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Seek The Lord While He May Be Found

Study Notes for this Wednesday October 13, 2021

Isaiah 55:6--13
Seek the LORD while He may be found: The prophet impresses a sense of urgency on God's people. "This is the time. God can be found now. Seek Him now." It isn't that God is hidden, and can only be found now. It is that He can only be found when our hearts are inclined to look for Him, and that inclination itself is a gift from God! We must receive the gift, and make the most of it while we have it. Not seeking, and failing to call upon Him while He is near, means we will not receive the blessings He promises.

b. Let the wicked forsake his way: The prophet impresses the need for repentance among God's people. Repentance is simply turning around our way - turning from our own way, turning unto God's way. Simply, this is what it means to return to the LORD, and we can never walk on God's way until we forsake our own way. The LORD's glorious restoration works in and through our repentance.

i. Isaiah makes an important point when he says, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Wickedness may be demonstrated by our actions (our way); but unrighteousness can be found in our very thoughts. The battleground for a righteous walk with the LORD is often found in our minds, in our thoughts. Paul knew this also when he wrote of bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), and how we must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

c. And He will have mercy on him: What a glorious promise! When we turn to the LORD, He will have mercy on us! In fact, He will abundantly pardon! The problem is never that we turn to the LORD and find that He rejects us. The problem is that we fail to return to the LORD!

a. For My thoughts are not your thoughts: God doesn't think the way we do. We get into a lot of trouble when we expect that He should think as we do. Because we are made in the image of God, we can relate to God's thoughts, but we cannot master them.

b. Nor are your ways My ways: God doesn't act the way we do. He does things His way, and His ways are often not our ways. We get into a lot of trouble when we expect that God should act the way we do.

c. How far is the distance between God's thoughts and ours? How far is the distance between His ways and ours? The distance is a great as the heavens are higher than the earth.

i. Gloriously, in Jesus Christ, heaven has come down to earth, and we can have our thoughts and ways transformed to be more like God's thoughts and ways. This is what it means to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). The distance will never be closed; God will always be God, and we will always be human. But when our salvation is complete, and we are united with the LORD in glory, the distance will be as close as is possible.

ii. The difference and distance between God and man is revealed, not to discourage us from seeking Him, but to keep us humble as we seek. "You may conclude that it is not intended that you should understand the infinite, for you are told that his thoughts and ways are far above you; but you are required to seek him while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near." (Spurgeon)

a. For as the rain comes down: Using the figure of the water cycle, the LORD illustrates the essential principle that His word shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. Rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return before serving their purpose on earth (they water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud). The rain and snow eventually do return to heaven, but not before accomplishing their purpose on earth. Even so, God's Word, when He sends it down from heaven, does not return to Him void. Instead, it always fulfills His purpose on earth.

i. This means that God is not just "all talk." When He talks, His words accomplish His intended purpose. The word of the LORD has power, and it never fails in His intended purpose.

b. Make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: The use of these pictures to illustrate the operation of God's Word shows that God's Word brings forth fruit. It also shows that the fruit has many different applications. The same grain that gives seed to the sower also gives bread to the eater.

c. It shall accomplish what I please: God's Word has something to accomplish. God doesn't just speak to hear Himself talk. His Word is not empty, or lacking in power. This also means that God's Word has a purpose. He didn't speak in unfathomable mysteries just to blow our minds, or confuse us, or leave things up to any possible interpretation. When God speaks, He speaks to accomplish a purpose.

d. It shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it: God's Word doesn't "barely" get the job done. It shall prosper in the purpose God has for it. It is rich and full of life. God's Word always succeeds, and always fulfills God's purpose.

i. This doesn't mean that it doesn't matter how God's Word is presented. Sometimes a terrible sermon has been excused by saying, "God's Word doesn't return void." The principle is clear and true from this passage of Isaiah, but by the preacher's poor preparation or preaching, there has been little of God's Word put forth. The preacher can ignore, dilute, or obscure God's Word so that little goes forth. When little goes forth, that little will succeed - but how much better if more of the whole counsel of God went forth to succeed!

a. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace: When God's people turn to Him, listen to Him, and His Word does His work in them, joy and peace are always the result. The joy is so great, that even the mountains and the hills, and the trees of the field join in!

b. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree: Where before there was barrenness and reminders of the curse (the thorn), now there will be beautiful and useful trees. The picture is clear; in His glorious work of restoration, God takes away the barren and the cursed, and brings forth beauty and fruit.

c. It shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off: When the LORD restores, all the work is done for His name, and for His glory. When the LORD restores, the work is secure; it is an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.