It is interesting that the first verse we will study from Isaiah is one that deals with cleansing.  Before we commence with anything of importance, there is always an act of cleansing.  Before company visits, we clean the house, before a special event, we wash our hair, bathe and put on clean clothes, and before real communion with the Lord, we must spend time in confession and cleansing from sin.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God has been speaking to the nation of Israel, deep in its lack of true spirituality.  He is pleading with them to put away the emptiness of their surface worship and come in true holiness to the Lord God.  As we read verses 1-15 of chapter one, God speaks of their sin and His plea.  The depth of His warning can be applied to our own hearts.  God wants no vain oblations (verse 13) but sincerity in our lives.  There is a vanity in just going to God’s house (treading His courts-verse 23), of just presenting the normal acceptable sacrifice (verse 11).  Without true worship, it is iniquity. (verse 13)  The term used in this verse for the sin of iniquity is from a Hebrew root word that includes the meanings of wickedness, vanity, mischief, unrighteousness and evil.  That is how God terms the evil of our doings when we fail to worship Him in the spirit of holiness and truth.  While we might term it as just absent mindedness, neglect, wrong priorities, or laziness, when we fail to worship, God uses stronger terminology.  With the strength of His love for us, He calls us to confess this iniquity.  Confession is more than an outward show of appeasement or hollow prayers.  It is true cleansing of the heart.  God constantly calls to us from His Word to have that deep cleansing that can result in a life of service and peace.  Jeremiah 4:14 says, Wash thine heart from wickedness.  James 4:8: Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you, cleanse your hands, ye sinners, purify your hearts, ye double minded.  These are very personal, direct commands that speak of action on our part.  God’s plea is the same in Isaiah as it is in James.  The Lord calls us to draw near to Him and to desire His cleansing.  We need to look at our hands: are there spots of blood there from not being the witness to others that we should be?  Do we have contamination from "touching" those things in our lives that are not pure and clean?  We need to personally apply the title of "sinners" given in James 4 to our own lives.  In recognition, we need to admit that we are just that, clearly and simply: sinners.  There is no room for self justification or self pride in that title.  Heed the command: purify.  It is not a surface cleansing that God desires, but the deep totality of purification that will make our lives cleansed for His use.  Don’t be double minded: put away those things that would draw us away from a single hearted devotion to our Lord.  His plea is loud and clear: Dear Christian, don’t be superficial in your walk or in your confession.  In Isaiah 1:15, there is the question raised of unanswered prayer.  Because of their lack of true worship, God says, "I will not hear."  In my study Bible, I found many challenging sections on the subject of "Causes of failure in prayer."  The list under "Unanswered prayer" contained: Disobedience, secret sin, indifference, neglect of mercy, despising the law, blood guiltiness, iniquity, stubbornness, instability, self-indulgence.  Another section dealt with "The wicked rejected."  While we know, as the redeemed of the Lord, we can never be rejected in Christ, have we ever stopped to think that our actions or attitudes may be classified as wicked and cause a rejection of full blessings in prayer?  In Psalm 139:24, David cried out in sincerity to the Lord, If there be any wicked way in me . . .  Are we that humble?  Is our desire to have our sin removed?  The next category was the need for "Spiritual cleansing." Having, therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. II Corinthians 7:1  In II Timothy 2:21, we are commanded to purge ourselves from the uncleanliness of sin.  Under the category of "Sin forbidden," the constant command is "Cease" from your sin.  David prayed to the Lord, Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2  Throughout the study of God’s commands for purity before Him, there was the use of personal pronouns.  We are to cleanse ourselves. II Corinthians 7:1  The command of Isaiah 1:16 carries the meaning: "You wash you!"  There is a personal labor to be done here.  "Lord make me a washerwoman of faith, that humblest of duties, without which my whole spiritual house will not have the fresh smell that comes from true cleanliness.  Cause me to examine my life as a diligent laundress would a fine garment, to find any spot, and then use the depth of your cleansing agents of prayer and confession to treat each one.  Oh, Lord, I so desire true washing by the moving of Your Spirit upon my heart."  Without using a spot remover on a stain in a garment, though that garment goes through all the cycles of the washer, it will not be thoroughly clean.  We need to see our life as that garment having been spot treated, sometimes even having to soak awhile, then washed thoroughly and dried in the sunshine of His love.  Recently, I went on a tour of an old mansion.  It was an impressive structure, but it had a musty smell.  The guides had certainly done many surface dustings, but the house needed a deep cleansing for the smell to be fresh and pleasant.  God calls to us from Isaiah 1:16, "Don’t just be a surface duster for the world to see.  Turn to Me for that deep cleansing and spot removal that can make you clean."

