Day 281: Naked Isaiah

1 Thessalonians 4; Isaiah 20-22; Psalm 115

Paul instructs the Thessalonians how to live. He talks about living a holy life, not immoral, not disrespectful, not as a slave to our desires like those who do not love God. We are to be pure and honorable because God chose us so that we would live that way. He continues by saying, "Try your best to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work hard." Why? So they will "be respected by people who are not followers of The Lord" and they won't have to be dependent on anyone. We should live a respectful life filled with love, according to Paul, not taking advantage of others or doing anything immoral whether sexually, financially, or anything else. I think the most important thing is that we live differently. People should know that we love Jesus and follow God without having to say a word about our faith.

Isaiah, shocking! God told him to take off everything and for three years, Isaiah walked around naked! Whoa! All for God to make a point. I'd pay attention, maybe thinking he was crazy, but if someone was walking down the street in their birthday suit proclaiming a message from God...well, I don't know, it'd be weird. Nonetheless, Isaiah obeyed and people heard the message. I pray that God doesn't ask me to do something like that, but God does ask for obedience from us.

This psalm has some really poignant verses. First, it begins, "We don't deserve praise! The Lord alone deserves all of the praise because of his love and faithfulness." God alone deserves praise. Why? Because of his love and faithfulness. It's amazing that people can read scripture and NOT see how faithful God is in fulfilling his promises, and how loving he by giving people 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. chances to repent and return to him.

Then in the psalm it says that those "who made the idols and all who trust them are just as helpless as those useless gods. If we worship something inanimate, something powerless, what can we expect but a dead response? Worshipping the living, almighty, merciful Creator, we can expect a living, meaningful, powerful response.

Finally, there is a verse that says "all of you worship The Lord, so you must trust him to help and protect you." In this I see a conundrum that a lot of Christians struggle with. We worship God at church but the other 6 days a week we fail to truly trust him with our problems. If we worship him, sing and speak his praises, then we should believe in him to help us when we need it. We should expect nothing less and give nothing less to a loving and faithful God.