We’re entering a section of Isaiah that’s a virtual highlight reel of promises and insights into the God who cares about us. Yesterday’s snippets from Isaiah 40 ended with a verse many of us have memorized:

But 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. (Isaiah 40.31, ESV)

Isaiah 41 continues the theme with this gem, again, something many of us have memorized:

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41.10, ESV)

My friend Ray Bandi, whom I mention from time to time, had a stroke in 2016. He still suffers from aphasia, the inability to call up a word he wants to use in a sentence. But in the early days after the stroke, it was worse. He displayed a phenomenon that I think could get him into textbooks. He would want to comfort his wife with the words above: “Fear not, for I am with you…I will strengthen you, I will help you…” But he couldn’t call up the words, so he would say to her, “Look up Isaiah 41.10.” He knew what was in the verse even though he couldn’t speak it, but he could speak the reference! There’s as good a reason as any for a robust scripture memory program.

Isaiah 41 continues:

For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41.13, 14, ESV)

And there’s the now familiar diatribe against idols at the end:

Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you…Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind. (Isaiah 41.24, 29, ESV)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1.7, NKJV)

Yesterday we looked at Isaiah 40’s inspiration for Handel’s Messiah. Today, we finish Isaiah 40 with marvelous truths about God, truths worth meditating on. I’ll let the text speak for itself:

The greatness of God:

Who 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?…Behold, 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. (Isaiah 40.12…15, ESV)

The futility of idols:

To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. (Isaiah 40.18 – 20, ESV)

The insignificance of world leaders:

Do 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? It 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; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. (Isaiah 40.21 – 23, ESV)

Who sees and knows:

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have 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. (Isaiah 40.27, 28, ESV)

And (best of all!), God gives power to the weak:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted.

But 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. (Isaiah 40.29 – 31, ESV)

We change gears in Isaiah, moving from messages of judgment (chapters 1 – 39) to messages of comfort (chapters 40 – 55). The opening is dazzling:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, That her warfare is accomplished, That her iniquity is pardoned:.. (Isaiah 40.1, 2, KJV)

It’s also the opening song (after the Overture) of Handel’s Messiah. Isaiah 40 contains the text for FIVE songs in the Messiah. I’ll provide you the links. Please take a few minutes to immerse yourself in scripture and great music.

This clip features the tenor solos “Comfort ye” followed immediately by “Ev’ry Valley,” which comes from verse 4. (Click the picture.)

Every valley shall be exalted, And every mountain and hill shall be made low: And the crooked shall be made straight, And the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40.4, KJV)

The first chorus in the Messiah comes from verse 5:

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together: For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40.5, KJV)

You can hear it here.

Isaiah 40 continues as does Messiah:

O Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion:

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; Lift it up, be not afraid; Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! (Isaiah 40.9, KJV)

And finally, one of June’s favorites since she was with child in Biloxi, Mississippi, when we sang this in a community chorus at Keesler Air Force Base:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arm, And carry them in his bosom, And shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40.11. KJV)

There’s more to Isaiah 40, and we should save it for another day. Let’s close with verses from the first part, verses that were the inspiration for John the Baptist:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ” (Matthew 3.1 – 3, ESV)

Isaiah’s version:

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God…A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40.3, 6 – 8, ESV)

We are coming to the end of the first major section of Isaiah:

• Messages of Judgment (chapters 1–39)
• Messages of Comfort (chapters 40–55)
• Messages of Hope (chapters 56–66)

The section ends with chapters 36 – 39 essentially replicating 2 Kings 18 – 20. Yesterday we looked at chapters 36 and 37, the encouraging story of God delivering Jerusalem from Assyria during the reign of Hezekiah.

Today we look at Hezekiah’s end as recorded in Isaiah 38 and 39. A rough start:

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” (Isaiah 38.1, ESV)

As an aside…

I’m not planning to die anytime soon, but “set your house in order, for you shall die” is a good word. It’s on my list of things to do during Lent. My friend Rich Hughes dropped dead. Now that taxes are done, “setting my house in order,” i.e., organizing my financial information and other actions is the next thing.

For Hezekiah, dying is a problem. We’ll see shortly that God gave him 15 more years. We read in 2 Kings 21.1 that after Hezekiah’s death his son began his reign at age 12. Can we conclude that Hezekiah was childless? How then will King David’s line continue?

