A New Day: You Shall Go Out in Joy, Part 2

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Jason

Here’s the good news: God offers us the “something more” our souls are seeking. He offers that which truly satisfies the soul. From our text in Isaiah 55, God says, Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good… Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live. God offers nourishment for the soul. There is a deep yearning in our souls for connection, for intimacy, for meaning and purpose. Yet too often we seek to satisfy these soul cravings with the wrong kinds of things; some of which we discussed in the previous post. That’s why we’re so restless.

Too often, we settle for happiness. But happiness is fleeting. Instead, God promises an everlasting covenant. Just as man cannot live on bread alone, it is also true that the soul cannot live on happiness alone. We need something deeper, something even more meaningful. And here it is: we need joy. And that’s exactly what God promises here in the next verses.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace…

Isaiah 55:6-12

This is the deeper invitation: seek the Lord while he may be found. There is an eternal yearning in every soul. Ecclesiastes 3:11, God planted eternity in the human heart. When we seek to satisfy that eternal yearning with something fleeting like happiness or sex or power or a boyfriend or a wife, we inevitably grow restless because these could never satisfy our eternal yearning. Only something eternal could satisfy an eternal yearning.

Isaiah counsels us to forsake our ways: to abandon these fleeting pursuits and to call upon the Lord while He is near. Return to the Lord, Isaiah says, and He will have compassion on you; He will pardon abundantly. God’s heart is overflowing with compassion and abundant grace. We need only to return to Him, which simply means to turn to Him in repentance.

God’s invitations align perfectly with our soul yearnings: He says, Come, all who are thirsty. Come, all who are hungry. Come, listen to my words, that your soul may live. And now again, God says, Come to me, that I might have compassion on you.

Look at the final two verses of the chapter:

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isaiah 55:12-13

God says, You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The picture here is certainly a joyous one: mountains and hills praising God for what He’s done, trees clapping their hands in worship. There is a great reversal at work here: thorns and briers have been replaced by cypress and myrtle. God transforms the desert space into a blooming garden. What an awesome God we serve!

Everyone is looking for this kind of joy — because joy is one of the deep yearnings of the soul. Do you see how this kind of joy is so much deeper than mere happiness? Whereas happiness is often dependent upon our life circumstances, joy is constant. And this is what God promises — to those who seek the Lord, to those who let themselves be led.

Isaiah envisions One who is out front, One who goes before God’s people and lead them in this joyful procession of worship:

  • He is the One who paid the price for those who cannot buy their own food. And no one can buy the kind of food He offers, the kind that truly nourishes the soul. It is given only by grace.
  • He is the One who transforms thorn and brier; by His grace, He turns the desert places into lush gardens.
  • The rocks and hills cry out His name; the trees of the fields clap in His honor.

His name is Jesus. And He invites us into His eternally joyous communion! You shall go out in joy! This is an invitation to something far greater than mere happiness. It is an invitation for your soul.

May you go out in joy today; may you be led forth in peace.

Posted in Culture, Devotional, Eschatology, Faith, God, Isaiah, Jesus, Kingdom Values, Scripture | Leave a comment

A New Day: You Shall Go Out in Joy, Part 1

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Jason

“Do whatever makes you happy.”

This is one of the major philosophies people live by these days. It’s Pinterest-philosophy, the kind of Etsy-fied life mantra that we love to paint on pieces of repurposed wood to adorn our homes.

I read an article written by a woman who was raised in London but she and her husband moved to the United States a few years ago for work. She said the greatest difference she’s noticed since moving here is that Americans are obsessed with happiness. And she’s right. Not only do all of our fairy tales end with the words, “and they lived happily ever after,” but the phrase “the pursuit of happiness” is baked right into our Declaration of Independence.

But to be fair, this is not a uniquely American problem, nor is it exclusively modern. As far back as 300BC, Epicurean philosophy was teaching a form of the same thing: do whatever makes you happy. And philosophical hedonism dates back even further, all the way to ancient Egypt and Babylon and beyond. People have subscribed to this worldview for thousands of years.

But when you break it down, this saying isn’t quite as inspirational as it sounds. I think it’s just deep cover for doing any old selfish, indulgent thing you want to do. I am going to suggest to you that doing what makes you happy isn’t a lofty enough goal. Happiness stops just short of God’s invitation for our lives. He invites us to experience something much deeper than the pursuit of happiness. And we find this invitation from God in the prophecy of Isaiah.

