The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever on the LORD,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart have multiplied;
free me from my anguish.
and cry to her that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Listening to Driscoll
Reading Riddlebarger
Reading Hebrews 4
~
Please, Lord, let this be the day. Let this be the day that time ends.
My Bible fell open to Isaiah 40
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.
I'm reading in Hebrews 4...
God's Sabbath rest.
1Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
some manuscripts say because it did not meet with faith in the hearers.
It is not that we lose our salvation, it's that the promise of rest did not join with our faith in the first place. We are united by faith with those who listened to the gospel and believe.
This is also cross referenced to Romans 3:3
Even though there are those who do not listen and there are those who do not believe, that does not mean that the promises of God are not true. God is faithful to His promises, even when we are not faithful to Him.
3For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
"As I swore in my wrath,'They shall not enter my rest,'"
That's a direct quote from Psa. 95. Matthew Henry says, "Let us be aware of the evils of our hearts, which lead us to wander from the Lord. There is a rest ordained for believers, the rest of everlasting refreshment, begun in this life, and perfected in the life to come. This is the rest which God calls his rest."
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."
Exodus31:17, "It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"
We long for that rest.
Humans are designed for a Sabbath and I feel as though I have not had one for a long time.