"so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
-Isaiah 55:11
I think the most confronting truth is how wrong we are ...about everything. (I bet some of you might be reading this thinking, "no, that's not my problem" or maybe thinking "that WAS my problem" or, heck, maybe you think "yea, that's a problem and I'm right about that"...if you are the last statement and you aren't bothered by being wrong then something is wrong with you. And the following will also show that the first two statements are wrong as well. In other words, regardless you are wrong.)
Whenever I hear people talk I automatically, as if it's so natural, can think of a reason for why what that person is saying is wrong. I used to think my problem was with being argumentative (which is one of my problems) but the problem goes deeper than that. The real issue at the root of that desire to rebuttal or contradict the other person is my own fear of being wrong. I want to come at the world as mighty me, as someone who can think outside the box and intellectually work my way around anything, and when I can't I then take that, too, to be my own humility of acceptance rather than as defeat or weakness. Do you see how I twist things in my head so that the fear of being wrong, or my desire to be right is protected?
The passage above states that what God says will be right.
"so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” (Isaiah 55:11 HCSB)
So there are several questions we can consider when thinking about God being right.
1. If His words are right, how do I know what His words are? (Easy: the Bible)
2. If it must come from His mouth how do we know the interpretation we gather from the bible is actually from His mouth and not ours?
3. What does it mean for someone's words to be empty?
4. If His words will accomplish what He pleases do we have a choice in being a part of what He wants versus having a choice in accomplishing what He wants? There is a subtle difference between the two. One is about our ability to get something done, the other is about our humility in recognizing that we are graciously invited to be associated with someone who is always going to be right while we remain wrong.
5. Lastly, do we have any way of predicting God's will and what it was sent to do?
Depending on how you answer those questions see if you come out right or if you stumble backwards like an idiot.
(If you don't think about the answers at all because you just don't want to think about it, then someone who has no opinion is just as wrong as someone who has the wrong opinion. I'm not talking to someone who won't listen and think, that's like talking to an inanimate object.)
When I read that passage in Isaiah I am confronted by how much I expect things to go a certain way in my life over how much I look at God with gratefulness that He is my God who never fails at accomplishing what He wants done. In other words, not even I can stop Him from doing something good in my life, even if to me that is getting cancer, losing my mom, being cheated on by my future husband, losing a child at birth, or being raped.
Confronting or what?!
I said that very bluntly and simple-minded on purpose. Because many of us think up to a certain point or in a certain way in order to get what we want or to protect what we want. If we want comfort then we will mangle the prospects of our real discomfort into being wrong, and the times when it is inevitably uncomfortable we will mangle it again to make ourselves look better or somehow be comforted in the midst of discomfort.
Is that wrong? Is it wrong to feel comforted by Jesus when things are hard? Well, in one sense the answer to that question can be no, but it can also be yes. In other words, what if the reason you wanted to be "comforted by Jesus" in a season of trial was so that your addiction to comfort needed it's fix? What does "comforted by Jesus" mean to you?
Does it mean He hears you and gives you a sense of peace? Or does it mean you rest in His promises and rely on Him being good?
One definition is about you, the other is about God. Likewise, one leads to an expected outcome, the other leads to faith. More so, the former will want to be satisfied or eased in a very specific way (feel better, see healing, see fruit), while the latter will not see anything but the glory of God. Dying relatives, cancer, rape, and all of those terrible things will fall under the category of necessary and right if the truth that God is real, good, and loving is held above all else.
Our heart towards God will either be in submission to Him being right (where nothing sways you from obedience, not even bankruptcy or rape or loss of a child), or it will be in resistance to Him being right (where you find yourself angry at God for being so wrong towards you.).
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure we are all wrong, because we all find that at times we are angry or upset at a situation in our lives that reveal how wrong it feels to us, rather than how wrong it must feel to God.
In other words, what Christian is fuming at God with resentment or bitterness for sending His Son to die for our sins and give us eternal life?
