Jesus (and His Father) likes to teach in stories and questions.
There is the Real thing, The Story about the real thing and then the deeper understanding for me and you in a personal message inside the story of the real thing… In other words:
There are layers of understanding, and God uses every layer to teach. So sometimes I really need to read the bible in the context of the day to understand what is happening, but other times, God just speaks to me through the text that is right there, understanding it in the voice of today.
For instance, it is good to know the background of the disaster that is the leadership of Isaiah 28, and why God gets so angry. It is good to understand that “…in strange tongues, God will speak to this people…” means that they will, unfortunately, learn through invasion by foreign powers, and not The Gift of Tongues as in the New Testament. It is good to know that “Your covenant with Death” refers to deals of protection with Egypt, and the “Scourge of Hail” refers to the Assyrian invasion… It is true, factual and contextual… but there are more in the layers…
We all know Isaiah 28:16
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation”
(maybe you know it better from 1 Peter 2:6?)
This verse is often quoted in reference to Jesus, so it should ring a bell, but today God showed me something else in this chapter:
There is Faith.
A full and complete trust in God and His plan for your life, which includes His care for you, and how He sustains you.
“…God will speak to this people, to whom he said, ‘This is the resting place, let the weary rest’;…”
(Isaiah 28:12 NIV)
Then there is Religion
Our amazing ability to turn everything into a set of rules to follow because we are short on Faith, or struggle to live on Faith and in Faith… or… We just don’t know how.
“…So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; ….”
(Isaiah 28:13 NIV)
And then there is Knowledge
An understanding of how things are supposed to happen. God created it so, so that there is order, and benefit, to us and creation. “All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.”
(Isaiah 28:23-29 NIV)
Now, because we struggle with Faith, we create religion as a substitute, but because we know we need to have Faith, we try and apply it to Knowledge and set Instructions… where is does not belong!
God shows very clearly (to me, at least) in the last part of Isaiah 28 that there is a way to farm, and every crop requires different techniques to get the best harvest. Nowhere did He say to stop farming and just trust in Him to fill the grain silos… There is a partnership. He said to follow the good instructions so that the harvest will be successful and plentiful. It is, plain and simple, the right way of doing it.
There are some steps we take on Faith. And then there are some things we have to do the way God designed it. (of course, He can decide at any time that He wants to do a miracle for us to have a testimony to grow in Faith, that goes without saying) but generally, God’s design for the world is Good, and we will remain blessed if we walk in it. A seed that is planted will probably grow strong. It can start to grow anywhere, even if not planted, but then things tend to go wrong, and that seed needs a miracle to survive, nevermind thrive…
Following God’s Instruction is not “Religion” (man-made laws and ordinances)… and it is really not a suggestion either. We really should do our utmost to understand it, and to follow it.