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Isaiah 55:1-3

God begins with an invitation: Come, all who are hungry and thirsty. But He extends a special invitation to those who cannot buy their own food. And he who has no money, come, buy and eat! That’s a strange thing to say. How can one with no money “buy” anything? How can such a one eat? Only by grace. Only if the price has been paid by another. And I believe that’s the deeper meaning here. God is extending a gracious invitation that corresponds to a desire deeper than the appetite for food. God is speaking to us at a soul-level here.

And in the middle of this invitation is a critique: God says, Why do you…labor for that which does not satisfy? Can you relate to that? Have you ever wanted something so badly — something you thought would make you happy — but once you received it or obtained it, you realized that it didn’t really satisfy you?

I know a young man who recently lost his virginity. He and his girlfriend didn’t have the proper boundaries around their relationship and in a moment of weakness, they gave in to temptation. Afterward, this young man said he felt ashamed of what they had done. But in addition to being disappointed in himself, this young man noted that he was also disappointed in sex, too. He said that he had always heard of “sex” being talked about like it was this otherworldly experience. That’s certainly the way sex is glorified in our culture. But he said it didn’t deliver in the way he thought it would, which only compounded his feelings of guilt and shame.

I guess one point here would be that forbidden fruit is forbidden for a reason. That’s definitely true. But this also demonstrates how we tend to overexpect from so many things in this world. The kingdom of darkness is the worldwide leader in overpromising and underdelivering. It sells guilt and shame disguised as interest-free happiness. And we make that bad trade all the time.

What my young friend is really looking for is soul-level intimacy and communion; what he settled for was sex. And I’m not picking on my young friend. We’re all searching for the same thing. EVERYONE is looking for soul-level intimacy and communion. But like my young friend, we’re all capable of deluding ourselves into thinking that this soul-hunger can be satisfied by something fleeting and earthly.

We do the same thing in our marriages and our dating relationships. Relationship counselors have long pointed out that unrealistic expectations of our partners contribute to some of the greatest problems in our relationships. That’s because we listen to “Rabbi Hollywood” too much. We have been discipled by Hollywood’s ridiculous “you complete me” soulmate liturgy and we bring that expectation into our marriages. We expect our spouses to “complete” us, which creates an expectation that even the best husband or wife could never possibly meet. How could a flawed, sinful person ever bear the freight of “completing” you or bringing wholeness to your soul? That work could only be done by God. It’s not fair to put that expectation on your husband or wife.

C.S. Lewis famously said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable expectation is that we were made for another world.” This gets at the heart of the problem. I mean, if happiness is the ultimate goal in life, why are so many of us so miserable? I would say it’s because happiness is fleeting and our souls are longing for something more.

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Baseball Moms and Their Boys

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Jason
Baseball Moms and sons bond this time of year
Posted in Baseball, Family, Kids, Sports, Sunny, Video | 1 Comment

Jackson’s New Blog

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Jason

My youngest son has a blog he’s been writing for the past several months called Everything TV. He’s been writing about some of what he’s been watching, including several posts about Survivor and our family viewing of The Help in February as part of Black History Month.

Last night, he started a second blog, more of a personal blog and you can find it here. I think he’s planning to keep the Everything TV blog, but this new site will feature some of his other interests. For example, he’s started this new blog with a couple of posts ranking the albums of two of his favorite musical artists: Taylor Swift and Bon Iver. I love reading his thoughts about music and I’m looking forward to some of his future posts.

Check out his stuff if you have a minute. I think you’ll enjoy it!

Posted in Blogging, Family, Kids, Music, Television | 1 Comment

A New Day: Three Reasons You Don’t Need to Be Afraid, Part 3

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Jason

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

Isaiah 43:1-2

Reason #3: Fear not, for I have redeemed you.

This is the ultimate reason that God’s people should not be gripped by fear. We have been redeemed. God demonstrates that He is with His people and for His people by acting to redeem His people.

In these verses, God reminds the people that He created and formed them.

  • For the people of Isaiah’s day, this would call to mind how God created Israel centuries earlier, how He redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt and entered into a covenant relationship with them. Even when they passed through the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, God was faithful to guide them through to redemption.
  • And on this side of the cross and the empty tomb, we hear these words as a fresh promise for today. For God created and formed us as a people when He redeemed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are bound together in a new covenant that makes us brothers and sisters together. And the sign of this covenant — baptism — is God’s promise anew: when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I can’t help but think of this as a baptism text from this side of the empty tomb.