Again, Hezekiah goes to prayer:

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (Isaiah 38.2, 3, ESV)

Isaiah reported that God had heard his prayer and given him a reprieve:

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city. (Isaiah 38.4 – 6, ESV)

Hezekiah then writes a psalm which ends:

The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD. (Isaiah 38.20, ESV)

But then Hezekiah doesn’t finish well. He receives the envoys from Babylon (from too far away to matter, right?) and shows them all his treasures with pride as the 2 Chronicles commentary confirms:

Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. He prayed to GOD and was given a reassuring sign. But the sign, instead of making Hezekiah grateful, made him arrogant. (2 Chronicles 32.24 – 25, MSG)

Back to the Babylonian envoys:

And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. (Isaiah 39.2, ESV)

Oops.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Ouch. But Hezekiah doesn’t care…

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.” (Isaiah 39.3 – 8, ESV)

Not much of a legacy, beginning with his son Manasseh who reigned for 55 years and was one of Judah’s worst kings.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. (2 Kings 21.1 – 2, ESV)

Lord, help us all to finish well! After a terrible reign, a brief captivity in Babylon, even Manasseh finished well!

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.25 – 27, ESV)

Isaiah 36 – 39 largely duplicates 2 Kings 18 – 20. Therefore, I wrote about it back in 2024 when we were going through the History books. But it won’t hurt to review the major lessons. Show the Lord the Threat! captures the content of 2 Kings 18 and 19, which is retold in Isaiah 36 and 37.

Isaiah 36 is all about the threat of Assyria to Judah and King Hezekiah.

And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. (Isiah 36.4 – 6, ESV)

After a whole chapter of threats, Hezekiah goes to prayer, recorded in Isaiah 37:

As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” (Isaiah 37.1 – 4, ESV)

Isaiah promises immediate relief:

When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ” (Isaiah 37.5 – 7, ESV)

After a threatening letter from Assyria and another prayer session by Hezekiah, Isaiah gives the final promise of deliverance:

Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. (Isaiah 37.33 – 35, ESV)

I was leading a Bible study not long ago, and a brother quoted, “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” I explained to him that sometimes that’s true, but that there is no verse in the Bible that says that! This passage is a counter-example: “I will defend this city to save it…” And he did:

And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. (Isaiah 37.36 – 38, ESV)

Another example of…

Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4.6, ESV)

Sometimes you just have to let the text speak for itself. I memorized Isaiah 35 a while back (I wish I could recite it now!). Here are the promises:

• Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and
• the ears of the deaf unstopped.
• Then will the lame leap like a deer, and
• the mute tongue shout for joy.
• Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
• The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
• In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
• And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.
• …
• But only the redeemed will walk there, and
• those the LORD has rescued will return.
• They will enter Zion with singing;
• everlasting joy will crown their heads.
• Gladness and joy will overtake them, and
• sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35.5 – 10, NIV)

It’s prefaced by verses cited in Hebrews 12:

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35.3, 4, NIV)

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. (Hebrews 12.12, 13, NIV)

PS I’ve recommended Lectio 365 for your Lenten devotionals. It had a lovely comment on Isaiah 35 last week. If the “wilderness” for you is a challenging time of some sort…

...God’s blessings may come to me not instead of this wilderness, not in spite of this wilderness, but actually within it. – From Lectio 365, February 20, 2026

Continuing yesterday’s theme on Going for the Gold, I’m still processing the fine line between winning and not winning and how important is winning. Sunday, we looked at lessons learned from watching our Olympic heroes lose. There are no guarantees in life, especially in sports. For every inspiring story of “our team” winning, someone else’s “our team” lost. Yesterday, we processed Elana Meyers-Taylor’s bobsled win (by 0.04 seconds!). Elana got the gold. The German lady got silver. “We won!” Again, by 0.04 second – over four runs!

I first learned the perceived importance of winning when the Broncos won their first Super Bowl, after the 1997 season. They had lost four Super Bowls prior to that, and for all the talk of, “At least we were there,” “Some teams haven’t played even one Super Bowl,” etc., etc., when the Broncos won, there was massive excitement. We had John Elway’s famous, “This one’s for (owner) Pat!” quote, and a downtown parade. I thought, “Wow. Winning really is better than not winning.”

And so “we” rejoice over USA wins over Canada in both men’s and women’s hockey. Both Gold Medal games were won in overtime with a score of 2 – 1. The US men have not taken gold in Olympic hockey since the legendary Lake Placid “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. A US amateur team of college hockey players beat the mighty USSR whose players were decidedly NOT amateur:

Olympic rules at the time prohibited professional athletes from competing, but the Soviet Government circumvented this by employing professional athletes in symbolic university or military positions, allowing them to focus full-time on sport. As a result, the Soviet team consisted of veteran players with significant experience in international play. – Wikipedia

We don’t use amateurs anymore. No one does. Here’s the opening of Jason Gay’s summary and commentary:

On Sunday, the U.S. men’s hockey team defeated Canada 2 – 1 in sudden-death overtime to capture the country’s first gold medal since that glorious run in upstate New York. Forty-six years to the day since their underdog predecessors toppled the Mighty Red Machine, United States men’s hockey is golden again. 