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

DAY 296     Isaiah 1:18     Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Isaiah chapter one contains a series of probing questions from God to the sinful nation:

    Why should ye be stricken any more? (verse 5)

It also contains repeated admonitions to hear, bring no more [empty worship], wash [from sin], put away the evil, cease [the sin], seek judgment, learn to do well . . .  God had verbally exposed their sins, challenged them to face the facts and to accept His remedies.  If the listeners were receptive to God’s dealings, at this point in the discourse, they would have been under great conviction.  With all compassion, God then calls to them, Come now, and let us reason together . . .  Our merciful Heavenly Father, our Holy Spirit Comforter, our Savior Friend, puts His tender hand upon the arm of our being, peers deeply into our soul, and deals with us in the great issue of life, the problem of our sin.  Reading the chapter, we can almost sense the tenderness, the pausing, the drawing close of the personal God in this verse.  He has exposed, revealed and set judgment on sin.  He has commanded, admonished, and warned.  These are all consistent with His character as Sovereign God.  Oh sad and destitute man, if the heavenly session is stopped at verse 17.  It would all be of works and not of grace, if we failed to go on to verse 18 and grasp the depth of why God has so dealt with our souls.  It is as if we can envision the Lord taking a heavy breath, placing His arm around our shoulder which is bowed down with conviction, and drawing us to sit close by His side.  "Come, let us talk," He says to our soul, "Let us truly reason together."  Often in travelogues and descriptions of Middle Eastern culture, it is noted that man to man, reasoning types of conversation are much valued.  In our own relationships, the depth of commitment between individuals can often be seen in their willingness to reason together.  And so, down through the ages, God calls to each of us to come and reason together with Him about our sin.  In my Thompson Chain Bible reference section, this verse is found under the major heading: "Invitations - Warnings," subheading: "The ‘Comes’ of God’s Word": specifically "Come for Personal Cleansing."  While modernists would insist that religion is a thing of emotions only, God here reveals true religion as dealing with our entire being, which includes our intellect and reason.  This verse has always been an important part of my personal testimony.  On the day that I was saved, God dealt primarily with my mind, reasoning with me.  Certainly my emotions needed to be healed, my spirit reborn, my body laid on the altar to Him, but uniquely, knowing my person, God reasoned together with me.  He opened my mind to the truth of His Word and the totality of His plan of redemption, so that I would open my life to Him.  Many scholars indeed expound that our concept of "opening our heart" to Christ is truly opening our mind and that the word "heart," that nonphysical entity, is truly our mind.  There is also the thought, which I hold, that "heart" is even more than the mind.  It is perhaps the totality of our being, which includes our mind.  In my case, the way to my heart was by opening my mind, by reasoning together with me.  As the person sharing the gospel was speaking, it actually was God that was dealing deep inside.  These facts of Christ’s death and resurrection, I had known all my life, but I had never allowed God to reason together with me as He personally applied their implications.  My instant comment when challenged to accept the Lord, was, "Of course, this all makes so much sense, why hasn’t someone shared this with me before."  Calmly and with great conviction of the truth, I prayed to ask Christ into my heart, fully acknowledging His complete payment for my sins.  Hours later, the emotional response came, and then I cried.  But at the moment of salvation, I was truly one with whom God had reasoned.  At that moment, I was sitting at a table in a large state university, an institution given to the imparting of knowledge.  I had just had shared with me the greatest knowledge of all, that of God’s salvation!  Being challenged by someone later that surely I was too intelligent to believe "all that Bible stuff," I could reply with confidence, "I am intelligent enough to know that it is true."  If we really reason together with God, really think and use our intellect, cast aside our preconceived notions and worldly indoctrinations, we will come.  The scope of this verse could not be covered in a complete book of study.  There are so many things to challenge us, some of which I pray we can touch on in future study.  God’s calls to "Come" are many in the Scripture and all contain the element of His pleading with us face to face.  In Isaiah 1:18, He calls and pleads, "Come, listen and reason with Me, there is a remedy for your sin, it can be cleansed completely, your soul changed from scarlet to snow white purity, from crimson to wool.  Come, I will show you how, through your trust in Me."  As I researched "scarlet," the question presented itself that perhaps it was a "thing" as well as a color.  To Rahab of old, it was a thread; in the Passover and offerings, a symbol; in the Tabernacle, a covering of sacrifice.  Scarlet speaks of our sins as obvious, perhaps as a picture of our life blood stained and tainted by sin, only to be cleansed with the spilt blood of our pure undefiled Savior.  It is used to represent sin and the gaudiness of defilement, as with the scarlet beast of Revelation, the woman seen there and Babylon, mother of harlots.  But interestingly enough, scarlet is also used in a positive way in other scriptures.  It also represents that which is gay, rich and of beauty.  The garments of the daughters of Jerusalem praising God are cited by Solomon as being of scarlet, also those clothing the household of the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, and the clothing of Daniel in honor (Daniel 5:29).  It was the color of the robe placed on Christ at His trial as they plaited a crown of thorns...and mocked Him, saying Hail, King of the Jews. Matthew 27:29  In seeking to jest, they had only declared His true authority.  Though the robe was not His own and was used in humiliation, its color signifies for us His honor.  Crimson speaks of the glaring quality of our sin, yet it was also the color of thread woven in the veil of the Temple as the blood of Christ weaves through our lives and through the pages of God’s redemption plan of the Scripture.  Both scarlet and crimson, it seems, can be used to praise or dishonor.  Our lives are the same.  Left in sin, devoid of God’s reasonable plan, we are a thing of dishonor.  Cleansed, we become the praise of His glory!  That which was of the old self, laid at the altar of His forgiveness, can be changed to be instruments used in His service.  The change is complete and radical.  From scarlet to snow, from crimson to white wool.  From the symbols of sin to the colors of the whiteness of purity.  White as the garments of our Lord in Resurrection Glory, wool as the hair of God’s head (Daniel 7:9).  Changed from our own sinful likeness, into the likeness of our Lord.  "Oh to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer . . . pure as Thou art!"