God is saying, “If you have been redeemed, you really have no need to be afraid.” And when those fears arise, we simply turn them over to Him.

Practically speaking, what does that mean? Well, for one thing, it means choosing not to fixate on those fears and releasing my right to worry about them. We can’t talk about fear without talking about worry; the two go hand in hand.

There is an old Native American myth. A grandfather is talking to his grandson and he is sharing a particular struggle. “It is as if there are two wolves warring within me, my grandson,” he says. “One wolf represents my desire to do the wrong; the other wolf represents my desire to do the right.”

The young boy is confused. “Which one will win?” he asks his grandfather.

The grandfather replied, “Whichever wolf I feed — that is the wolf that will win.”

Worry works this way. Worry is when we fixate on our fears — when we “feed” our fears, to use the wolf analogy. But worry is a choice. Rather than turning those worries over and over in our minds, Jesus calls us to forsake the path of worry. In the Sermon on the Mount, he says, Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more? He goes on to say, Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Jesus isn’t telling us to be naive, to stick our heads in the sand when it comes to the concerns of life. Instead, Jesus is telling us to entrust our fears and worries to Him.

Worry is kind of like a treadmill. There’s a lot of movement, but you’re not really going anywhere. Of course, spending time on a treadmill can actually be good for you. But worry doesn’t improve a single facet of your life. Gary Bradley, a preaching mentor of mine, once said, “If worry would do us any good, the Lord would tell us to do it.” But God never says that. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Not only is worry harmful to my physical health, it also damages my spiritual health. It keeps me from faithfully entrusting my fears to the Lord. It oftentimes sets itself up in opposition to my faith.

Worry is the self-inflicted choice that keeps me from becoming a person of fearless trust. But according to the Bible, when we follow Jesus, we learn how to take captive every thought that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

Do you have some worried, fearful thoughts that need to be taken captive? Do you need to get off the treadmill? If you have been redeemed, then I hope you’ll heed this word from the Lord:

Reason #3: Fear not, for I have redeemed you.

Posted in Anxiety, Devotional, Faith, God, Isaiah, No Fear, Scripture | Leave a comment

A New Day: Three Reasons You Don’t Need to Be Afraid, Part 2

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Jason

For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 41:13

Reason #2: Fear not, for I am the one who helps you.

Not only does God want His people to know that He is with them; He also wants them to know that He is for them. He is holding them by the hand — which has to be one of the most comforting images in the entire Bible. He says, “I am the one who helps you.”

We all need help from time to time. “Help” is what we cry out when we are in danger, when we need assistance. We even have this phrase: “lend a helping hand.” Throughout the Scriptures, God says that He is the “helping” God; He is the God who “lends a helping hand” to His people.

There are two references to God’s hands here in this section of Isaiah — and both of them come with God’s promise to help His people. He says, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God’s right hand is His hand of victory; it is His hand of strength. We might picture this as the “arm of the Lord” we spoke of a few weeks ago — the arm of God as the Mighty Warrior. But here God says, I hold your right hand. We’re back to the balanced view of God we’ve been talking about — this is the Gentle Shepherd holding the hand of His people through any adversity.

God is right there to lend a helping hand to His people, no matter our circumstances. Listen to the verses just before this one:

Those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.

Isaiah 41:11-12

God says those who contend against you — your enemies — shall be as nothing at all. The literal translation of this verse refers to “the men of your lawsuit,” meaning “those who plead against you.” But God stands in to defend us — picture a defense attorney advocating for the defendant. This is a picture of our God.

When God says, “Fear not,” He’s not telling us it’s a sin to be afraid. That’s not it at all. Life is full of fear-inducing circumstances. Fear in and of itself is not sinful. Healthy fear prompts us to lock our doors at night and wear a seatbelt while driving. Rather, God is reminding us not to give in to our fears, not to be controlled by our fears. Instead of being controlled by fear, we are to be controlled by the Spirit. We are controlled by faith, hope, and love, not fear. Based on the number of Fear not statements we find throughout the Scriptures, it seems pretty obvious that God wants to help us become people of fearless trust.

