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| Quiet in the Storm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Isaiah 32:17-18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.� My people will live in peaceful dwelling places. In secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In these modern times, with so many shifting paradigms, and so many seeking after the actual truth of Scripture rather than what tradition has dictated to us for so many years, we are finding that the Body of Christ has become a bloody and painful battleground as various factions seek to impose their interpretations and visions on all alike.� There are the gender wars, the tongues wars, the predestiny wars, the Godhead wars, and the apocalyptic wars.� People so sure that their views are right that they become unteachable and intolerant of any views differing with their own. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I personally have been struggling with gender issues.� I have found men who subscribe to the notion that women are just things that belong to men and interpret scripture to support this notion. �I have found women who totally reject any kind of recognition of authority in a quest for freedom, quoting the oft-misused scripture that states ?He whom the Master sets free is free indeed.?� I have seen the destruction that unrighteous dominion and rebellious disobedience both will cause.� The result has been unceasing turmoil and a spirit of enmity between men and women that God, Himself never set in place or sanctioned. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I found the passage that I opened this essay to be profound and thought-provoking.� It seems that righteousness begets peace.� There is no other way to interpret what this passage is saying.� One who is walking a righteous path, one who is seeking after righteous discernment of God?s truth for His sake rather than to bolster one?s own agenda will evidence a spirit of peace and confidence that cannot be shaken by the wiles and snares of worldly influences.� What and eye-opener that should be for many of us who have been involved in the scripture wars.� We have been beating each other over the head with scriptures, looking for our own private revelations to excuse or justify whatever we happen to think, and assiduously trying to bring all around us under our influence and convince our peers of our rightness, only to find that strife, enmity, contention and bitterness result.� | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We feel called upon to contend for the truth, or so we claim, but whose truth are we contending for?� I submit, that in most cases, it is our own version of the truth, or our particular interpretation of it, for Yahweh is not a God of chaos and turmoil, therefore, the scripture wars cannot be of his doing.� I have participated in and read a great deal of theological debate over the last couple of years, and what strikes me most profoundly is the contention for personal agenda rather than the contention for actual scriptural truth.� This coupled with the uncompromising unwillingness to even consider that someone else might have a different view and not be wrong.� Most of the debaters I have viewed and debated with have conveniently forgotten the fruits of the Spirit, therefore engendering some of the most hate-filled and oppressive dogma imaginable?..and claiming that it is God?s truth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And so the war rages on, and I am forced to question:?..Is this truly the way of a Godly people?� Is it really necessary to browbeat and threaten and cudgel our fellow believers into accepting our way of viewing things?� While some things in scripture are very clear, such as the plan of salvation, there are many areas where scripture is vague enough that there is substantial room for interpretation.� I have often wondered why God would allow this in His word, and I still have no concrete answer except to offer this.� Perhaps He allowed room for differing interpretations to teach His body how to treat one another in Christian love when there is differing viewl� If this is, indeed, the case, then we have badly failed to learn the lesson.� Let us see what a righteous walk with Yahweh will bring, in our lives and in our spirits. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Isa 30:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ;In repentance and rest is your salvation, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| in quietness and trust is your strength, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| but you would have none of it. NIV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An interesting thought, here.� Notice at the last of the verse it says?..?but you would have none of it.?� Hmmmmm?..could it be that Yahweh has told us, categorically, how to find the peace and the strength that we seek, but we refuse it, seeking a path that leads us to, or so we think, greater glories for the Lord, translated, greater glories for ourselves.� Look carefully.� In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.� It seems so very basic.� Repentance leading to rest and quietness leading to trust?not in man, for man is fallible, but in Yahweh Himself.� There peace is to be found.� Let us explore further. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ps 62:1-2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My soul finds rest in God alone; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| my salvation comes from him. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. NIV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ps 62:5-8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| my hope comes from him. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| he is my mighty rock, my refuge. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pour out your hearts to him, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| for God is our refuge.NIV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matt 11:28-30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ;Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." NIV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There are some important considerations in the above passages.� Rest and quietness are to be found in the Lord, and in the Lord only.� When we look to other people for answers, for peace, for acceptance, for sustenance, then we only set ourselves up for a fall, besides which we put an unfair burden on our loved ones.� No one can be to us what Yahweh is, nor can another person fulfil His role in our lives.� Any doctrine that teaches otherwise is in diametric opposition to scripture.� And when we try to place our well-being in another human rather than in trusting God alone, we are building our house on the proverbial sands.� If you read through the bible, all the great prophets and apostles looked to God for sustenance, not to another person.� That, I think, is the model we must examine. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| There has been much made of the scriptures that talk about how man was not made to be alone.� Whole doctrines have been developed out of the woman as helpmeet scriptures, and the forsake not the assembly scriptures.� While it is true that people, as a general rule, do not do well in isolation, some carry that idea to the point of salvation, one theologian going so far as to state that a person who has a strong need for privacy has sin areas that need to be overcome.� This is the kind of intransigent interpretation that discounts whole areas of scripture that tell us, categorically, that our strength comes from Yahweh and our trust is to be in Him.� When we fall prey to those doctrines that tell us we must trust a man, for any reason, with the same trust that we have for God, we set ourselves up for unrest and turmoil, not to mention great pain and disappointment.� Such consequences are always the result when one violates the pure truth of scripture. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In God is our rest and our salvation.� When we truly grasp that principle and apply it to our lives we begin to abide in the peace He alone can give. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 Cor 12:9-10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 But he said to me,My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. NIV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Read carefull.� ?My grace is sufficient???� That is as plain as it can be.� His grace is sufficient for all our needs.� Perhaps not all our wants, but all our needs.� Sometimes we have difficulty determining the difference and that, perhaps, is where trust comes in.� He gives us only good gifts, so it seems we should trust Him to meet our needs in abundance and grace.� One final passage comes to mind. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ps 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Psalms 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.KJV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The profoundly beautiful 23rd Psalm sums it up so very well.� He restores, He leads, He prepares?..and when we abide in that truth and have faith in His goodness and grace, then we will truly know quiet in the storm.� Amen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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