiah comes in at the close of the reign of the last good king of Judah, the boy king Josiah, who led the last revival the nation experienced before it went into captivity. (This revival under King Josiah was a rather superficial matter; in fact, the prophet Hilkiah had told him that though the people would follow him in his attempt to reform the nation and return to God, they would only do so because they loved him and not because they loved God.)

Jeremiah, then, comes in right in the middle of the reign of King Josiah and his ministry carries us on through the reign of King Jehoahaz, who was on the throne only about three months. And then came King Jehoiakim, one of the most evil kings of Judah, and then the three months' reign of Jehoiachin who was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and taken into captivity in Babylon. And Jeremiah was still around at the time of Judah's last king Zedekiah, at the end of whose reign Nebuchadnezzar returned, utterly destroying the city of Jerusalem and taking the whole nation into Babylonian captivity.

Jeremiah's ministry covered about forty years, and during all this time the prophet never once saw any signs of success in his ministry. His message was one of denunciation and reform, and the people never obeyed him. The other prophets saw in some measure the impact of their message upon the nation---but not Jeremiah. He was called to a ministry of failure, and yet he was enabled to keep going for forty long years and to be faithful to God and to accomplish God's purpose: to witness to a decayed nation.

Two important things are woven into the fabric of this entire prophecy. One concerns the fate of the nation, and the other concerns the feelings of the prophet. And both of them are instructive.
First of all, the prophecies of Jeremiah that have to do with the fate of the nation reflect the familiar theme of all the prophets. Jeremiah reminds this people that the beginning of error in their lives was their failure to take God seriously. They looked lightly upon what he said. They did not pay much attention to what he had told them, and they did what was right in their own eyes rather than carefully examining their behavior in the light of God's revelation and word.

As we read in the historical books, they had sunk so low in the early days of Josiah's reign that they had actually lost the copy of the law. As far as we can tell, no one in the land of Judah any longer had access to the word of God, and the copy which was in the temple---and which ought to have been in the central place of worship---was lost somewhere in the back room. Only by accident was it finally found, and its discovery stimulated the revival led by Josiah.

But that is how far off base the nation had gone. They had actually lost contact with the word of God. They had adopted the dangerous principle of doing what was right in their own eyes. What they thought was right. Many people do what they know is wrong in the sight of God. That is bad enough. But it is equally dangerous to judge for ourselves what is right for we have no ability to judge properly---and this is what was happening in Israel.

As a result, they adopted the values of the worldlings around them and ended up worshiping the gods of the other nations. This brought on, as it always does, a torrent of bickering and strife and lowered morals and perverted justice. They made military alliances with godless nations around them, and the country gradually sank deeper and deeper and lower and lower on the moral scale.

It was to this people that Jeremiah came. And the message that he was told to proclaim was judgment: that the national rebellion would lead to national ruin. Throughout this whole book you find these prophecies clearly delineated as he told exactly how God was raising up a terrible and godless people, a fierce and cruel people, who would sweep across the land and destroy everything in their path. They would be utterly ruthless; they would break down the walls and destroy the temple and take all the things that the nation valued and Israel would be carried away into captivity. Thus God would judge Israel.

But Jeremiah also makes very clear throughout these passages of judgment that God judges with a sorrowing heart, a weeping heart, and then the prophet looks beyond the 70 years of captivity he predicts. (Later on, while reading this very book of Jeremiah, the prophet Daniel realized that God had predicted that the captivity would last exactly 70 years. That is how Daniel knew that the end of the time was coming and he could look forward to seeing the nation restored again to the land.) Jeremiah looks beyond the captivity to the restoration of the people and then, in that peculiar way that prophets suddenly extend their view from immediate to far-distant events, he looks even further beyond---to the ultimate dispersion of the peoples of Israel, and then to the final regathering of the nation into the land. He looks to the days that will usher in the millennial reign when Israel---restored and blessed and called by God---shall be the world's center.

