Reading from Saturday, September 25

What up?

Reading for September 25
Isaiah 45:11-48:11
God's big outro.

God jumps into a huge theological speech here about...well...about everything.

First, he reminds the reader what the relationship between God and man should be.

 ¹¹ "This is what the LORD says—
       the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
       Concerning things to come,
       do you question me about my children,
       or give me orders about the work of my hands?
 ¹² It is I who made the earth
       and created mankind upon it.
       My own hands stretched out the heavens;
       I marshaled their starry hosts.

 Now, I don't think this means we shouldn't question God. I think there's some merit in questioning God and his actions. You can grow in your faith and understanding of him through that questioning. But I think what Isaiah means here is that we should remember God's place in the whole spectrum of things. He is the one who designed the planet we live on. He imagined gravity. He conceptualized love. He designed my little bulldog with love in his heart. He drew up the plans for the chicken, which led to the most wonderful creation of the chicken sandwich. In that mindset should we approach God. Just more emphasis on this point:

 ¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says—
       he who created the heavens,
       he is God;
       he who fashioned and made the earth,
       he founded it;
       he did not create it to be empty,
       but formed it to be inhabited. 

Then we have this:

 ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret,
       from somewhere in a land of darkness;
       I have not said to Jacob's descendants,
       'Seek me in vain.'
       I, the LORD, speak the truth;
       I declare what is right.

So let's just take a couple things as givens to make this work. First, assume that the Bible is God's word, and second, assume that God's word is infallible. Given those things, and the verse above, one would conclude that everything in the Bible is absolute and right. This conclusion includes the things that makes me proud of my faith as well as the things that I try to sweep under the rug. It also includes the things I hate about my faith. It says that everything God did in the Old Testament was justified and right to do. This is a difficult thing to accept, and I don't know if I ever will...

Then - we get an answer to the meaning of God's repeated refrain of "for my own sake..." Check this out:

 ⁹ For my own name's sake I delay my wrath;
       for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
       so as not to cut you off.
 ¹⁰ See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
       I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
 ¹¹ For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
       How can I let myself be defamed?
       I will not yield my glory to another.

Before we get into that though, I want to look at verse 10 there. This is evidence of the conclusion I reached after reading much of the Old Testament - that the only possible reason for God to behave so harshly was to refine the people of the earth. God desperately and, admittedly, with futility, tried to make his people as he is holy. It never worked. Not until Jesus came to save his people.

OK, now "for my own sake." It's just as I thought. God requires praise. He is an entity fueled entirely on the worship juice of others. Taken at face value, this makes God an incredibly selfish individual. Even Jesus' sacrifice, the act that is generally accepted as the most selfless, loving act in the history of the universe, could be viewed through this lens and deemed entirely selfish. Yes, he saved his people from his wrath, but to what end? So he could be praised? So more people would praise him? Sure, there are benefits in being one of God's protected children, but it just seems like he is so in need of us and our praise to him that it puts a tint of self servitude on everything in the Bible.

What's your take on this, guys? I'm really curious...


Ephesians 4:1-16

¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Yeah, but for what? So God could feed on our precious praise? 

Psalm 68:19-35
OK, so I guess it's not all one way...

¹⁹ Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
       who daily bears our burdens.
       Selah
 ²⁰ Our God is a God who saves;
       from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

Yes, God does require praise from us in what seems like a somewhat selfish manner, but how much do we ask of God? Much more, I would say...

Proverbs 24:3-4

 ³ By wisdom a house is built,
       and through understanding it is established;
 ⁴ through knowledge its rooms are filled
       with rare and beautiful treasures.

Yes. Tired. Goodnight.