Isaiah 4. Click here for an online Bible!
Ever had any bad news come in? Of course! Everyone has. Last night, Pastor Lenny talked about how often we get bad news and throw ourselves a pity-party! He also talked about much of how we are quick to share our bad news, but when God blesses us with Good News, we often ignore it and do not share it. While he talked about a lot of exactly what I'm experiencing, the Lord revealed to me one step further. We could call it being proactive.
In Isaiah chapter 3, we saw all the doom and destruction but it seems now that chapter 4 begins to show some hope. He talks about the Day of the Lord, which in NT terms, the day of the Messiah! There is a lot to glean from this short chapter, so I'm going to focus in on one, maybe two, verses.
"And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain" (vs 5-6, KJV).
I love how the word "create" is used. Create means to make something out of nothing. This is the same Hebrew word that is used in Genesis when God was forming the earth out of nothingness. But here, the significance is awesome! That means that it wasn't in existence. It was something that we couldn't find here on earth without the Creator. What is He creating?
A cloud and smoke by day.......This is like the cloud of smoke in Exodus when the Israelites were passing through the Red Sea and the Egyptians were close behind them! God put a cloud of smoke behind the Israelites and caused the Egyptians to be unable to see and leading to their death. This goes right along with God as our rear-guard! He gives us Armor for the front of us (Eph 6) but HE is our protection for our back. He created the shining of a flaming fire by night, so He is "for us" night and day! God's glory in the OT is often shown as a cloud. And His cloud, His glory, will be our defense, our protection.
THIS Holy Smoke is our place of refuge. When the good and bad come rolling in, we can run to Him. We don't have to wait for the storm to come to build a place of protection, HE has already created it. We don't have to wait until we're tired from the journey to know where we are safe to rest. We don't have to worry about having enough supplies, because we already have a refuge of protection with the King, whose power is limitless! You need peace, run to the cloud of His glory. You need strength, run to His cloud. You need a blessing, run to His cloud. You need a healing, run to His cloud!
No matter what, we can run into His arms for there we are protected. This doesn't mean that bad things won't come, in fact - often when we are doing God's will it is all the more reason for the Devil to attack us. BUT, it means that God is fighting the battle for us. All we have to do, like the Israelites, is press forward. Don't look back, but let God fight the battle with HIS glory. The enemy cannot win against GOD! Amen! But we have a place of refuge and protection. A place to run to when bad things happen that is WAY more comforting than the attention other people will give us when they say "It's gonna be okay." Listen to God and His instruction to get you through for the battle is not ours but His. Are you willing to do something more than sit on our duffs in the midst of pouring rain?
Are we willing to allow that Holy Smoke fight the battle?
Do we truly know what to do when bad things happen?