As Jeremiah watched the potter at work, he saw him making a vessel on his wheel, and as the wheel turned the potter shaped the vessel. And as Jeremiah watched, the vessel in the potter's hand was marred and broken. Then the potter took the vessel and once more pushed it all down into a lump of clay, and shaping it the second time, made it into a vessel after the potter's heart.
All through this book you will find visual aids, or object lessons. The prophets are good at giving such lessons, and Jeremiah does that here. This is God's great object lesson of what he does with a broken life. He takes it and makes it over again---not according to the failures and foolish dreams of an individual, but after the potter's heart, for the potter has power over the clay to shape it as he wishes. Jeremiah speaks a prophecy of ruin---of desolation and destruction and judgment---but beyond that is the hope and glory of the days when God shall reshape the vessel. This applies not only to the nation but to the individual as well.

Now, the second theme in Jeremiah relates to the feelings of the prophet. There is a great lesson for us in Jeremiah's honest reactions to the situations he faces. You will find that he constantly fights a battle with discouragement. Who wouldn't with a ministry like his? He sees absolutely no signs of his ministry's success and the grim specter of discouragement and depression dogs his footsteps through all those forty years.

One of the amazing things about this prophet is that when he is in the public eye, he is as fearless as a lion. He speaks to kings and murderers and captains who hurl enraged threats against him, and he is utterly fearless. He looks them right in the eye and delivers the message of God that speaks of their own destruction. But when he is by himself, all alone with God, he is filled with discouragement and depression and resentment and bitterness, and it all comes flooding out.

The prophet turns to God and cries: Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? That is, "This problem just keeps after me all the time. It never stops. It never gets better; it is unceasing, refusing to be healed."

And then he says to God: wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? (Jer 15:18) He is accusing God of being a liar and undependable. Strong words? Undoubtedly. Honest words? Absolutely. He is pouring out exactly how he feels. He has begun to wonder if the trouble might after all be with God that he cannot be depended upon.

As you look back through this brief account, you will see that what is bothering the prophet first of all is persecution: O LORD, thou knowest remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors ( 15:15a). Here is a man who is being hounded everywhere he goes.

Not only does he suffer persecution but also mocking scorn, and contempt: take me not away in thy longsuffering know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. (15:15b)

The third element of his problem is loneliness: I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand for thou hast filled me with indignation. (15:17)

Aren't these usually the ingredients of discouragement for us? We feel put upon. We feel persecuted. We feel that we have tried to do the right thing but everybody either just disregards it or comes back to make trouble for us. Or they mock and deride us and we are weighed down by loneliness and depression of spirit. We feel forsaken.

Ah you say, "I know the trouble with this man. He's obviously permitted himself to backslide." Disobedience---that is the quick and easy answer we glibly hand somebody who is suffering like this. But that isn't the case with Jeremiah. Notice that this is a man who is praying: O LORD, thou knowest remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors ( 15:15a)

And he is feeding on the word: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. (15:16) He is reading his Bible, feeding on the word.

And he is witnessing. ...know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. (15:15) He has been talking to them about the Lord.

And he is separated. Look again at verse 17: I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced...

This is not a backsliding man, is it? For these are the very things you need to do if you get discouraged and depressed. You need to pray and read your Bible and witness to others and keep away from evil. Isn't that the answer? Isn't that the formula? But here is a man who is doing all these things and he is still defeated, still discouraged. Well, what is the problem?

The problem is that he has forgotten his calling. He has forgotten what God has promised to be to him. So God calls him back to it: "Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again" ( 15:19) In scripture God always gives that answer to a heart that has grown discouraged. "Come back," God says. "Return. Go back to the beginnings, to the original things."

And he says: "If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.." (15:19-21)

That is what God said to him at the beginning. Notice this man's call back in chapter 1: Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. ." (1:4-5)

And when from a mire of depression and discouragement, the prophet is called back to the promise of God; when he is reminded that God is greater than circumstances and that no matter how depressing they may be, or how negative, the God who calls him is the God who is able to sustain him in the midst of it; when he gets his eyes off himself and back on to God (like Peter walking on the water), he begins to walk again.