Often read as a promise, this verse is also a plea from God to His people.  In fact, this aspect of the verse is so emphasized that, along with verses 18 and 20, it is cited as a direct quotation, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Verse 20)  God has called to His people to reason together with Him about their sin and the cleansing of salvation in verse 18, and now He deals with the choices of their redeemed life.  Verse 19 pleads, If ye be willing and obedient, verse 20 warns, But if ye refuse and rebel.  The mouth of God speaks to our hearts and the choice is ours to make.  Though specifically spoken to the nation of Israel during the time of Isaiah, it can also be applied spiritually to our lives today.  All of Scripture is given for our edification and admonition, as we see with this vital principle of willing obedience.  In Isaiah, God is pleading for a great revival amongst His people.  At times of previous revivals in the land, it was cited that the people willingly offered themselves. (Judges 5:2, Nehemiah 11:2)  God had given the pattern in Deuteronomy 26:16, for whole hearted response of obedience, with all thine heart . . . all thy soul, and the promise on Exodus 19:5 that if ye will obey . . . ye shall be a peculiar treasure.  Israel knew the further plea and promise of Deuteronomy 5:29, O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!  Down through history, God’s pleas are heard in the lamentable O that.  His desire is for our good (well being) and that of our children, as He pleads with us to be willing and obedient in following all of His commands.  He always promised plenty in response to Israel’s and our obedience.  In I Kings 3:14, the If of obedience is given the promise of length of days, the Who so ( is a doer of the Word) of James 1:25, will be blessed, and those that do His commandments, in Revelation 22:14, will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  The decision is always ours to make.  If we are willing and obedient to the Lord after our salvation, then we will eat the good of the land, in our everyday life and in Heaven spiritually.  The good of our present land can be seen in our peace, joy, and even, often, abundance in our earthly life.  The good of our spiritual land in Heaven is not just for our future inheritance.  As present "citizens" of Heaven, we can enjoy those rewards, even now, as we reap goodness from our Sovereign Ruler in His direction and spiritual blessings.  Part of the mystery of dwelling in that future land, concerns what increased rewards there may be for those who have willingly obeyed while on earth.  We are given the plea and then the promise, ye shall [absolutely, positively] eat the good of the land.  While all around us evil may lie, while others suffer in turmoil and unrest, we can know the good of the land, that which is hidden to their eyes.  Even in our land of plenty in America, the true good of the land, the blessings of our God given freedom, can only truly be enjoyed by an obedient Christian.  The blessings of a joyous family can only be known in its fullness as we are willingly obedient.  The good of walking each day led by God’s almighty hand, comes to those who obey His "If’s."  Yet knowing our hesitations, God continues with verse 20, But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword.  It is our active decision: joy and blessing or being devoured by the enemies that enter our "land."  The Israelites that failed to heed these warnings of God, soon found the sword of devouring in the midst of their land.  We can find it in the devouring by our enemy, Satan, of our spiritual joy and blessing.  The immediate example to the Israelites and to us, would have been the remembrance of the crossing over of Jordan.  God had given His people the warning that if they were willing and obedient (these must go together), they were to eat the good of the land, but if not, there would be consequences.  The ten spies and most of the people refused and rebelled.  They were devoured in the wilderness.  The obedient two went into the land and enjoyed its fruits.  We don’t want to be devoured in the wilderness of life, wandering far from God.  Let each of us be willing and obedient today, and taste the sweet blessing of God’s land in our lives.

