Wednesday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 30, 2023 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 29:18-24 (NKJV)
29:18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, the scornful one is consumed, and all who watch for iniquity are cut off—
21 Who make a man an offender by a word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just by empty words.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale;
23 “But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will hallow My name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel.
24 “These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine.”
Devotion
“These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine.”
We often speak of “doctrine and practice.” Bad doctrine leads to bad practice. The children of Israel believed a false, “ex opere operato” doctrine: they had the idea that God would never let Jerusalem fall because the temple and the ark of the covenant were there. So, they thought they were free to sin and live unrighteously. They were wrong.
In exile, they went the other way, thinking, “God punished us for breaking His rules, so now we must become sticklers for obeying the rules.” They became lovers of rules. That was wrong too. In both cases, what was missing was a love for God that genuinely wanted to be pleasing to Him.
The Lord, through Isaiah, promises that those who erred will come to understand; those who complained will learn doctrine. Jesus has given us that doctrine: it is the doctrine of the Gospel—repentance and the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ. God grant us to believe it, to love Him for it, and so to strive with all our might to be pleasing to Him.
Prayer: Almighty and Merciful God, of Whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