And in the strength he receives through this lesson he continues with his ministry, through all the discouraging circumstances, to at last be taken as a prisoner to Egypt, where he died. We have no record of his death, but Jeremiah was faithful to the end as he learned to walk in the strength of the Lord his God. And he gives us this wonderful prophecy of the grace of God in restoring lives and taking broken, battered, wounded, defeated spirits and making them over again into vessels pleasing to him.

Prayer
Our Father, thank you for the encouragement of this great prophet as we see the decay in our own nation, and the defeat of so many endeavors undertaken for your name's sake. We see the scorn and contempt for your word and for the things concerning you. We pray that you will help us to realize and remember that you are the God who opens and no man shuts and who shuts and no man opens, who does your will in the nations, who sets up and overthrows, who builds and plants, and who accomplishes all your purposes. May we get our eyes off ourselves and our circumstances and on to you and to your great purposes and be strong in you and in your power. We ask it in your name. Amen.

God's Dew and Rain

Isaiah 55:6-11
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

God wants His Word to accomplish something, to prosper in something. What is it that God wants His Word to accomplish? In what way does God want His Word to prosper?

God compares His Word to the rain that waters the earth and causes it to bring forth fruit. Like the rain, His Word is sent forth to water the hearts of men to cause those hearts to bring forth the fruit of repentance. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.
So much of God's creation requires water to sustain life. Plants, animals, and humans require water daily. This creates a dependence upon God for day-to-day life. This is by design. It's God's will for me to be dependent upon Him for my daily life. It's God's way of drawing me near and keeping me near.

God faithfully provides the life-sustaining water needed. He does His part. God sends the morning dew faithfully, and He expects His creation to absorb the dew into their being every day to sustain life. The daily dew sustains the plants through the heat of the day. But God sends more than daily dew; He also sends the rains during the growing season. The rains provide the abundant moisture that the plants need to produce fruit.

Likewise, God has provided me with a daily dose of His life-sustaining Word and He expects me to absorb it into my being every day. It is by reading God's Word that I draw near to Him. Receiving that daily Word into my being sustains me through the heat of the day -- the trials and temptations that beat down upon me daily. When I refuse to read my Bible every day, I'm causing my spirit to thirst. The longer I go without the daily water of the Word, the weaker my spirit becomes, and I begin to wilt and wither in the heat of temptations and trials. As I succumb to the heat, I wander farther and farther away from God. It becomes more and more difficult to withstand the very heat that God wants to use to grow me -- temptation and trials. A spirit that is thirsty from neglecting God's Word will wither under the heat of temptation and trials and seek refreshment and relief from the world's polluted river. And that water is not the same as the water of God's Word.

What's the difference, you say? Water is water, right? Wrong. Live awhile in the the desert and you'll come to understand the difference between fresh water and tainted water. The water we pipe in from area reservoirs is tainted with salt, minerals, and chemicals. It doesn't taste good as drinking water, and it really isn't good for irrigating crops. It will keep plants alive, but they don't really thrive and they don't produce fruit. In fact, if the tainted water splashes up on the leaves of a tender plant, it actually burns the leaves.

When we have a drought in the desert, we can irrigate our tomato plants with tainted water and keep them alive. They'll grow up tall all right, but they don't produce tomatoes until they receive fresh rainwater. That's how it is when we irrigate our spirits with the world's polluted message instead of God's fresh Word. We may get enough moisture to keep us alive, and it may look like we're growing tall. But we don't thrive and we don't produce fruit. It takes the fresh, clean water from a good rain to cause plants to bring forth fruit. And it takes the fresh, clean water of God's Word to bring forth good fruit in the life of any Christian.

God expects the plants that He has created to absorb the morning dew every day. He expects plants to absorb the abundant rain whenever He chooses to send it. Likewise, God determines the time that men's hearts receive His Word. He expects us to absorb His Word every day by reading our Bible. He expects us to absorb the abundant rains of His Word when He sends it.

