Isaiah III - A Word To The Wise
Sermon Review
7 October 2001
Isaiah 55:6-9

I wonder if you have seen the second Jurassic Park movie. If you have then you will recall that on an island filled with all manner of prehistoric animals, a group of people enroute to a what was believed to be a safe haven and escape point, stop for a brief break. One of the men takes off his pack, signals to a friend that he is taking a toilet break, and disappears into the heavily foliaged surroundings. Encountering one of the wildlife, he becomes disoriented, so he shouts out for his mate to help him. Unfortunately, despite his shouting becoming louder and louder, more anxious and panicky, his friend never answers him. The reason is that his friend was wearing a 'walkman' and quite preoccupied. Sadly, the lost fellow ended up experiencing first hand prehistoric digestive processing - all because of a walkman.

Many centuries ago, Isaiah, a spokesperson for God said to the Jews, 'seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near'. His advice was well intentioned and appropriate then, as it is well intentioned and appropriate today. Indeed the wise person will take time to stop, turn aside from what they are doing, and seek him. And it is worthwhile doing so, for the good news is that God does not wear a 'Walkman'. He will hear you and respond to you.

I guess though, that if your life is like most others, you are so busy and distracted that it is hard to take time out to seek God. We would do well to listen to a story that Lettie Cowman included in her book, 'Springs in the Valley'.
"In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveller was making a long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveller had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behaviour, the traveller was informed that they had gone too fast the first day and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies." Despite one's busyness and distractedness, a wise person will take time to let their spirit and their soul catch up with their bodies. Why is it wise to bother to do this though? What is wrong with busyness and preoccupation?

The problem is that too often the busyness and distractions of our lives means that we are not good at listening to ourselves. We may feel dissatisfactions, regrets, tensions, disappointments, and all manner of uncomfortable things, but ignore them rather than confront them. In fact we will often try all manner of things to quell and bypass them. More work, more play, more any and everything, rather than confront personal realities. The Bible teaches that fundamentally there is a sense of dislocation, a 'dis-ease' as one writer calls it (Gordon MacDonald), that inhabits the centre of our inner life. A dis-ease that only God can deal. The problem is that we are not naturally at peace with God and therefore not naturally at peace with ourselves. This means that the consequences of life lived out of sync with God registers negatively in our attitudes, thoughts, emotions, and choices, relationships etc. Unfortunately, like addictions, we must experience stronger and stronger doses of distraction and hurriedness, or avoidance manoeuvres to avoid confronting both the symptoms as well as the dis-ease. However, what we find is that what brings refreshment also brings injury, for the symptoms simply become more intense and painful, revealing to the wise the inadequate and artificial nature of distraction and avoidance. What the Bible makes clear is that we all need a good dose of divine mercy and forgiveness so we can indeed make peace with God and deal with our own personal separation from him deep within. As Isaiah said long ago, God offers to all mercy and free pardon if they will turn aside and seek him. The wise person will stop, get off the merry go round, turn aside, and enjoy this mercy and free pardon.

Of course, this raises a question with each of us. "Can I really enjoy complete acceptance by God?" Truthfully, if we were just dealing with a person, this would not be impossible. Think for a moment, presuming the guilt of Osama Bin Laden and the Akida network for the terrible terrorist activities in New York and Washington on Sept. 11th, if you were approached by them and told they were very sorry, turning from such behaviour, willing to make reparation, and asked for your forgiveness, something that was in your power to give, would you give it? Perhaps? What if it was your child or spouse that was numbered among the dead? Probably not. Fortunately, Isaiah tells us that God's thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways are not his ways. That is, he does not naturally think and act like we do. If it was up to us, we would not so freely pardon and forgive. But God will because nearly 2000 years ago he allowed his son Jesus to die on a cross, making forgiveness possible for all. His son paid the penalty for all the wrong we have ever done. That is why he is willing to completely forgive and freely pardon Rom.3:21-26, 4:7,8, 5:1,2, 10:9,10, 8:38,39. Therefore, the wise person not only stops, turns aside and seeks God, but is willing to believe that full pardon and forgiveness and acceptance is freely available. God has taken the initiative in forgiving - we need to be willing to reach out and receive it.

Are you willing to trust in the acceptance he was promised? If we are wise we will. You might be saying that this is a hard ask. You don't know how I feel about God. Or you don't know what has happened in my life? You might be feeling quite resistant to stopping and turning aside, content to ignore and quench your inner dis-ease. However, don't confuse feelings of discomfort with an inability to turn aside and seek a good dose of divine forgiveness and acceptance this morning, this day, or at any time. Perhaps you have heard of the Boston Marathon? Two third's into this 42 kilometer race the runners hit 'heartbreak hill' - a long hard climb at a difficult stage of the run. Knowing this, runners prepare for a battle in the mind by determining to differentiate between feelings of fatigue and genuine fatigue. Feelings of fatigue come when feelings oppose what the will and the mind want to achieve. These feelings can be dealt with by contesting and ignoring them. Genuine fatigue cannot. The chances are that the resistance we tend to feel towards stopping, turning aside, and seeking God's mercy, pardon, peace and renewed presence in our lives, are feelings of fatigue rather than genuine fatigue. Wherever you are at, if you are wise you will fight your way up 'heartbreak hill', and find joy and peace in believing in the mercy and pardon that is always there to be found, thanks to Jesus Christ. Avoidance will not fix our dis-ease. Honesty and faith in full acceptance with God through faith in the death of Christ for ourselves is what will fix it. God does not wear a Walkman. In fact, it is not he but we who wear a walkman if we are not wise enough to seek him while he can be found.

Blessings

 

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