Sunday Scripture

 

For this week's Sunday Scripture series, I'm returning to my simple study of a little devotional journal titled Reflections: The Woman God Sees, by Jane L. Fryar -- a journal gifted me by some dear young friends.   It has a daily devotional one works through -- about a month's worth or so.  The daily devotions were a blessing to me when I worked through the book, so up through November I had been sharing them here.  Then I switched to something more seasonal for December and now -- for a few weeks at least -- I am back to these again.  We will see!

The Scripture for today is Isaiah 38:17.   Here's the assignment: "Jesus carried all our sins to His cross -- and left them there.  He has thrown our guilt 'behind His back'.  How does that good news give your courage to face today's troubles?"  I chose to SOAP Isaiah 38:16-17 as I considered this assignment.

S= "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; so wilt Thou restore me, and make me to live.
"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back."  (Isaiah 38:16-17)

O= Scofield points out that Isaiah 38:10-20 were actually penned by Hezekiah.  That was a really interesting fact to learn.

Although I'm quite familiar with verse 17, and have read this account from Hezekiah's life numerous times, I'm not sure I remembered how it all fit together -- that these verses are part of Hezekiah's response to God's healing him and sparing his life.  

Warren Wiersbe noted, "During this time of suffering, Hezekiah examined his own heart and confessed his sins, and God forgave him.  'Undertake for me' (verse 14) means 'Be my surety.  Stand with me'."

 Cross-references for "back" are these:

 "I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, like a cloud, thy sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee."  (Isaiah 44:22)

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."  (Matthew 26:28)

About that word "remission" above -- Scofield notes that it is elsewhere translated "forgiveness" and means   "to send off or away."  He adds,

"And this, throughout Scripture, is the one fundamental meaning of forgiveness -- to separate the sin from the sinner.

"The sin of the justified believer interrupts his fellowship [with God]; it is forgiven upon confession, but always on the ground of Christ's propitiating sacrifice."

A=   Wiersbe says of Hezekiah, "There was a new humility in his walk, a deeper love for the Lord in his heart, and a new song of praise on his lips.  He had a new determination to praise God all the days of his life, for now those days were very important to him."

Hezekiah's time of suffering might have been wasted, had he not used that time to pray and get his heart right with the Lord.  Once he did, and had the assurance of God's forgiveness and healing, he was quick to move forward with praising and serving God once again.

    In answer to the question "He has thrown our guilt 'behind His back'.  How does that good news give your courage to face today's troubles?", I responded: 

This good news does indeed give me courage to face each day's troubles without fear or guilt.   Keeping short accounts with God frees me to serve Him wholeheartedly.

P= "Lord, I'm so thankful that You have delivered my life from the pit of destruction!  So thankful that my sins are gone as far as the east is from the west.  I'm thankful too for this example of how You worked in Hezekiah's life.  Help me to have that fresh determination to praise You with my remaining days!   In Jesus' name, Amen."

And there is this week's Sunday Scripture!  Just three more in this series, and I have figured out what I'll be doing next, so I'm thankful to have direction on that.  Stay tuned!