A Lily Blooms in the Mud

 

Lilies growing in the middle of the Arizona desert, 20 miles from the nearest road

October 5th

A good friend who's a teacher, and taught in my late wife Linda's school for many years posted this on FB. 

and I wrote her back:  

That was before the Invasion from Gaza

In addition to all of the craziness of this week, a funeral, 2 baseball games, our basement sewage broke and flooded the basement, crazy clients, and horror in Israel, I have a bible study here at our home on Saturday.  

AND new members are coming.  

AND no bathroom on the 1st floor.      

It's a nice afternoon, I look forward to it.  We have a nice lunch, schmooze, bible study, and prayer.   I write the studies, which I like.   I had a nice gauzy subject in mind.   Inspiring, funny, deep (just like me haha).   

Then the unfathomable terrorist raid on Israel happened, on October 7, 2023. So feel a different idea is called for, a small light in an ocean of darkness.   This is just an idea from scripture, much to be filled in    A word from the Lord for just the next couple of steps, that’s my aim here.   

October 6th

Isaiah has been my favorite writer in all scripture my whole believing life.   My schedule of readings from biblegateway.com “bible in a year” was coming up to Isa 30, so I read Isaiah 29 with a little anticipation, wondering more than in the past, what its context was.   

16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

17 “I will make justice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 “Your covenant with death will be  canceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its trampling place.

19 “As often as it passes through, it will seize you;

For morning after morning, it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.” Isaiah 28:16-19

Is the message of God being sovereign in his love for the whole earth shake and a special place for Israel… IS IT SHAKEN?    No, I think the Word anticipates it.   

18 “Your covenant with death will be  canceled,

Yes, our limited life, was canceled & replaced by eternal life but it also means that

Those who MAKE a covenant with death (terrorists) will be canceled

Isaiah 30.21 is a life verse for me - a principle of how to live in this world for me.   The Word of God as direction for life, enlivened by God himself, to guide, to walk.  But, it’s possible to just skip paying attention to some verses.    

13 Therefore this iniquity will be to you

Like a breach about to fall,

A bulge in a high wall,

Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,

14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, Isaiah 30:13-14

Such is this invasion through the Gaza wall / fence.   This invasion by terrorists from Gaza is ghoulish beyond imagination.    But something worse was at foot that Isaiah considers.   A war against a terroristic army from Assyria.   Some have said the Assyrians invented torture.    This remarkable life promise verse for me, about hearing from God through His Word is set in Isa 30:  

21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21

And in the same Isa 30 chapter are so many gems, so much richer seen against a background of invasion and weeping.    And I completely forgot another verse in it, I have put it to music…(I’m just going to re-order the verse for clarity in this instance).   A situation of dire tragedy and weeping, then God reaching out with compassion and justice

Isaiah 30:18-19   (verses flip-flopped

19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 

18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long for Him.

This one verse I was using as a life-verse, Isa 30.21 was taken by me out of context.   The context is war, destruction, misery… then deliverance back to closeness with God.  

The Lily Grows in The Mud

This is the message: "The lily grows in the mud"   All of this amazing visionary stuff, the works of a loving God, are spoken against a backdrop of evil, terror, invasion.  captivity and political upheaval.    Did Yeshua understand this?    Or did he just enjoy the soaring prose of Isaiah.    

Yeshua quotes Isaiah 21 times, 25 times in Paul's letters, 6 times in 1 Peter, 5 times in Acts, 4 times in Revelation, and once in Hebrews."   

Yeshua  quotes Isa 61.1 to start his ministry "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news..."    

Yehsua knew the terror and the victory   He said to you that Isaiah has always been my favorite writer in the scriptures.    He is relentlessly positive, even though he delivers a lot of terrible news.   

He looks forward to the coming Messiah, of 

The virgin birth Isa 7.14 is proclaimed DURING AN INVASION.  

2 When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,”  (to invade Jerusalem) his (king Ahaz’s) heart and the hearts of his people shook Isaiah 7:2

THIS is when it is proclaimed…

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Isa 9.6 tells of a MESSIAH, born as a child, to bring us a personal savior, wonderful, counselor, mighty God.  but this it is against a backdrop of a SHATTERED people.  