When we find that we are particularly thirsty, we need to feed on God's Word all the more. It may indicate a growing season. God wants us to quench our thirst with His Word, not the world's polluted river. He wants us to absorb the abundant rain of His Word and bring forth good fruit.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20

How to Make An Idol

In describing the process of idol-making, God reveals the senselessness of it all...

Isaiah 44:14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

Here the man looks through the forest for a tree to use in fashioning an idol. Perhaps he even plants a certain tree and waits for it to grow. Pretty silly to select the material for your god... sounds a lot like going to the teddy bear factory and assembling your own teddy bear. When we consider that God the Creator created the stuff that we're using for our false little gods, it sounds even more silly.

Isaiah 44:15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

Once the tree (which the true Creator God created) is grown, it stands there ready and waiting to be used as man pleases. What kind of god waits to be used as man pleases???

Isaiah 44:16-17 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

So the man finally cuts down his tree, burns part in the fire, roasts his dinner with it, warms himself in front of it, and enjoys watching the fire consume the tree he chose for his god. Then he uses what he didn't burn up to make a god, which he submissively bows down to and asks for deliverance. How absurd! The tree had no power to preserve its life from the man; the tree had no power to object to being burned with fire; the tree had no power to form itself into a graven image. But now, the man is asking the god he made from the powerless tree, to unleash its power and deliver him!

Isaiah 44:18-19 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

And yet it never occurs to the idol-making, idol-worshipping man that his god is nothing but a powerless piece of wood, the stock of a tree.

Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

This is the deception of idolatry to be completely and totally immersed in a lie.

Little Bitty Boiler & A Great Big Whistle

Excerpt from J Vernon McGee Thru the Bible...

Ruth 1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

Both Orpah and Ruth cried with Naomi. Tears, even when faced with the gospel, does not mean anything. A person who cries when hearing the gospel and dedicates him or herself to God may or may not be saved. When these tears are in accordance with God’s norms and standards, then they result in a change of mind (which is repentance) which is salvation

Let me make that clear: you are not changing your mind about your sins; you are not changing your mind about serving God—you are changing your mind upon where you place your trust.

If your sorrow leads to a faith which is on the finished work of Christ, then that is a repentance, or a change of mind, which is in accordance with the norms and standards of God.

If your sorrow leads you simply to a point where you eschew your sins and dedicate your life to serving God, and that your faith is still upon yourself and your works, then that is the sorrow of the world which produces death.

A lot of people come to a place where they’re under conviction, and they intend to change—or at least they say they do—and they shed a few tears, but they keep right on going the same way. And that’s exactly what Orpah did. She shed the tears right along with Ruth, but she didn’t turn around and go to Bethlehem and make a stand for God. No, she went back to idolatry. And a lot of folk are like that today—they just shed tears. Tears are not repentance, friend, although they may be a by-product of repentance.

My Dad used to tell about a steamboat which plied on the Mississippi River years ago when he was a boy. He said it had a little, bitty boiler and a great big whistle. When this boat was moving upstream and blew its whistle, it would start drifting downstream, because it didn’t have enough steam to do both. There are a lot of folk like that today. They have a great big whistle and a little, bitty boiler. They have never come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Oh, they’ll shed a lot of tears over their sins—they blow their whistle—and they’re very emotional. They love to give testimonies full of emotion, but their lives don’t measure up. I know several men who can make people weep when they get up and give their testimonies. They have tears in their voice, but I wouldn’t trust those men at all. I don’t think they’re born-again men at all, just emotional, that’s all. They are like Orpah.

Renewed Strength to Fly, Run, and Walk

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Here are three degrees of strength given by the LORD: flying, running, walking.

I John 2:12-14 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Join the three degrees of strength in Isaiah with the three stages of Christian growth found in I John 2: (1) the young Christian shall mount up as an eagle; (2) the adult Christian shall run; and (3) the mature Christian shall walk.

