OUR FATHER WHOM WE MUST ALWAYS TRUST EVEN WHEN HE DOES NOT SEEM NEAR

Psalm 4 14 44 verse 9 says this;

But now you have rejected and humbled us;  you no longer go out with our armies.

This verse marks a change in the psalm where the the author goes from remembering the good works of the Lord towards his ancestors. He recalled the stories told of how the Lord had helped his people overcome their adversaries and how they had boasted in the Lord.

The verse then changes tone and observes that the Lord had rejected them and left them to fend for themselves.

The author tries to rationalize what had caused  the Lord to retreat from them. He considered that they had not strayed from the Lord as captured in Psalm 44 verses 17  - 18

All this came upon us,  though we had not forgotten you; we had not been false to your covenant.

Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.

The psalmist is distressed because the Lord seems to have turned His back on them even though they have been faithful to Him. He cries out to the Lord with this lament in Psalm chapter 44 verses 23 -26;

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?

We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SAVES 

From Psalm 3

You are the One who lifts my head

You are my shield and my glory

I call to You, You answer me

From your mountain so holy

I will not fear though on every side  

Tens of thousands they assail  me

Though I lie down and sleep

I wake again, for You sustain me.

Arise, Lord! My God!

 How many turn against me 

Arise, Lord! My God!

 Save me from my enemies.

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OUR FATHER WHO RESPONDS TO US WHEN WE PREOCCUPY OURSELVES WITH THE PLIGHT OF THE POOR AND OPPRESSED

Isaiah chapter 58 verses 3 - 4, which records the Lord's response to the people of Israel's inquiry, says this;

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,  ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please  and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

The people of Israel were asking why they were fasting and the Lord had not seen it and why the Lord did not notice when they humbled themselves.

The Lord, through His prophet Isaiah, answered the people of Israel telling them that even though they were carrying out the actions of seeking God by fasting and inquiring of Him, they were following their own desires as well as exploiting their workers. Further to that, they were given to strife and violence.

The Lord informed them that fasting while conducting themselves in such ways negated the chance of their concerns being heard in heaven.

Giving them guidance on what conduct needed to accompany fasting, the Lord gave the people these instructions in Isaiah chapter 58 verses  6 - 7;   

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

If the people did these things as the backdrop to their fasting, the Lord said to them in Isaiah chapter 58 verses 8 - 10;

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness,  and your night will become like the noonday.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO RESTORES HIS PEOPLE TO HIMSELF

Isaiah chapter 57 verses 9 - 10 says this;

You went to Molek with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead!

You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.

This passage is an indictment of the people of God who had forsaken Him and pursued their fleshly desires and sought foreign gods.

They preoccupied themselves with lusts and even sacrificed their own children to demons and in doing so, delved into darkness; even down to the abode of the dead.

Though they were fatigued by their fanatical engagement with evil, they renewed their strength and pressed on.

Such was the unremitting drive of the people of God to evade their God of righteousness.

The Lord warns His people in Isaiah chapter 57 verse 13 that when they need Him, they will try to call Him but He will leave them to their idols to save them;

When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away.

But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”

The hope that the Lord provides for those who take refuge in Him is that they who are contrite and lowly in spirit will have the obstacles to their access to their God removed.

Isaiah chapter 57 verses 17 - 19 records the Lord  relenting from His anger against His people and restoring them to Himself. 

I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways. 

I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;  I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips.

Peace, peace, to those far and near,”  says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SEPARATES THE WHEAT FROM THE TARES

Isaiah chapter 56 verse 10 says this;

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.

This verse reads like a rebuke against the watchmen who slept while enemies came into the territory and sowed tares on the land that had been sown with wheat in a parable told by the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 13 verses 24 - 25;

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 

Of the people who were given the responsibility of watching but slept and left the fields  vulnerable, Isaiah chapter 56 verse 11 says this;

They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way,  they seek their own gain.

They are distracted by the pursuits of their own benefit and abandon their charge and great harm is done to the kingdom of God by the implanting of evil seeds among the harvest of righteousness.

However, the Lord is able to redeem his field from the work of the enemy as described in Matthew chapter 13 verses 28 - 30;

He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE RENOWN IS EVERLASTING

Isaiah chapter 55 verse 13 says this;

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

This verse describes the conditions in the world that will be a reversal of the curse that had befallen the earth when thorns and briers grew to vex men by making their survival a struggle.

The earth, under the rulership of the Lord, is portrayed as becoming hospitable again to men as it was in the garden of Eden with junipers and myrtle trees replacing the thornbushes and briers.

These permanent markers are the signs that will point to the Lord's renown that will endure forever.

Amen. 

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OUR FATHER WHO FEELS DISTRESS WHEN WE ARE IN DISTRESS

The kindness of the Lord was upon His people and when they were in distress in Egypt, He too was in distress.

He showed them love and mercy and became their saviour. 

But the people rebelled against Him and grieved His Holy Spirit and in doing so, caused the Lord to turn against them and become their enemy.

Finding themselves without the covering of their Lord and their holy places trampled by their enemies, the children of Israel returned to their senses and they finally stopped to remember their history and how their God, in days of old, had redeemed them from bondage and guided them through the Red Sea. The passage in Isaiah 63 verses 11 - 14 says it this way;

Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people—where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock?

Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown, who led them through the depths?

Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord.

This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.

The people assessed their condition and realised they had spurned their God who had loved them and protected them. 

They came before the Lord with repentance and asked Him, in Isaiah chapter 63 verse 17b;

Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance.

Amen.

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