Unreal. And yet, very real. 

There are major differences, yes. This victory is no miracle. The final in Milan was contested by NHL professionals, millionaires all. Team USA wasn’t a ragtag group, but the nation’s very best, the product of generations of elite domestic development and the game’s widening geography. Hockey is played everywhere in the U.S. now, and the homegrown talent is better than ever.

Yet on the other side, that was still a heavyweight, a Goliath in red. Canada is Canada, the keeper and class of the sport, and they were favored to win this final, as they had in 2010 and 2014, the last time these games were contested by NHL glitterati. They outshot the U.S. 42-28, controlled the puck all afternoon, sent out lines of would-be legends to follow actual legends. At times if you squinted, it really looked like the varsity versus the JV. 

In the end, it didn’t matter, because it’s hockey, and sometimes, what it takes is a little more belief. The U.S. may have been outgunned, but they played opportunistic, inspired hockey, guided by a hunger for gold and the loss of a teammate, Johnny Gaudreau, struck and killed by a motorist a year and a half ago.  

Note that the team picture includes Gaudreau’s jersey and his two children. If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye…

So if you’re an American, let’s celebrate! It’s a feel good moment in a day when there are a lot of not-so-good moments. And let’s take comfort that if we follow Jesus, we are on the winning side of the only “game” that counts.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, MSG)

The seventh Angel trumpeted. A crescendo of voices in Heaven sang out, The kingdom of the world is now the Kingdom of our God and his Messiah! He will rule forever and ever! (Revelation 11.15, MSG)

PS Happy Birthday (two days early) to my youngest son, David, born on February 26, 1980. Feeling like an old man, David also turns 46, along with the anniversary of the Miracle on Ice.

PPS Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal also reflected on winning mentioning a few highlights of the entire games, focusing on a US female figure skater winning gold. Alysa Liu and Four Minutes That Changed the Olympics Forever. It’s worth the read if you’re interested in this sort of thing.

With the Winter Olympics closing, I want to highlight one athlete I hadn’t heard of before this week. The Olympics inspires us, sometimes through losses as much as through wins, as I shared yesterday.

But here’s the story of a gold medalist, one of the six Christian athletes that Christianity Today highlighted on February 16. The article opens:

Around the world, Christians live out their calling in many ways, including in athletics. These six Olympic athletes have used their global platform as an opportunity to share the gospel. They are competing at an elite level in their sport and use that as a catalyst for telling others about the ways God has worked in their own lives. In a world where division is everywhere, this year’s Winter Olympics provide a chance for global Christians to root for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

And one of those athletes is Elana Meyers Taylor, a bobsledder. Her Christianity Today bio opens:

Milan Cortina is the fifth Olympic Games that Elana Meyers Taylor, a mom of two, has competed in. With three silver and two bronze medals, Taylor is hoping for gold this year. Her husband, Nic, has also competed in the Winter Olympics, and the two met at a Bible study held near the US Olympic Training Center in New York in 2011. Before they got married, the couple got baptized together.

Her attitude?

Regardless of whether I win a gold medal or never compete again, I just have to trust that God has a plan for my life and I’m called to be his representative through the sport and outside of the sport.

But this year, she did win the gold medal, and someone posted this on Facebook:

At 41, veteran bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor captured her first Olympic gold medal, becoming the oldest Olympic gold medalist in history.

Yet for Meyers Taylor, her greatest title isn’t “Olympian.” The most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history has consistently emphasized that faith and family come before medals.

She and her husband are parents to two sons, both born deaf, with Nico also having Down syndrome. By returning to the Olympics as a mother of a child with special needs, she hopes to inspire others — showing both the challenges and the deep joy of their journey.

Open about her Christian faith throughout her career, Meyers Taylor once said:

“God put me here for a specific reason and I don’t think it’s just to win medals. At the end of the day, I’m in this sport to glorify God — so if that means I come in last place or I win the gold medal, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Bless her. And bless God. Sometimes the good guys win!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.25, ESV)

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.12 – 14, ESV)

Yesterday’s blog explored the idea that even though we’re imperfect people, God expects us to follow his commands and cooperate with God in his work. As the Winter Olympics winds down, it’s instructive to consider some of the lessons from these Olympians who have given their lives to pursue their sport, often with less than stellar results.

Mark Kizla, sportswriter with the Colorado Springs Gazette, wrote a beautiful piece: Why Mikaela Shiffrin and Ilia Malinin are the accidental heroes of Winter Olympics, February 15, 2026. Written before Shiffrin broke her 8-year medal drought with a win in the slalom on February 18, Mark opens:

The real big shocker of these Winter Games is how skier Mikaela Shiffrin and skater Ilia Malinin have become accidental American heroes.

