Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

The mighty river flows

Friday, December 13, 2002

Isaiah 48:17-19 & Matthew 11:16-19
Isaiah 48:17-19
17) This is what the Lord says--your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
18) If only you had paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19) Your descendants would have been like the sand,
your children like its numberless grains;
their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me."

Matthew 11:16-19
Jesus says,
"Are you listening to me?
"Really listening?
"How can I account for this generation?
The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents, 'We wanted to skip rope, and you were always too tired; we wanted to talk, but you were always too busy.' John came fasting and they called him crazy. I came feasting and they called me a lush, a friend of the riffraff. Opinion polls don't count for much, do they?"

One thing I have been, is a spoiled child whining to and whining about his parents. For a long time I did "blame" them for being too busy and too tired to focus on me. That perspective has been a centerpiece of late 20th century psychotherapy, and I embraced it.

Then one day on a bike ride, my wise friend Don told me to stop complaining. "Why do you think you should get all you need from your parents? They're just people, like you. You tell me that God is your source. Live that out!"

So I try. When I read passages like the poetry of Isaiah, with their beautiful descriptions of peace and prosperity, there seems no reason to pay attention to anything other than God and his commands. I am swept away in the joy of just being with him.

But too often too soon I am easily swept another way by the urgencies of my life. My attention seems required by the demands of those around me, my emotions, the often inconsiderate actions of others, my own appetites ... the list goes on and on.

And God's "if only" comes back to convict me. I would have peace like a river, peace that never stops flowing, peace that runs through every moment of my life, peace that is more absolute than the blood flowing through my body. I would. If only.

But I am not cut off. Matthew's story of Jesus doesn't end in chapter 11. When Jesus is on the cross he calls out, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." It's this forgiveness, this palpable unconditional forgiveness, that brings me back over and over to my source, to God's strength and love and wisdom.

I let your words wash over me, Father They will instruct my mind, my body, my spirit in the way I should go. Do not let me depart from it.

Devotions Archive

The mighty river flows

Friday, December 13, 2002