In the vision of our imagination, we can see the glory of the future Jerusalem, the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Isaiah 1:26  The mountain of the Lord’s house, His place of worship, shall be established in the top of the mountains and exalted.  All the nations of the redeemed will flow unto it.  The four underlined "little" words of this descriptive verse are very important.

    Shall: The word of promise.  No matter what the present circumstance, whether the afflictions of Israel in the time of Isaiah, or the burdens of our present life, one day, in the last days, God’s kingdom shall be exalted among us.

    Top: In the top of the mountains the glorious majesty shall be established. Every eye shall see it, it will be high and lifted up at the pinnacle of the landscape.  The saying is often given for encouragement, "Little is much when God is in it."  For now it often seems as if "little, lowly and the least" are the words of our Christian life.  Only a small percentage of the world are true believers and only a small percentage of them are truly committed.  We are often the minority, often hid, as it seems, from sight in a garish world.  Little terms seem to be the fitting categories for the church.  Yet one day, God’s kingdom will be seen as the top of the mountains.  It shall be established and shall be exalted in that future day.  Yet in reality, it already is!  It is just not seen with eyes of spiritual vision by all.  But with the eyes of faith, we must never lose sight of the preeminent value and position of our Lord and His kingdom.  When our place of service seems small, our victories meager, we need to view them through eternity’s eyes.

    All: A small word in size for an immensity of value.  All nations shall flow unto this mountain top pinnacle of faith.  There will be no partiality, no discrimination, no inequality with God’s people.  Hand in hand, we shall walk together to His place of worship.  The redeemed of all the earth will be there.

