Isaiah 62:6-65:25, Philippians 2:19-3:3, Psalms 73:1-28, Proverbs 24:13-14
Today is the 1st day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you. It’s fun to step into a new month together and we’re stepping into the final quarter of the year. So, three months ago and in my experience, it’s crazy how fast these three months can get going, but it’s also profound what we’ll find in the Scriptures as we move through this three months. So, welcome to the final quarter of the year. I don’t know if I’d call this the home stretch because it’s a whole 25% of the year, but we’ll take it day by day, step-by-step together in community as we continue our journey. And our journey this week has us in the book of Isaiah. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. And today, Isaiah chapter 62 verse 6 through 65 verse 25.
Commentary:
Okay. So, as we were talking about when we began our time together today, this is…this is a new month and this is also the final quarter of the year, and this is actually kind of important because it’s gonna get busier. Like, this year’s only gonna get more busy from here and we’re out in front of it right now. But the truth is, three months from today is January 1, right? The years over and we’re in a new year. And what I have found about finishing…finishing anything…but finishing the Scriptures in year is to finish strong, or to finish at all we have to be committed to finishing. And, so, we’re entering this fourth quarter of the year and we’ve made it this far. And, so let’s commit together to finishing strong, which…which is pretty much the opposite of what Asaph was feeling as we read from the 73rd Psalm today. He wasn’t feeling strong at all. He was frustrated, he was angry, he was bewildered because of what he was seeing in the world. And we could just pause there and in some ways, we could just go, “yeah. get it. Feel the same way.” For Asaph, and we’re going back thousands of years here, about 3000 years here, it just seemed that everywhere he looked, the unrighteous were really the prosperous and blessed people and the people that were trying to be true, the people that were trying to live into their faith, they were the one struggling, they were languishing away. So, he’s like, “I almost lost my footing. My feet were slippering”…no…slipping…slipping…“my feet were slipping.” I don’t suppose he wouldn’t mind that he put slippers on his feet. His feet were slipping. “I was almost gone. I envied the proud when I saw them even in their wickedness be prosperous.” And, man again, we gotta go, “I kinda know what that feels like. Like that’s been me at one time or another in my life.” And that’s probably been all of us at one point or another in our lives because all of our efforts to live upright before God, you know, that’s…it’s a difficult path. It’s a narrow path. And then we look around and see everybody else who doesn’t even think about it, like isn’t even paying attention to their spirituality as a category in life and they just seem to be having easy. And, so, we get frustrated, we get to bewildered, right? Our hope takes a hit. So, let’s listen to Asaph’s words from several thousand years ago and see if they don’t describe this. He says, “did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing? For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning. If I had decided to say these things allowed, I would’ve betrayed your people. When I try to understand all this it seemed hopeless.” So, if you’ve ever felt like that and maybe…maybe you feel like that now, it’s important to know that this is a crossroads because…because when we find ourselves in that place where we are frustrated and angry and hopeless, the very next decision may very well dictate the direction of the rest of our lives. Like the next choices that we make are for sure going to dictate the short-term path ahead. And if the short-term path ahead is to descend deeper into anger and hopelessness, well I guess the Bible has already been clear about where that paths gonna lead. We can…we can throw our hands up in disgust. We can walk willingly into sin. But it’s not gonna work and we know it. And Asaph…Asaph contemplated the same thing, but he made a different decision. So, quoting…quoting Asaph, “when I try to understand all this, it seemed hopeless until I entered God’s sanctuary. Then I understood their destiny.” So, a lot of what Asaph had been saying in this Psalm was pretty passive-aggressive stuff and he’s contemplating where to go because it seems like a hopeless situation. So…and…and we…we can relate to all of this. So, rather than stepping into like passive-aggressive sin or wickedness, Asaph chose to go back into God’s presence. In God’s presence is where he realized there’s a lot more going on than we know and that’s something that the Bible has been showing us all along. Asaph realized that this foundation that was apparently there for the wicked wasn’t really there at all. It was nothing, when considered from an eternal perspective. Whatever security they may seem to have in this life will not protect them in the next where they will have no protection at all. So, what Asaph began to understand is that what was tormenting him really wasn't…wasn’t about whether the wicked prospered, it’s that they were prospering as compared to him in his own mind. So, it was his envy, it was bitterness that came from comparison and he confessed it to God. So, quoting Asaph again. “When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded, I was stupid and didn’t understand. I was an unthinking animal toward you, yet I am always with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me up in glory.” So, this 73rd Psalm gives us incredibly powerful and usable counsel, but it also gives us a posture as we move into the final quarter of the year. Comparison and envy, they…they are all over this quarter of the year, this final quarter of the year as things get materialistic as we move toward the holidays. And so here we are. If you find yourself like battling that as we go into this season, as we go into this final quarter of the year, bookmark this, write it down. Psalm 73. Like, come back here and follow the path of Asaph again. Remembering that you’re comparing yourself to somebody else or how well somebody else may be doing as compared to you is not interesting and is not the point. God is the strength of your heart and that is very interesting and very much the point.
Prayer:
Father, we come into Your presence again because You’ve brought this up again and this is something that…that comes up is a recurring theme because it’s a part of our lives. We are continually trying to figure out how well we’re doing as compared to someone else and it's…it just…it doesn’t get us anywhere to compare our story to someone else’s story. Our story is ours and we’re living it and their story is theirs and usually what we know of each other’s stories is what we’ve curated to expose and reveal to other people. It’s not the whole story. And yet, You are here involved in the whole story of our lives, all of it, the highs and the lows, the clean and unfortunately the times when we step into the unclean. You are invested into this story fully. And, so, our question is, “Jesus, how do You see us” because we’ve been looking for those answers by trying to figure out what everybody else thinks and what we think of everybody else. But what do You think because that’s the only thing that matters? And Your word has shown is pretty clearly what You think, that we are Your beloved children. And, so, we’re sorry for the comparison, we’re sorry for the…the way that we’ve diminished ourselves and haven’t lived fully into all that You are leading us into because we’re too busy comparing. Forgive us Father we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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