Time for something completely different.
Good Morning.
Today I'd like for us to examine a verse in the first chapter of the prophet Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is full of some of the most compelling verses in scripture, but before all that we read in the first chapter:
Isaiah
1:18"Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
This is addressed to Israel and their failings but it certainly speaks to everyone that is a sinner (which is everyone) and prepares the reader to learn of God's ultimate sacrifice that will make our sins “white as snow”.
But how, how can I and the LORD, the Creator of all that is, “reason together”? For me, that has been a challenge to comprehend. So often in scripture we are told that His ways are not our ways, and that there is a way that seems right to a man but that it leads to death. So how could I possibly be expected to exercise right reason when dealing with the Creator? It seems too incredible, too lopsided of a meeting, for me to conceive.
A few months ago we had a study on the first chapter of the Gospel of John and there is where we may find an answer. In that study the meanings behind the Greek word “Logos”, translated into English as “The Word”, were brought out and examined. It is obviously where we get our word “logic” from. It's meanings include thinking, scientific reasoning, and revelation. In that study we learned that the ultimate reality in the universe is related to reason, rationality, and logic.
Further in the first chapter of John we learn that this Word, this Logos, is called the true light that enlightens every man.
John
This Logos, the reasoning and rationality that enlightens every man, is not a different kind of logic than the divine Word. It literally is that Word! There is only one logic, one rationality, and that comes from above. Here we may have a clue as to what it means to be created in the image of God. In the garden Adam immediately exercised that rationality by being able to converse with God. Being able to understand and utilize language is a purely rational function.
So we should be able to take some comfort this fact, that not only did Our Lord walk among us as a man but his essence or light abides with us all.
But for us being rational does not mean always being perfect in our thinking, for even our parents in the garden were led astray by deceiving words. So how much more must we, now with a fallen nature, need to be constantly on our guard to think aright and not be swayed by wrong thinking?
So are we back to where we began? How does my fallen nature ever hope to commune with the Lord in this “reasoning together”? Maybe the answer is staring us right in the face, back in Isaiah, if we just exercise a little “right reasoning”. For if we are not reasoning together with God, then we are reasoning apart from Him. By just exercising my thoughts will the I ever realize that my sins are as scarlet and that they can be as white as snow? No.
So the question should not be, “How can I reason with the all-knowing Creator of all there is?”, it should be, “How dare I reason without Him?”
Here is a piece of poetry that I had written down into my notes from a Bible study many years ago. It was one of the “seeds” that led to this study in right thinking.
“Use your gift of reason while it still prevails -
and use you gift of faith when the realm of reason fails”
Or, in other words, do not let your reason function apart from God's revelation but let your reason always be subject to it.
May the word of God take precedence in all the facets of our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment