Isaiah 40

Recently we have not been purchasing bread from the grocery; rather, I have been making our bread at home, and I found that I love doing it. There obviously are a multitude of reasons to make your own bread, if you have the time, including the lack of preservatives, the missing ingredients that we can’t name, and the wonderful smell the kitchen has with home baked bread cooling on the counter.

Today, I realized that we did not have any bread ready to eat, so first thing this morning, I got the flour out and proceeded to make a recipe that I have used many times before. Rather than having the bread machine bake it, I let it mix the ingredients and then go through a rise cycle before I take it out and put it in a loaf pan for the second rising prior to baking. This, too, is my normal routine.

When the time came to retrieve the bread from the machine, I opened the top and found something far less than an appealing loaf of bread.

It was hard, lumpy, not even filling the bread machine, certainly not having risen any, if at all. I was astonished. This “loaf” was not worth baking, and it found out what the inside of the kitchen garbage can looked like!

I went back to the drawing board and followed the recipe for bread a second time. This time, when it came to adding the butter, I had a chill run down my back, and it was not because the butter was cold. I instantly realized what happened to the first loaf – I had omitted the oil. A look at the stick of butter waiting in the butter dish confirmed my suspicion. Rather than missing 2 tablespoons, a whole, untouched, stick of butter stared up at me from its dish.

All this to say, the butter was added to the second loaf and it is rising as it should.

As I thought about what went wrong, I understood that I missed using one of the ingredients when I prepared the first loaf. I had the recipe, and I looked at it, but I overlooked that one thing and the result was disastrous, at least it was for that loaf!

Our God provided His instruction book for us, and it is called the Holy Bible. The Jews understand this as they have the Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament, books that specifically identify the statutes and rules that God has laid out for His people to follow. The New Testament establishes that the law of the Old Testament still contains God’s law, but now there is a new understanding and emphasis.

See what Jesus said:

“”Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Matthew 5:17

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Matthew 5:21-24

You see, Jesus understood the Law that governed the lives of the people. And He understood that they were not keeping that Law. He understood that they thought they were keeping the Law because they did not actually murder anyone, but there was hatred in their hearts, and malicious words coming from their mouths. He took that Law and expanded it to include the status of the heart. If there is anger, if there are insults, if there is an attitude of condemnation toward others then the Law is broken just as if a dagger had been placed in the chest of the victim.

Jesus further said:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Matthew 5:43-45

God is merciful toward the just and the unjust, toward the evil and the good. So, we should not be unmerciful toward others, as we also are sinners and deserving of punishment.

In Matthew 15, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, forcibly pointing out their hypocrisy:

“For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God’, he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.”

Matthew 15:4-6

Here Jesus is explicitly stating that the commandment pronounced by God in Exodus 20 is to be followed. But instead, the Pharisees twisted the commandment and said that when a person gave God that which would have been used to care for their parents, there was no need to honor his parents. Jesus specifically admonished that by their man-made rule, the Pharisees had made God’s word void.

Beloved, the instructions are there in the Book. The fact that they may be difficult to follow does not nullify their import. God’s word is true and it endures forever.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Isaiah 40:8

When I did not put the butter in the bread, it did not mix well and I did not have a loaf that I could enjoy later in the day. I didn’t follow the directions, and I paid the consequences. Likewise, when we don’t follow God’s instructions, things do not go well. There will be consequences, whether in this life or the next.

” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 6:35

Read God’s Word, ruminate on it, and digest its marvelous truths. Feast on the Bread of Life, and follow the instructions given. You will enjoy an abundant life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Father, I praise Your Name for Your Word that gives us the way to eternal life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. I thank You too that Your Word provides everything that we need to live a life that is pleasing to You. Forgive me when I have failed to do so, when I have failed to follow Your instructions. Let Your Spirit enlighten my heart so that I will be sensitive to Your guidance and then give me the courage to follow Your direction.

It is no secret in our family that I have absolutely no inherent sense of direction. Even with the little N or SW on the car’s information panel, I often don’t know which way to go. Unless I am driving to my grocery store, my office, my church, it would be anyone’s guess about when, or whether, I would get to the place I intended to go. [I call this my “elongated route syndrome” rather than simply saying that I get lost all the time.]

The best example of one of my elongated routes was the subject of an earlier blog entitled The Elongated Trip posted May 23, 2015. I was to go to Bristol, Tennessee from Knoxville in the days before GPS or the voice of Siri directing your travel. This trip is, for almost everyone, about 120 miles. But, for me, on that day, the trip was over 240 miles, not on interstates but rather on state routes through the mountains, valleys and byways of Tennessee and Kentucky.

As you can likely guess, the yellow is the easy route that I should have taken while the green line shows the actual path that I drove.

Bill and I recently drove through Bristol and, since Bill was driving, I could think about that long drive. While the trip was decades ago, I still remember it vividly.

It occurred on a day when frustrations, fears and financial deficits were facing me with full force; it was a day when I was sure that the future was bleak and that there would be no possible rescue. I did not doubt that God loved me, nor did I think that He had abandoned me … I just did not see how any relief would be coming that would help my dire situation.

When we don’t know what to do or where God is directing us to go, we often become anxious, frustrated, and sometimes resentful, thinking that we are just “biding time” while others are active in the ministry that we want to do. After all, we want to get going!

During times such as this, try to back away from the situation and consider whether God might be trying to teach you a lesson. Remember, the Holy Spirit indwells each Christian and it is His job to transform us into the likeness of God’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. This transformation occurs by developing the fruit of the Spirit that Paul details in Scripture, such as in Galatians chapter 5. So, look and see where the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, see what God is teaching you.

Think about the lessons in patience that you can learn as you wait for the Lord! Scripture often exhorts us to wait …

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:14

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7

Think about the lessons in peace and faithfulness that you can learn as you trust God to guide your steps …

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Psalm 28:7

… For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

oregon-lighthouse-and-gps-c — Lighthouse and GPS — the old and new navigation tools meet along the Oregon coastline.

God will lead us as surely as the lighthouse pointed the way to the seafaring voyagers and as specifically as our modern GPS technology allows. (Both are noted in this picture from the Oregon coast, the lighthouse on the left and the GPS on the roof of the adjacent building.)

We usually don’t know why we have an “elongated route” on our road with the Lord. We can’t see His reason for taking us along that way at that time, but we don’t need to know all that. All we need to know is that we are in the Hands of our loving Father.

Charles R. Swindoll said it like this in Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life (Zondervan):

“We’re not supposed to have airtight answers! Why? Because our understanding is earthbound. . . . Our focus is from the ground up. . . . We see now, He sees forever. We judge on the basis of the temporal; He, on the basis of the eternal. . . . His vantage point is infinity.”

Trust this Lord who will teach us lessons while we are going along the “elongated route”. He knows our ultimate destination and He has planned our trip so when we get to our destination, we will have the ability to do the assignment that He has for us to do. The lengthened route may be designed to quiet your soul so that you can hear His voice speaking words of calm, encouragement, direction, and strength into your heart and soul. It certainly did that for me.

The classic hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” expresses the desire to grow in our Lord while we are “waiting, yielded and still”. Here is the hymn as sung on the album Hymns in the Vineyard.

Give Him the keys to your life. And keep your eyes on Him as He directs your path.

Father, I praise Your name for Your faithfulness and patience as You teach me lessons even when I am complaining about having to wait or when I am unsure of where You are directing me to go. Enable me to have faith sufficient to simply hand over the keys to my life to You and then let me ride along on the trip that You have planned out for me. Mold me and make me after Your will, so all can see Christ only always living in me.