Today’s Reading: Isaiah 11; Isaiah 12; Isaiah 13; Isaiah 14; Hebrews 9
Scripture: Isaiah 11:3-4
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions...
Observation: This is one of the great prophecies concerning Jesus. Isaiah gave this prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus was born. What grabbed me in these verses is the description of the moral basis of the One described in them and the contrast to the natural or unregenerate man. I will use the terms "spiritual man" and "natural man" to point out the differences.
The spiritual man finds his "delight in the fear of the Lord." That is, he has such an awe and high regard for God that he literally gets great joy and satisfaction by thinking, speaking, and acting in a way reflective of God's character. It makes him happy to honor God. As a result, his own observations ("what he sees with his eyes... what he hears with his ears") do not determine his decisions. He is so desirous to reflect God's thoughts that he sets aside his own determinations and keys in to God's standards (defined as "righteousness") to form his opinions and decisions. As a result, he is a selfless man, his life being lived according to the mind of God and for the pleasure of God.
On the other hand, the natural man bases his happiness on what he perceives to benefit himself. Self-promotion is the goal. And self-determination is the means. When things make him feel good, or promote what he perceives to be his own interest, he is happy. Otherwise not. He completely relies on his own powers of observation -- what he sees, hears, and feels -- as the basis of all his judgments and decisions. They are self-centered and thus cannot produce anything other than a skewed result -- molded around one person's selfish perceptions. The natural man's judgment about the needy is likewise self-oriented. He looks at them from the point of view of how it affects him and forms his judgments. All his decisions are based on what he sees, hears, thinks and feels as opposed to any principle or objective standard. Situation-based thinking is what the natural man is all about.
Application: Let's apply this to ourselves. If this spiritual man is a description of Jesus, then those of us who aim to follow Him should seek to make ourselves like this spiritual man. We must put aside our self-orientation and find our "delight in the fear of the Lord." It is for us to follow the example of Jesus and live with God's judgments and standards, not basing our lives on what we see, hear, think, and feel, but living according to the mind of God.
Prayer: Lord, help us to delight in You and to seek to know Your thoughts and ways and to live according to them. Show us Your ways, teach us Your principles, give us Your heart and Your mind concerning all that we encounter throughout our lives. Help us to know what "the fear of the Lord" really is and to embrace it fully.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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