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name  Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Against that backdrop, a prophecy of deliverance

​1  But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; Isaiah 9:1

He looks forward to Yeshua / Jesus.   Not a vague messianic figure,but  a specific person, Yeshua.    (Isaiah 53) , who would have to suffer and shed blood to redeem us from our captivity to sin.   That would make us a light to the world, Isa 60, filled with His Spirit, Isa 61.    

One of the signs of the tru Messiah coming is 

It’s always almost over

But smack in the middle of all that, is this part from Isaiah 30 through Isa 38 where there is a terrible onslaught of evil invaders, the worst possible people.   It's the only historical tale Isaiah tells, and he recounts a dialog between the King of Assyria's commander (Rabshakah) and the Hezzekiah's commanders (isaiah 36:12) where he makes terroristic and obscent threats.  He promises them life if they surrender, which is of course, a lie.    Couched right in the middle of this miserable story... (this stories coming out of Israel right now are beyond comprehension, evil beyond description) ... Isaiah proclaims

The wilderness and the desert will be glad,

And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;

Like the crocus

It will blossom profusely Isaiah 35:1-2

Crocus that explode each spring in the yard of a house near us.   The place is a shambles, junk all over the place, they rarely mow the lawn, let alone use any chemicals.  As a result, the entire yard is covered in crocus first thing each spring

He's referring to a type of lily that grows in the desert, dormant until it suddenly blooms profusely when there is a passing rain.   I've seen them in the desert of Arizona, dozens of them growing out of the sandy mud after a quick storm and in the Negev in Israel.    I put them in my pond, they love being submersed in the mud.  

But not just lilies, the desert blooming - but 

[1] The desert will bloom

​1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad,

And the  Arabah will rejoice and blossom;

Like the crocus Isaiah 35:1

A garden blossoming, Kibbutz Ein Ghedi, Dead Sea Area, Israel

[2] God  will strengthen the disabled (Isa 35.3 & 5), the blind, the deaf, the lame (a personal message special for us as parents).   

3  Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

4 Say to those with anxious heart,

“Take courage, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance;

The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you.”

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, Isaiah 35:3-6

So.. in Isa 37, everything looks like death and terror,   an army of 185,000, a huge force of the cruelest most merciless troops are lined up outside the walls.    And Isaiah says "it'll be fine", and adds smiley face emojis    JERUSLAM WILL BE SAVED.  

Isa 37.33  “He will not enter this city. or shoot an arrow here.

‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’” Isaiah 37:35

Isaiah ... are you kidding me?    Hezekiah tears his clothes at the news (and Good Lord the news is hard to watch right now).   The King, the commander in chief, spreads out God's prophecy before him in the temple and gives up, giving his fate over into God's hands.   He surrenders, not to Assyria, but to God.   Isa 37.14      

In the end, God himself fights for Israel and wipes out 185,000 invaders, a HUGE force (  Isa 37.36 ) and that invading king is killed by his own sons   37.38    

In your love you kept me

    from the pit of destruction;   isa 38.17.

Lilies in our backyard pond.  

Yesterday10/13/23 was an international “Day Of Rage” where a shocking horde gathered to support Hamas and blame Israel for Hamas’s demonic and murderous attack.  Terrosim not only justified but celebrated internationally in parades!    Marchers publicly and proudly proclaimed “Death to Israel” or the more discreet death threat “From the River to the Sea”.   As dimented and morally bankrupt as these terrorist cheerleaders are, the WERE times when Israel's sin caused her downfall.     

21 Thus he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave; and he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished. 1 Kings 7:21-22

Solomon’s temple left.  Detail of the entry with two lily design capitals, right.  

Entering into the temple are two columns.  Named Yachin (יכין God will establish) and Boaz ( בועז strength)  “God will establish you in strength”.   Symbolized by the weakest of blossoms - the lily, that is dependent on abundant or even intermittent floods of water.