God will furnish the strength we need whatever our condition, whether it be to fly, to run and not be weary, or to walk, and not faint.

The Scorning Student

The Scorning Student resists the good teacher...

Isaiah 28:9-10 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

The prophets and teachers attempted to teach Israel the the knowledge of God and the doctrine of God. The method of teaching described here is one that is commonly used to teach a young child... "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, and there a little". In other words, the method employed should have been well-suited to the spiritual immaturity and ignorance of the student, Israel. The knowledge of God was faithfully laid out before Israel as building blocks, one precept building upon another, laying a fundamental foundation of simple knowledge on which to build the more complex. The student Israel was given variety (here a little, there a little) to satiate her desire for learning. Through the prophets and teachers, God implemented a well-designed educational pedagogy that gave His student Israel the optimum opportunity to learn and grasp the knowledge of God. How did Israel respond to God's instruction? "...yet they would not hear".

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Isaiah 28:11-13

The Scorning Student rejects the good knowledge...

Israel would not hear the knowledge of God, even when the prophets assured them that the knowledge of God was good for them (rest and refreshment). They regarded the knowledge of God as nothing more than tiresome, tedious, ritual rote repetitions.

It should seem, they ridiculed the prophet’s preaching, and bantered it. The word of the Lord was unto them Tsau latsau, kau lakau; in the original it is in rhyme; they made a song of the prophet’s words, and sang it when they were merry over their wine. David was the song of the drunkards. It is great impiety, and a high affront to God, thus to make a jest of sacred things, to speak of that vainly which should make us serious. Matthew Henry Commentary

The Scorning Student seeks after corrupt counsel...

They rejected the knowledge of the Lord, but they sought after the corrupt counsel from the world.

Isaiah 30:1-2 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Drunkards and Crowns of Pride

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Isaiah 28:1
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. Isaiah 28:3

"To be spiritually drunk is to be filled with pride" (J Vernon McGee). This passage compares pride with drunkenness.

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Isaiah 28:7-8

There are certain characteristics of spiritual drunkenness, of being filled with pride.

First, there is a characteristic of being "swallowed up". The drinker starts out "swallowing up" the drink in quantities and times that he controls. However, at some point, the drink takes control of the drinker; the drink determines what quantities and times the drinker will drink. So it comes to pass that the drinker is being "swallowed up" by the drink, not vice versa.

Similarly, a man starts out "swallowing up" pride in quantities and times that he controls. But at some point, the pride takes control. So it comes to pass that the man is being "swallowed up" by pride. In both cases, the man is not in control of the vice; the vice is in control of the man.

Second, there is a characteristic of being "out of the way". The Hebrew word used is "ta`ah", which means to err, wander, go astray, stagger. The word has the connotation of being intoxicated, controlled by drink, and seduced. The word draws a vivid mental picture of a drunkard staggering and wandering around, being easily enticed to sin along the way. But it's the same when we give ourselves over to be controlled by pride. When pride is in control, we stagger and wander around, and are easily enticed to sin. Just like drink, pride both emboldens and sedates us into wandering into forbidden paths and succumbing to whatever sin crosses our path.

Third, there is a characteristic of "erring in vision". A drunk man's vision is significantly impaired; that's one of the reasons why it's a crime to drink and drive. Similarly, a man's vision is significantly impaired when he is drunk with pride. Just as drink causes us to "see" things wrong, so does pride. It's not uncommon for a drunk man to run over somebody else, and never even see them. It's not uncommon for a prideful man to run over somebody else, and never even see them.

Remember those old sitcoms where each person involved in a conflict told the story from their point of view? The husband's version always portrayed his character as the good guy, and the wife as the bad guy. When the wife told her side of the story, her version portrayed her character as the good guy, and the husband as the bad guy. At the end, we saw the true story, which portrayed the good and bad in each of the characters. Here's a good litmus test for us. Whenever we find that our version of the story places all the blame on the other person while proclaiming ourselves faultless, there's a very good chance we're erring in vision because of pride.