    Unto: All people shall flow unto it.  They are drawn as by a magnet, pulled by the power of the Lord of the mountain top.  This immense mass of people, flowing unto the place of worship, gives a vivid, powerful mental image.  Oh that we would "flow" unto our Lord in worship each day, as the natural course of a river flows unto the sea, until it completely immerses its totality in that which is larger and greater.  Oh that others would be so drawn unto the Lord through our witness, that a great mass would flow unto Him in love.  Psalm 147:18, tells us God, Himself, causes the flow: ..He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.  Song of Solomon 4:16, speaks of how the sweet smell of the fruits of our "life garden" should flow unto our Lord.  Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.  Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.  Isaiah 66:12, speaks of the peace of this future Jerusalem with the glory of the Gentiles being like a flowing stream.  Proverbs 18:4, tells of the wisdom of God being like a flowing brook, bubbling forth its life giving refreshment and nourishment into our lives.  Isaiah 60:5, looks forward to that great gathering of the redeemed of Gentile and Jew alike, when they all shall come to God’s light, the brightness of thy rising (verse 3), in their growth and flow: then shall they see, and flow together.

Dear Lord, let my heart and mind be so drawn to You that all my energies of service and thought will be pulled, as a magnet pulls the pellets of metal, until I am not only drawn to You, but firmly attached in love.  Let Your way for my life be so much a natural course to me, that I will daily flow unto You, where Your purity and brightness will make my life a fresh bubbling brook reflecting Your self in the ripples of my life.  Help my life to never become stagnant, dammed up by sin that I refuse to let You sweep away.  Let it not be that sin would so hinder my life,  that my stream would no longer fully and freely flow unto You.  Help me to establish the priority of worship in my life so that I will daily climb that spiritual mountain, being lifted above the doldrums of the ordinary.  I so desire to raise my eyes to the top of the mountains of worship, that I will be able to exalt You in prayer.  Lord, give us eyes of spiritual sight to see Thee and Thy Kingdom as established in the top priority in our lives.  Help us to exalt Thee above all things.  Let our lives be on a steady course that naturally flows unto Thee.  As the mountains loom up around us in the valley of vision, let us lift up our eyes unto Thee.

From the "little" of God’s visible kingdom on earth, from the "few" of the promised remnant of Israel, and from the "small" percentage of the world who are true believers, comes the many people of the last days.  What an encouragement of faith this verse must have been to missionaries laboring in far off lands with small tribes and few converts when they thought of them joining in the "many" of future days.  What an impetus to us, as we witness to our neighborhood "fields," that what may seem as meager efforts will be multiplied, as were the loaves and the fishes, into an abundance of people.  What in each era is seen as just a handful of seed, will be gathered into a great harvest:

There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. Psalm 72:16

The growth of God’s kingdom is like the gathering in of all the few to make the "many," the harvesting of a great yield from the sowing of a handful of seeds.  The reference in Psalm 72, is interesting.  It shows the handful of corn being sown upon the top of the mountains.  This is not the usual place to plant corn.  The valley floor would seem more conducive of growth, but, no, it is upon the top of the mountains.  High above all, in a place where the rocky crags could only bring forth growth by the miracle of God.  It is the same illusionary place as shown in Isaiah 2:2, where the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains.  Truly this is an emphasis when viewed with Psalm 72, that demonstrates the true spiritual yield that can only come from that which is spiritually sown.  If we sow to the flesh, we will reap to the flesh.  If we sow spiritual seed, it will yield a harvest spiritually, reaping souls for His kingdom.  The many have come from being sown in the top of the mountains, in the place of worship with God.  We, too, are sown as spiritual seed and need to blossom and yield new spiritual seed.  We can only do so as we come to that place of worship, that top of the mountain, with God.  Only they of the city, the spiritual Jerusalem, will grow like the grass, to be a great prairie of expanse, blowing in the wind of the Holy Spirit’s moving.  In America, we most often picture grass as that close clipped, manicured green lawn.  But in Bible lands of old, it would have been the tall, seed headed grass covering the expanse of ground.  Full of life and seed bearing, waving in the wind, constantly bowing, as it were, to the sunlight.  So we should be as that grass: reaching out, growing, full of life, bearing precious seed of His Word, moved by the Holy Spirit, and bowing in worship to our Lord.  In our Locket Verse for today, the many call to one another, "Come ye."  The encouragement of God’s people to one another should always be, "Come, go to the house of the Lord with me.  Let’s learn, worship and serve as we gather together."

