Created for Good Works
by pastor don
September 8, 2010

Isaiah 28:1 “Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!”

Isaiah 28:5 “In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, 6 and a spirit of justice … and strength...”

In his book Isaiah, Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. writes: “It’s a mercy to live in a troubled time like ours, when the world is falling apart and secularism is discredited and we have no clever answers for our needs. We’re less likely to be taken in. It’s more believable now that our only salvation is in God. The collapse of the city of man is the opportunity of the city of God. It’s a good time to be living for God” (p. 153).

“It’s a mercy to live in a troubled time like ours…” Wow! People are desperate. Secularism has disillusioned them. Evolution with all its attending systems offers nothing. Nada. Temporal hope is no hope at all. What a challenge, to offer the hope of the city of God!

Wine. Women. Money. Power. This old world doesn’t change much, does it. And all that empty, fleeting stuff, God labels “the fading flower of its glorious beauty” (twice – vs. 1 & 4). Things God intended for us to enjoy soon evaporate, along with their fading ability to entertain.

Only God – his love, his salvation, his acceptance through Jesus – offers lasting beauty, “a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty” to the few (remnant) who remain and believe. Is He sufficient enough for us?

Sometimes, even Christians preach the wrong message, salvation through a change of political power in Washington. Don’t count on that! Greed, power, and a desire for all kinds of evil runs right through every heart, not just through a certain polity ideology. Nor is it a better trained specialist, a fancier restaurant, a nicer car with all the new features, a bigger home … the list is endless, things not bad in themselves, just lousy substitutes for the unfading crown of complete satisfaction in God and in his glorious beauty.

Ortlund later concluded, “God is your crown of glory. Don’t be too proud to be adorned with God!” Will you really find him totally sufficient for today? Bask in him. Consider the pure joy. Refresh yourself in his love … now.