Fourth, there is a characteristic of "stumbling in judgment". The Hebrew words mean "to reel, totter, or stumble" in "giving a decision, in pronouncing judgement, or reasoning". A drunk man's judgment is significantly impaired; his thinking is all wrong. Likewise, a man's judgment is significantly impaired when he is drunk with pride. Perhaps this is primarily because "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" (I Peter 5:5). We need the grace of God to have right judgment; if He is resisting us because of pride, our judgment will lack wisdom from God. Our thinking will be all wrong. Have you ever observed someone making a complete mess of a situation and thought to yourself, "what is he thinking"? There's a very good chance that he is stumbling in judgment because of his pride.

Fifth, there is a characteristic of "vomit and filthiness". Vomit and filth are foul and offensive to any sober man. When's the last time you saw a "vomit-scented" candle or "filth-scented" pot pourri? Think about it. The smell of vomit and filth is universally offensive. But a drunk man is oblivious to the vomit and filth around him; it doesn't offend him. So it is with the proud man. He becomes oblivous to the vomit and filth his life is generating. He doesn't understand why it is offensive to others. When you come across a man who is not offended by the filth in his life, there is pride at work.

The Reviving Reign of Hezekiah

2 Kings 18:1-8 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

2 Chronicles 31:20-21 And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

Hezekiah sought his God in a way that pleased the LORD. So in what ways did Hezekiah seek his God?

(1) He sanctified the temple and the priesthood.
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. (2 Chronicles 29:3)
Hezekiah's first priority, the first thing he did in his reign, was to sanctify the temple and the priesthood as God had commanded. Why didn't he address the economy, or foreign policy, or trade relations? After all, his nation was experiencing much trouble.

Here's the reason Hezekiah gives for messing with religious matters in the midst of Israel's national woes.
And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. (2 Chronicles 29:5-10)

In other words, Hezekiah attributes all the problems of his nation to God's fierce wrath over their wickedness. Hezekiah believes that the best thing he can do to restore peace and prosperity in his nation is to turn his nation back to God.

(2) He resumed the observance of The Passover.
So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. (2 Chronicles 30:5)

How did the people respond to Hezekiah's decree?
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD. (2 Chronicles 30:10-12)

The response to King Hezekiah's decree was mixed. Some laughed, scorned, and mocked. Others "humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem." The implication here is that the scorners and mockers were not humble, but were prideful. In Judah, the hand of God gave them "one heart to do the commandment of the king... by the word of the LORD".

The Passover celebration resulted in great joy, blessings, and prayers that went unhindered into heaven.
So there was great joy in Jerusalem for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven. (2 Chronicles 30:26-27)

(3) He removed idolatry from the land.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. (2 Chronicles 31:1)
When the Passover celebration had ended, the people went throughout the land tearing down the idols and groves until they had "utterly destroyed them all". This is a result of true worship of the one true God: the people will destroy their own idols. The government didn't destroy the idols; the priests didn't destroy the idols; the people destroyed their own idols.

(4) He resumed the offering for the priests.
Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD. (2 Chronicles 31:4)
Now Hezekiah commands the people of Jerusalem to give offerings for the support of the priests and Levites, "that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD". In other words, Hezekiah wanted the priests and Levites to be devoted to the law of the LORD, not to making a living. This must be important, or it wouldn't be recorded here in this chronicle of Israel's revival and return to God from idolatry. The spiritual leaders were wholly devoted to spiritual matters and were not distracted by the demands of making a living.

The people offered much more than the priests could even use, and storage houses had to be built to house all the offerings. The priests did not lack for any thing under this system, because God blessed and prospered the people such that their tithes provided much more than the priests needed.
And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store. (2 Chronicles 31:10)

Did Hezekiah's strategy work? Yes. The nation is now worshipping in truth, rejoicing, prospering, and giving.