No one, because we benefit from that injustice. But when we are in a circumstance that is not beneficial for us, whether we are still single or our spouse is hell or we just got ransacked, raped, bullied, or cheated on, then suddenly it's not about God....although we say that we believe God's words and ways will accomplish His will no matter what, we don't think about that part in a bad situation. We just think about ourselves. And by thinking about ourselves we are placing our glory above God's. When it is all about our being right and good, it will automatically red flag every situation where we are wronged or bad.
My spouse is a cheating lazy idiot, or my 10 year old just died from a car accident, I have no income, or some other terrible thing--all such things are bad in one sense alone: in MY sense.
However, do the above situations make God wrong? If so, how? Because of justice? Because of evil? Because of suffering? If you answered yes to any of those, you have to admit that you are basing it from a human's perspective (whether yours or the world's). You put a human on the throne and you say that whatever happens to this human must go according the words and ways of him or her or them.
So their words coming from their mouths will not return to them empty, but will accomplish what they please and will prosper in what they set out to do.
Sound familiar?
"so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” (Isaiah 55:11 HCSB)
Do you see the contradiction here? There can only be one God, one way, one right, and one person who will get what they want.
You can bitch and moan and run intellectual marathons around and around, but you will never be right, because you will never be above God. I'm not saying that being sad or feeling pain and suffering is wrong, if being those things are wrong but make God right then they are right. That may take some thinking to understand. But if being those things make God wrong then they are wrong! I might feel sad and in pain when I realize how much I love sin and much I resist God, and in that pain I desire for God to change my heart because I can not--I am at His mercy and grace. But when I feel hurt when my ministry looks futile or dry it's not because I think God's glory is in jeopardy (since I'm presuming that what I do for God can hinder or enhance His will from being done!) but I'm more about my glory in that situation. It has nothing to do with God because the passage in Isaiah says that God's way will be done, period. I am merely invited to be His friend and child despite myself.
So will I mess up? Will I get hurt? Will pain happen to me? Will I fail? Will my motives be wrong? Will I sin? Yes. And amidst all of that there will either be one of two outcomes:
1. I will find joy in giving God the glory in good and hard times
Or
2. I will find dissatisfaction in God having all the glory by fighting to have my own in hard times
The bottom line is that at the end of it all we fall flat on our faces and desperately ask for God to give us the grace to see how wrong we are in everything and how right He is in everything.
Because we won't know unless it's His will for us to know. We are powerless. And then through gracious acts of kindness He will let things happen in our lives that lead us more and more toward this truth. Where He becomes more our God and we become less, but our satisfaction in that becomes great.
It sounds crazy. It should because from King Human, it is preposterous! But from the beggar's point of view it is an honor to be embraced by the King and adopted by Him. If we don't see what sort of person we are we will not see who God is either. But this too is a grace from God, He is the only one who can open our eyes to see and our ears to hear. So we stand from a place of desperation and trembling because our only Hope is Jesus. There is no methodology or wise counsel that we can run to in this regard. There is only Jesus.
When there is no other way but Jesus it also means that I am not the way, and therefore the fear of messing up or being wrong diminishes, because I start out as a mess up and wrong person until the day I die and resurrect with Jesus, the only way to my being right and winning.
“If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Said Jesus.
“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? (Phillip is wrong about what he says)
The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
(Jesus is right about what He says)
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?
(In other words, the problem is not what you think you see or don't see, it's who you believe--your words or mine)
The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own.
The Father who lives in Me does His works.
(Even Jesus does not say He says anything of His own, but that the will of the Father is what is being said and done, even if that meant death by crucifixion for Jesus)
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11 HCSB)
Jesus always pointed to God the Father.
Otherwise believe with whatever you can. It is belief that must take place. That is all. And that one thing is something we cannot but rely on God to provide for us. By faith we believe, all because of God's grace in allowing us to.
God's words will accomplish His will, but either you will or you won't believe that. Wrestle with that thought until you fight yourself into self defeat. Until you die to yourself, and then from the ground look up at Jesus and beg, because you are a beggar, and Jesus is the eternal bread.
Rightfully wrong,
Jmegrey
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