My Personal Teacher

I have always loved and treasured these verses. What amazing promises of God’s personal, very private, daily, step by careful step guidance! But, on this time of reading, I came across this promise in its broad context, as I have been reading through the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah calls His people a rebel generation. They don’t want to obey or know about what God says. They want their preachers to skip the laws. “… Tell us what makes us feel better. Don’t bore us with obsolete religion …” (Isaiah 30:8-11, MSG). In effect, “We don’t want to know about the laws that stop us doing what we like.”

Isaiah could be addressing our present age, our own churches, leaders, and our current law givers. Isn’t it hard to publicly take that ‘Christian’ line over issues which God has laid out so clearly as being issues that matter deeply to Him as part of His way for His holy people?  Every way we look, God’s way is being attacked in our societies.

Isaiah warns: “Because you scorn this Message, Preferring to live by injustice and shape your lives on lies, This perverse way will be like a towering, badly built wall that slowly tilts and shifts, and then, one day, without warning, collapses - Smashed to pieces like a piece of pottery” (Isaiah 30:12-14).

Living a godly lifestyle in every area of our lives, business, work, social, and personal is hard. But here is God’s promise, such a precious promise! ‘Come back to Me! Turn to Me!  Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on Me’ (verse 15). And when we do, God’s promise is to speak His personal word of clear direction right into our ear. We hear that word from behind us – in the moment, as we walk, as we keep going.