Go grab yourself a coke (if you're in the South, pick the flavor you want, because I've learned all soda is coke). Now, pour about half a glass. Drop some water in...do it again, and again and again until the glass is full. Would you drink it? Most of us wouldn't. Watered down coke is disgusting. So Why do we do the same with the bible? We live in a buffet of ideas. TV, Phones, Computers, and other devices connect us to ideas faster than was possible only 30 years ago. We are over-saturated by them. I think for the Christian, this is especially dangerous. I notice, more and more, that Christians are more prone to quote preachers rather than scriptures. I've even heard arguments on Christian think-tanks and news websites saying that Scripture is not enough. We have so many source books, so many conferences, so many preachers, so many figureheads...is it a wonder Scripture sometimes seems to get lost in the process? What is more, it seems that even people who should know better, after letting preachers, teachers and the rest replace the place of scripture, start allowing worldly and other religious ideas flow in to their thought processes, because it sounds spiritual enough. That's what happens when we dilute the word of God. We pick and choose what we wish to follow, and then, eventually, we create our own brand of Christianity. There is no faith in Christ outside of His word. We follow His way, or we're not following. We need to get back to the core of it all. Paul says in Romans (10:17) "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of God." We need to get back to that. We need to seek and search the Scriptures where we will most certainly find God waiting on the pages in front of us. God is consistent and constant. He does not change, feint, or grow weary (Isaiah 40:28). As he was in the beginning, so He was in Jesus' time on earth, and so He is today. Open the word, and discover the Father. Comfort for God’s People
1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfarea is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3A voice cries:b “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
The Word of God Stands Forever
6A voice says, “Cry!” And I said,c “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beautyd is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God
9Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news;e lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news;f lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13Who has measuredg the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses woodh that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
21Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Footnotes:
a 2 Or hardship b 3 Or A voice of one crying c 6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says d 6 Or all its constancy e 9 Or O herald of good news to Zion f 9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem g 13 Or has directed h 20 Or He chooses valuable wood
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