Mercy In The Midst Of Madness

Introduction

Last night, as I bowed my head in prayer to God, I began to share with the Lord the burdens that were weighing heavily upon my heart. It was not long before hot tears began to flow down my face, as I poured out my soul before the Lord. But in the midst of my crying out to God, His Spirit started to bring certain scriptures to my mind.

In the course of my prayer, I confessed to God that I was afraid. Almost immediately, the Holy Spirit brought to mind Psalm 56:3, which says, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." Like lightning, Isaiah 41: 10a came to mind: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God..."

Again the tears came, as I reveled in the mercy and grace of God that would move Him to speak to my heart so personally, even though I had vacillated all week between fear and faith, between adoration and anxiety and anger. God knew just what my aching heart needed, and He graciously met my need.

Following the advice of Henry Blackaby, in his Experiencing God workbook, I stopped praying, and turned to Isaiah 41 to see if there was anything else that God wished to reveal to me from that passage. My heart began to soar as the Holy Spirit applied each word directly to my circumstances. What a thrill it was to experience such a wonderful encounter with God. What an amazing gift it was for the God of the universe to speak so personally and tenderly to me, as friend to friend.

There is no way I can relate to you the intimacy I experienced with God last night nor would I try. However, I want to share with you some of the truths the Lord shared with me. God wants you to be aware of His "Mercy In The Midst Of Madness."

I. God's Declaration

A. God Assures Us That We Are His Servants

Isaiah 41:9a, "Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant..."

Sometimes I feel like a miserable failure, as far as the ministry goes. Perhaps, by the estimates of some, I am a failure. All I can say is that it helped me when the Lord spoke to my heart and assured me with the words, "Thou art my servant" (Isa.41: 9a). It was as if God was saying to me, "It doesn't matter how it may look to you right now. You are My servant, and I'm going to use you for my glory." Someone once stated: "I really cannot give you the formula for success. But I can give you the formula for failure. It's this: Try to please everyone" (Source Unknown).

Paul apparently came to this same basic conclusion. He came to realize that he should not be concerned with gaining the approval of men, as long as he had the approval of God; for he was God's servant. Paul put it this way:

In 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord."

B. God Assures Us That We Are His Selection

Isaiah 41:9b, "...I have chosen thee..."

John 15:16a, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit..."

Folks, to be personally selected for a great task is an honor. To be chosen from among many others for an honored position makes one special. But to be chosen to be the servant of God makes one special indeed. The Lord has chosen every child of God, to be His servant. Therefore, we must be careful to do what he has chosen us to do. What have we been chosen to do? Paul answers this question with these words: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (II Cor.5: 20). The bottom line is simply this: We are God's representatives; which makes us responsible only to Him. Rejoice in the fact that God has personally chosen you to serve His purposes.

Out of all the choices that God could have made, he chose you. Never forget the significance of His choice. You were not the only choice He had available.

British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th- century Rothschild family. One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler, the following conversation ensued:

"Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?" "Tea, please," answered Asquith. "China, India, or Ceylon, sir?" asked the butler. "China, please." "Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?" "Milk, please," replied Asquith. "Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?" asked the butler.

Today in the Word, May 5, 1993

C. God Assures Us That We Have Not Been Scrapped

Isaiah 41:9c, "...I have...not cast thee away."

Romans 8:37-39, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Hebrews 13:5c, "...I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

There may be times when we will feel as though God has thrown us away. But even though we often fail the Lord, He is patient with us, and cherishes us. God has no intentions of throwing us away, and forgetting about us. This was beautifully typified for us in God's promise to Israel, when He said, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (Isa.49: 15-16).

A child of God can "throw away" their life, by rebelliously and sinfully living for themselves, without regard for the will of God, and serving Him. That sort of lifestyle might result in one becoming disqualified in their service for God (I Cor.9: 27), but they will never be discarded (Rom.8: 39) by God, in the sense that He would ever cease to love and care for them, and claim them as His own.

New Every Morning:

Yea, "new every morning," though we may awake,

Our hearts with old sorrow beginning to ache;

With old work unfinished when night stayed our hand

With new duties waiting, unknown and unplanned;

With old care still pressing, to fret and to vex,

With new problems rising, our minds to perplex

In ways long familiar, in paths yet untrod,

Oh, new every morning the mercies of God!

His faithfulness fails not; it meets each new day

New guidance for every new step of the way;

New grace for new trials, new trust for old fears,

New patience for bearing the wrongs of the years,

New strength for new burdens, new courage for old,

New faith for whatever the day may unfold;

As fresh for each need as the dew on the sod;

Oh, new every morning the mercies of God! (Annie Johnson Flint)

II. God's Directive

A. The Restriction Against Living In Fear

Isaiah 41:10a & c, "Fear thou not...be not dismayed..."

In 2 Timothy 1:7 we read, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Its one thing to have occasional bouts of fear, but it's quite another to live in fear. While logical fear can actually preserve our life, irrational fear should not be the principle under which we live.

I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath-these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely-these are my native air.

A John Hopkins University doctor says, "We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact." But I, who am simple of mind, think I know: We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality. Dr. E. Stanley Jones

B. The Reasons For Living In Faith

1. The Presence Of God

Isaiah 41:10b, "...for I am with thee..."

God promises us His presence. In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews quotes God's promise to Israel, in the Old Testament, which clearly stated, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb.13: 5c). Whether you know it or not, you're very special to God. This poem illustrates what I'm talking about.

The U In Jesus

Before U were thought of or time had begun,

God stuck U in the name of His Son.

And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,

You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,

For U, He was born; that's why He came.

And His great love for U is the reason He died.

It even takes U to spell crUcified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand

He rose from the dead, with U in His plan?