And this is the ultimate point: God wants us to trust Him with our fears. He wants us to let Him help us with our fears. Fearless trust means there’s nothing I won’t entrust to Him. It means I won’t hold on to those fears; I won’t be miserly with those fears, hoarding them to myself. No, the way of faith is to entrust those fears to the Lord — to give them over to Him, to let Him help.

Do you need the help of God? Is there any problem beyond His ability to help? He promises to help us by the strength of His own hand; therefore, we need not be afraid.

Reason #2: Fear not, for I am the one who helps you.

Posted in Devotional, Faith, God, Isaiah, No Fear, Scripture | Leave a comment

A New Day: Three Reasons You Don’t Need to Be Afraid, Part 1

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Jason

I read an article this week about the fears of famous people. The article pointed out that Jennifer Aniston, John Madden, and Whoopi Goldberg are all aviophobes. They’re afraid of flying. (And I thought Mr. T was the only one.) Tyra Banks admits to a deep-seated fear of dolphins; Scarlett Johansson has a fear of birds. Johnny Deep is coulrophobic, which means he is afraid of clowns. But the celebrity with the most phobias might be Woody Allen. He’s afraid of insects, dogs, deer, bright colors, children, heights, small rooms, crowds, and sunshine.

What about you? What are some of your fears? I doubt “sunshine” is the first thing that comes to your mind (unless you’re a vampire). But do you have any work-related fears? Any financial fears? What about fears related to your family or a close friend? Maybe you’re facing a major life decision that has you really worried and fearful. These are the kinds of fears that are more likely to be in our hearts today.

Fear is an incredibly powerful force — one that will truly wreck our lives when we give in to it. That’s what makes the word of God to Isaiah so important for us, too. In this ancient prophecy, we find a word that speaks directly to our present fears, a promise that our anxieties can be transformed in the dawning light of God’s new day.

For the past few weeks, we have been walking through Isaiah 40 — what we’ve been calling Isaiah’s “Comfort Trilogy.” In the midst of all of these words of comfort, God repeatedly talks about the importance of not being afraid. In fact, from Isaiah 40-55 — the middle section of Isaiah — God says this on ten different occasions. Ten times God says to the people, Fear not. Here are all ten of these references if you’d like to take a look at them.

The most repeated command in the Scriptures is not a command about sex or money or hatred or taking part in some religious practice. Rather, it’s the command to not be afraid. That’s because fear is the greatest obstacle to pursuing the will of God.

Over these next few posts, I want to look at three of Isaiah’s Fear Not statements. In each of these three statements, you’ll see that God gives us a reason not to give in to our fears. I hope we’ll find these ancient words from Isaiah to be relevant to our fears today.

But you, Israel, my servant…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:8-10

Reason #1: Fear not, for I am with you.

This is what God says to His people who are a long way from home. These words apply to the people of Isaiah’s day, who had strayed into the “foreign land” of idolatry. They certainly apply to the people of the next generation who would find themselves living in exile in Babylon. And I believe we can apply them to our situation today as we live in a land that seems to grow more worldly with each passing day.

And in the midst of these circumstances, God says, Fear not, for I am with you. We touched on this idea a few weeks ago — the power of that little word “with.” When the right person is with us, we feel as if we can do anything. And in the Bible, when God tells His people not to be afraid, it is almost always followed by this promise: for I am with you. The basis for the biblical injunction against fear is always the promise and presence of God.

Life’s circumstances are not the ultimate barometer of God’s presence with His people. We don’t measure God’s presence based on whether things are going well or going poorly. We measure His presence on the basis of His promise. That’s it. What proof do we have that God is present with His people? We have His faithful promise. We have the promise we discussed a few weeks ago — God says I will never leave you nor forsake you. That’s His promise. And if Isaiah 40:8 is true — The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever — then this means God’s promise is just as valid today as it was on the day He spoke it all those centuries ago.

God tells His people not to be dismayed, but instead to trust in His promise. The word “dismayed” means “to dart glances this way and that” as if not knowing where to look for safety. It is the action you take when you don’t know who to trust. But God says, “You don’t have to do this. Stop looking around; look instead to me for your deliverance. I am here. I am with you.” This is the promise of God to His people.

I am starting to believe that promises are the most important things in life. Nothing else really matters outside of the promises you make to others and the promises God makes to us. God promises to be with His people, therefore we need not fear.