Through the pain of their very public Olympic suffering, they’ve taught mere mortals like you and me a valuable lesson:

Choke happens.

If the pressure can get to Shiffrin and Malinin, considered the best at what they do on the planet, there’s no shame when muggles like us fail epically.

Eight long years since the exact date when Shiffrin won her last Olympic gold medal, she stood alone at the start gate on Sunday, looked down at the length of the giant slalom run beneath her skis and saw what a slippery slope world dominance can be...crossing the finish line with the 11th fastest time…

He continues:

In an imperfect world, the pursuit of perfection is a fool’s errand…Dare to be great…But assume nothing, because reaching for the stars is a good way to fall on your butt.  

He reports that Shiffrin reflected:

The Olympics ask us to take a real risk on the world stage. May we all champion one another, tread lightly on what we don’t fully comprehend and have the fortitude to keep showing up.

“…Have the fortitude to keep showing up.” May we do the same.

Expect Great Things From God. Attempt Great Things For God. –William Carey

And do that, not knowing what the results will be.

I’m meditating on John 9, the story of the man born blind, in preparation for a sermon on March 15. It occurred to me that the only person Jesus reached in that story was the guy!

He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9.38, ESV)

The Pharisees? Not so much:

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (John 9.40, 41, ESV)

Not even the great Apostle Paul reached everyone:

After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” (Acts 24.24, 25, ESV)

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26.27, 28, ESV)

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” (Acts 17.32, ESV)

Yesterday we looked at lists of commands / challenges / demands from God on how to live. Isaiah 33’s answer to the question, “Who among us can dwell with everlasting burning?” That is, “Who can stand before the Lord.” The answer? He who…

• walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who
• despises the gain of oppressions, who
• shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who
• stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and
• shuts his eyes from looking on evil. (Isaiah 33.15, ESV)

I don’t think this is a hypothetical list designed to compel people to say, “Oh, God! I can’t do these things! Please be gracious and forgive me in advance.” Yet that’s how we who understand grace often treat these lists. “God knows you can’t do those things so let’s be grateful for grace.”

My friend Ray Bandi in New Hampshire and I discussed this very thing last week. He was reading a devotional book by an author we both respect, but Ray was bothered by sentences like these:

• Grace is never partnered with works.

But the author is wrong: grace partners with works all the time:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15.10, ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2.8 – 10, ESV)

The author continued:

• All our good works are shot through with sin.

Ray and I are wondering, “What’s the point of saying that?” What’s the fruit? Guilt? Paralysis? Should we conclude, “I can’t be perfect so why try?” NO!

People, maybe thundering preachers, like to quote Isaiah 64.6:

…all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags… (NKJV)

But that’s not a permanent condition! The passage continues:

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people! (Isaiah 64.8, 9, NKJV)

Back to our original discussion: neither my works nor I have to be perfect to be effective. As I’ve said in connection with people who are afraid to do anything because it might look like “works righteousness,” someone has to take the cinnamon rolls to the neighbor and shovel their driveway! Pastor Aaron Dorman in Estes Park says, “Not works righteousness; righteous works.”

After my conversation with Ray, I continuing processing with June. I’m not a great pianist, but people like to hear me play. I played piano recently for the men’s Christmas brunch at First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, with part-time minister of discipleship and first class guitarist Jeff McCrory. The music Jeff and I did was GOOD. The men loved it. Perfect? Not even close. But more than “good enough.”

There’s a marvelous play called Two Pianos, Four Hands. (June and I saw it live in San Francisco in 1999, and I finally found the DVD of their last performance a couple of years ago.) It’s about two guys whose piano careers stalled at age 17. They weren’t good enough to play classical professionally. They weren’t good enough to play jazz professionally…or so their teachers said. But these guys can play the piano VERY WELL. And they went on to make a career out of telling their story in this play. You might be able to livestream it here. Spoiler alert: the two-person play ends with this exchange:

• “We are the best piano players in the country!” “No, we’re not.”
• “We are the best piano players in this city!” “No.”
• “We are the best piano players on this street!” “Yes, we are.” And they sit down to their pianos and knock out yet another difficult piece by Bach.

We’re not perfect, and that’s why salvation is by grace through faith. But God allows us to cooperate with him in his work. “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15.5), but with God, we can and should live well and work well.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! (Romans 6.1, 2, NKJV)

And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, NKJV)

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: (1 Peter 4.10, ESV)

Now may the God of peace…equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. (Hebrews 13.20, 21, ESV)

…we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. (2 Thessalonians 1.11, MSG)