The stones split away, the gold trumpet blew,

And this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.

When Jesus left earth at His upward ascension,

He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.

"Go into the world and tell them it's true,

That I love them all, just like I love U."

So many great people are spelled with a U,

Don't they have a right to know Jesus too?

It all depends now on what U will do,

He'd like them to know, But it all starts with U. (Source Unknown)

2. The Person Of God

Isaiah 41:10d, "...for I am thy God..."

Let me explain my point here with this simple statement: We have all that God is for all that we need.

3. The Power Of God

Isaiah 41:10d-f, "...I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Dear Christian, you have all of the power of God available to help you in your time of need. What more could you ask for? The following are two statements we would do well to remember concerning the power of God:

"When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough" (Maude Royden).

"He who has God and many other things has no more than he who has God alone" (C. S. Lewis).

III. God's Deliverance

A. The Enemy Is Defeated

Isaiah 41:11-12, "Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought."

Though this passage specifically applies to Israel, the principle involved here is still applicable to God's people everywhere. Sometimes the battles and the struggles of life get us down. That generally happens when we stop fighting from victory, and start fighting for victory in our own strength (Warren W. Wiersbe). We must train ourselves to daily appropriate by faith Christ's victory that has already been won on Calvary. We need not fear Satan and all his hordes, for the Lord Jesus on Calvary, has already defeated them.

Colossians 2:15, "And having spoiled (to divest or deprive of power and authority) principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

B. The Lord Is Our Deliverer

Isaiah 41:13, "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

Isaiah 59:19b, "...When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

Romans 8:31b, "...If God be for us, who can be against us?"

There are times when God deems it necessary not to deliver one of His children from a particular trial or hardship. When that happens, the child of God may assume that their faith simply wasn't strong enough for God to deliver them from their situation. However, that would be a faulty assumption. But whether we are delivered from a particular trial or not, one can be rest assured that God is on our side. Oswald Chambers rightly noted:

Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.

Oswald Chambers, in Run Today's Race.

Speaking along this same line, someone has observed that, "Sometimes the Lord calms the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child" (Source Unknown)

IV. God's Determination

Isaiah 41:15, "Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel."

God had determined to make Israel victorious over her enemies. He has determined the same for His modern-day children. The fact is that through all of the trials and difficulties we face, God wants to produce instruments that, in His hands, will be victorious over every obstacle. Faith and reliance in God is the only method of victory, no matter what kind of madness in which we find ourselves. Paul told the Corinthian Christians, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor.15: 57). It isn't God's will for you to live a defeated life.

God is able to give His people victory, even in the face of the greatest trials.

Colin Chapman, in The Case for Christianity, quotes Ugandan bishop Festo Kivengere's account of the 1973 execution by firing squad of three men from his diocese: "February 10 began as a sad day for us in Kabale. People were commanded to come to the stadium and witness the execution. Death permeated the atmosphere. A silent crowd of about three thousand was there to watch. I had permission from the authorities to speak to the men before they died, and two of my fellow ministers were with me. They brought the men in a truck and unloaded them. They were handcuffed and their feet were chained. The firing squad stood at attention.

As we walked into the center of the stadium, I was wondering what to say. How do you give the gospel to doomed men who are probably seething with rage? We approached them from behind, and as they turned to look at us, what a sight! Their faces were all alight with an unmistakable glow and radiance. Before we could say anything, one of them burst out: 'Bishop, thank you for coming! I wanted to tell you. The day I was arrested, in my prison cell, I asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart. He came in and forgave me all my sins! Heaven is now open, and there is nothing between me and my God! Please tell my wife and children that I am going to be with Jesus. Ask them to accept him into their lives as I did.'

The other two men told similar stories, excitedly raising their hands, which rattled their handcuffs. I felt that what I needed to do was to talk to the soldiers, not to the condemned. So I translated what   the men had said into a language the soldiers understood. The military men were standing there with guns cocked and bewilderment on their faces. They were so dumbfounded that they forgot to put the hoods over the men's faces!

The three faced the firing squad standing close together. They looked toward the people and began to wave, handcuffs and all. The people waved back. Then shots were fired, and the three were with Jesus. We stood in front of them, our own hearts throbbing with joy, mingled with tears. It was a day never to be forgotten. Though dead, the men spoke loudly to all of Kigezi District and beyond, so that there was an upsurge of life in Christ, which challenges death and defeats it.

The next Sunday, I was preaching to a huge crowd in the hometown of one of the executed men. Again, the feel of death was over the congregation. But when I gave them the testimony of their man, and how he died, there erupted a great song of praise to Jesus! Many turned to the Lord there.

Ray Stamps

V. God's Demonstration

A. In The Midst Of The Madness Of Life, God Wants To Demonstrate His Faithfulness

Isaiah 41:17, "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them."

Lamentations 3:22, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

Our God is forever faithful, as the following writer proclaims:

When from my life the old-time joys have vanished –

Treasures, once mine, I may no longer claim,

This truth may feed my hungry heart, and famished –

Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Thou art still the same!

When streams have dried, those streams of glad refreshing - Friendships so blest, so pure, so rich, so free;

When sun-kissed skies give place to clouds depressing –

Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Still my heart hath Thee.

When strength hath failed, and feet, newborn and weary,

On gladsome errands may no longer go,

Why should I sigh, or let the days be dreary'

Lord, THOU REMAINEST!  Coulds’t Thou more bestow'

Thus through life's days, whoe'er or what may fail me,

Friends, friendships, joys, in small or great degree,

Songs may be mine-no sadness need assail me,

Since THOU REMAINEST, and my heart hath Thee.

(James Danson Smith)

B. In The Midst Of The Madness Of Life, God Wants To Demonstrate His Favor

Isaiah 41:18-20, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."