Are you dismayed?

Do you find your eyes darting to and fro, looking for someone you can trust?

Hear again the promise of God:

Reason #1: Fear not, for I am with you.

Posted in Anxiety, Culture, Devotional, Faith, God, Isaiah, No Fear, Scripture | Leave a comment

A New Day: Comfort in God’s Strength, Part 3

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Jason

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted…

Isaiah 40:30

No matter our physical strength, it eventually wears out. Even for the young and energetic, our own resources and capacities are limited. We grow old, weary, exhausted.

My cousin is an ultra-marathon runner. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as an “ultra-marathon” until he started running them. Apparently there is a rare breed of individual for whom running 26.2 miles at a time simply isn’t grueling enough. These gluttons for punishment run 50 miles or 100 miles or, in some instances, even farther. My cousin has run multiple 100 mile races. He’s also run a few 24 hour races — which, as you might guess, is a non-stop race with no breaks for 24 hours. His longest run was a 500K race a few years ago, which is 314 miles. That race was the VolState 500K, which is a race from one end of the state of Tennessee to the other. Greg won that race in 2019. He also qualified for the U.S. Ultra Team a few years ago. He is one of the strongest, most disciplined people I know.

But even with all of his physical strength, Greg eventually grows faint. At one of his races, he actually pushed himself too far. He passed out and had to be hospitalized for a few days afterward. As the Lord says, even young men shall fall exhausted.

But no so with our God. Isaiah contrasts the fleeting strength of youth with the inexhaustible strength of the eternal God.

…but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

God doesn’t grow weary. His energy is a renewable resource. The older we get, the more weary we become. But not so with God. He never grows tired of carrying us, of comforting us, of fighting on our behalf and shepherding our souls. And His strength is transferred to those who wait on Him, those who trust in Him. He renews their strength. According to Hebrew scholars, the language here is more like, “they change their strength.” Like changing into fresh clothing, we trade in our weakness for His strength.

Centuries earlier, God said to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself,” (Exodus 19:4). This was God’s way of describing how He had delivered the people out of Egypt. He brought them out of bondage by bearing them on eagles’ wings. Fast forward to Isaiah’s day and God says, “I’ll do it again. For those who wait on me and hope in me, I’ll renew your strength. I’ll carry you just like I carried my people all those years ago.”

And today, God says the same thing to us.

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A New Day: Comfort in God’s Strength, Part 2

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Jason

In Isaiah 40, the prophet declares that God does not faint or grow weary. Isaiah wants the people to know that their God has not grown tired. The people might be weary, but God is not. He hasn’t lost a step; He’s the Creator of the ends of the earth, but His work load does not exhaust Him. He operates out of the wellspring of His own eternal energy and passion. Unlike you and me, God does not grow weary.

In the 1990s, Energizer came up with a highly successful campaign: the Energizer Bunny. You’ve probably seen him: pink rabbit wearing sunglasses, banging on a drum. The commercial’s tagline says that Energizer batteries “keep going and going and going….”

Isaiah says the same thing about our God. He keeps going and going and going because of His eternal strength. Therefore, He is never too tired to deliver His people. Back to what we said last week, He’s never too tired to fight for His people. He doesn’t grow weary of shepherding our souls. God is inexhaustible — He operates out of His eternal strength.

And God is so strong that He has strength to share. As Isaiah says, He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength. God generously shares His strength and power with those who are “faint.” This is an interesting word. It refers to those who have lost heart, those who don’t think they can go on any longer. And let’s face it: we all reach this point. At one time or another, we find ourselves worn out and weary, not sure we can go on any longer. I just want to ask the question again: I wonder how many of us feel that way right now.

But that’s where God meets us. He is promising here to give His own strength and power to us right there where we feel the weakest and the most weary. Isn’t that a comforting thought?

I saw a young girl in the airport once. One of the wheels on her suitcase had busted, so instead of rolling it behind her, she had to carry it through the airport. And she was crying, “Daddy, it’s too heavy!” And her Dad turned around and said, “It’s okay, let me carry it.” She handed the bag over to him and he lifted it up like it was nothing. And then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her, too!

This is our God. He gives strength to the weary.

Posted in Devotional, Faith, God, Isaiah, Parenting, Scripture | Leave a comment

On Deck

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Jason
Posted in Baseball, Family, Kids, Sports | Leave a comment