Brown's Daily Word 12-6-07

Good morning,
It is beautiful and bright. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, makes all things beautiful and bright in His time. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Praise the Lord for the joy of Christmas. Jesus is the embodiment of joy. He came down, and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. In Isaiah 12, we see the Lord described as our song, our salvation, and our Savior.
Isaiah chapter 12 begins: "In that day you will say: ’I will praise you, O LORD.’" The children of Israel would find reason to praise the Lord. Isaiah states that reason for rejoicing, "Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me." We remember that Isaiah lived only a few generations after the children of Israel came out of Egypt. They had wandered for forty years in the wilderness. We know that as we study the history of the children of Israel we see how the Lord delivered them. In the forty years the Lord never left them or forsook them. They would have reason to rejoice because the Lord has done glorious things.
Verse 2 continues: "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." Time and again the Lord God forgave them and delivered them. When they came to the Promised Land, after God had protected them for forty years, God now drove out their enemies. The greatest army in the world was easily defeated by the power of God and not by the small tribe of the children of Israel. God has done glorious things. As Isaiah says: "He has become my strength, my son, my salvation." The Lord had delivered them. We are also reminded today that he delivers us.
In verse 3 Isaiah says: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Again, sometimes those illustrations are lost on us. We live in a very blessed country. When we want water, we turn on the tap and we turn off the tap. Here in the time of Isaiah, water was very precious. Water took up part of their day of labors and tasks to be done. The women had to go outside the city very often to the well and draw water and bring it back every day. Isaiah now describes that
instead of it being a task of drudgery, a daily routine that some didn’t like to do at all, he says: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation". This was referring to Jesus as the very Water of Life. We draw a similar parallel--when Jesus comes and calls himself the Water of Life. Who can forget the time when Jesus visits with the woman of Samaria at the well? The disciples go ahead and leave Jesus behind.
Jesus stays at the well to rest. Jesus runs into a woman and strikes up a conversation. It is a Samaritan whom the Jews had very little to do with, actually they wanted to do nothing at all with a Samaritan. Yet, Jesus visits with her and explains to her that in him is the Water of Life.
From Revelation we read these words as John is given the vision of what is in heaven, "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17). Our Lord has done glorious things. He has become my salvation. The Lord knows every individual's needs and he provides for them. He becomes, as Isaiah says, our strength, our song, our joy, and our reason, actually our only real reason, for living. In chapter 10 of John Jesus speaks about
himself as the Good Shepherd and he makes this point when he says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). The Lord has done glorious things. He gives us life to the full.
God’s words through the prophet Isaiah first reminded the children of Israel that God loved them, cared for them, and protected them. He had to remind them of that even though they saw God’s glory every day for forty years in the wilderness, even though they saw God’s promises fulfilled when they came to the Promised Land. Yet, Isaiah says, "Don’t forget the Lord has become your salvation, and that he is with you day after day." At the end of our text he says, "Shout aloud and sing for
joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."."
Paul writes: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:4,5). Let your joy and gentleness be shown, so that others may see it.
Note that Paul writes rejoice and even says again: Rejoice! Our natural, sinful nature does not want to rejoice.
Paul says in Philippians, "Let your joy be seen." How vitally important it is that our joy in Jesus must be seen. Let the beauty and the joy of Jesus be seen in us and through us. Make Christ be praised.

In Christ,
Brown

Thank you for praying for Linda Ayer, she came home yesterday. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness.
Our friend Irene Boyer has been discharged from the hospital and is going for rehabilitation.
Baby Dylan will be home today after his surgery.
Keep on praying and praising. Keep on trusting and learning to walk by faith.