More joy than a new pair of shoes can offer

  I am sitting in my living room.  Seth is at work and Caleb is sleeping.  It's so quiet and it's the perfect time for me to pull out my Bible and try to understand the all the lessons God has in store for me in Isaiah.  I started in chapter 2 and I decided to pull out "The Message" Bible.  This translation is a great one for any of you who, like me, have a hard time reading and understanding the Bible. I would highly recommend this translation of the Bible and if you don't have the money to go out and purchase it, BibleGateway.com has the entire Bible in "The Message" translation for free!

I barely got through half of chapter 2 before my mind started racing.  Here is what I came across in verses 6-9 "God, you've walked out on your family Jacob 

   because their world is full of hokey religion,

Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus, 

   a world rolling in wealth,

Stuffed with things, 

   no end to its machines and gadgets,

And gods—gods of all sorts and sizes. 

   These people make their own gods and worship what they make.

A degenerate race, facedown in the gutter. 

   Don't bother with them! They're not worth forgiving!"

Oh wow!  Can you even believe that Isaiah wrote this, preached this, hundreds of years ago???  As I read it I could only think of the world that I am living in now.  "A world rolling in wealth...stuffed with THINGS, no end to it's machines and gadgets..."  America is definitely rolling in wealth.  If you live in a house, of any size or condition, you are considered wealthier than most of the rest of the world.  If you have options for what you will have for dinner tonight, you are wealthier than most of the rest of the world.  I can only stop and think about our "machines".  How many of us have new cars?  I do.  I am not saying that anything is wrong with having new vehicles... but I do believe that a re-evaluation may need to take place if you're driveway is loaded with new vehicles, motorcycles, etc. and you don't take the time to give any of your money to God.  If our love for cars become more important than our love for Christ and our love for His people, boy do we have a problem.  What about Ipad's or Kindle's?  Do we spend more time with our gadgets than we do with God? What about facebook and blogging and tweeting?  I sit here just as guilty as the next person.  

In Bible study, we talked about how some people aren't interested in studying the Bible because it's just an old book that has no relevance to their lives...stories from years ago that are just stories.  I can't imagine that same person reading this chapter and not seeing the correlation between the world Isaiah was living in and the world we are living in now.  The same sins & temptations are there!  Now obviously they didn't have ipads or kindles, but they had other "gadgets" that were just as distracting.  They made "things" their god, just like our world does.

My question for all of us is this, where are we going to let our priorities lie?  Are we going to let Satan win and allow ourselves to be consumed by this world?  To hold celebrities or even other spiritual leaders on a pedestal higher than God's?  To be consumed with the latest fashions and gadgets, so much that we neglect God? Listen, God wants us to have fun.  I can only imagine that He finds joy when He sees us looking in the mirror ourselves in our new outfit and how happy we are.  At the same time though, He is just begging for us to open His word and feel that same "new outfit" joy as we learn from Him and as we begin a relationship with Him.  Girls, let me just tell ya, if you think you are happy when you find a cute pair of shoes, that's nothing compared to the happiness you can find when you spend time with Christ!  He is your heavenly Father and He just wants you to spend time with Him.  I am certainly not preaching to you because to be completely honest, this is my greatest downfall...spending time with Christ.  Will you join me as we try our very hardest to deepen our relationship with Him?  To let Him be number one in our lives and to allow Him to give us the joy that surpasses all else?  I hope you will because I'm certain that if you do, He is going to change your world!