O Lord, help me to encourage others to come to Your house, not just the lost, but those of Your household who need someone’s loving word. So many, even in my church, have not found the joy of being part of the great program of Your Word.  Help me to say, "Come ye," and let them come.

What is found in this mountain top experience of worship in the house of the God of Jacob?  There God Himself will teach us his ways.  In the future city, God will show us all things, until we know as we are known.  In our present life, God will also teach us His ways.  Does it seem too simplistic to note the pattern: join with God’s people, come to the place of worship in God’s house, there you will learn of Him, and His ways will be taught to your heart by God Himself.  No wonder God commands us to ...consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Hebrews 10:24-25  Most Christians want to know God’s way and will for their lives, and certainly regular church attendance is uniquely a part of that knowing.  For as a result of the teaching, we will walk in his paths, victory will be ours, and we will walk pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 1:10)  For out of our spiritual Zion, our place of worship, shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD will be heard by all who bow there.  Go up to the Lord in worship today.  Up above the ordinary, above the everyday and earthly, ascend to the mountain top and learn there of Him!

Note the use of the name Jacob in our verse.  It is not "O House of Israel" but uniquely O House of Jacob.  The name Jacob brings to remembrance being called out of sin to allow God to make of us a new people, a spiritual Israel.  No matter what we were or where we are, God can change us into a prince or princess with Him, as He changed the deceiver Jacob into Israel, a prince with God.  (Isra = prince, El = God)  Then notice in our verse for today, the personal plea and call, Come ye.  As we hear the resounding plea, we should pause to think, are we listening to God’s callings to us, have we allowed the Lord to deeply touch us, to change us?  Is His mark of change forever on our lives for all to see, as Jacob’s halting step was a constant reminder that "God touched me"?  His limp had been caused by the strong deep touch of God on his hip at the end of Jacob’s wrestling with the Lord all night by the riverside.  When the wrestling was over, Jacob had clung to the Angel of the Lord there and asked for His blessing.  He left that riverside a truly changed man, forever marked for all to observe God’s dealings with him there.  The last of Jacob’s strugglings of self had been left on the embankment, and he walked, henceforth, as the servant of the Lord.  The mark of God was on his life.  We should consider, is the mark of God on ours?  Have we left self by the spiritual riverside of prayer, to rise up in total submission to our wonderful Lord, who alone is able to change us from self centered, lusting beings, to servants of the Glorious King?  Then notice the phrase Let us.  What a reminder that we do not walk this way alone.  If we consider this a divine calling, the phrase reminds us that God is always with us.  Also from the human standpoint of the verse, Isaiah as a leader was saying, "Come with me, let us walk the spiritual journey together."  Who are you walking with in your life today?  Whose spiritual journey are you sharing?  What a sobering and challenging thought.  Surely your mate and those of your family are each on a journey with you.  They should never come to the point where they think that they are walking any part of it alone.  Let them know you are there to walk the way with them, no matter how rocky, no matter what new things they may encounter there; softly, faithfully, you will be by their side.  Are there friends or others that need to know your presence with them in life’s journey?  Perhaps even today there is someone who needs the gentle assurance that you are there for them.  Are you also walking in step with your earthly spiritual leader?  Whether it be the pastor in your church or the husband in your home, he has been given to you as the one who will call, "Come ye, let us walk this way together, there is much ahead and I need you to follow, yea, even walk alongside me.  Sometimes I need the encouragement of seeing you there, ready to share the challenges ahead.  Sometimes I just need you to trustingly walk alongside, letting me lead as God directs."  Then note the word walk.  That glorious journey ahead, is like a lovely walk on a summer’s day down the sunlit forest path, full of beauty and adventure!  And what a strong illusion to this in the phrase: in the light of the LORD.  Walking in the light of the Lord, reminds us of walking in truth.  Psalm 26:3, encourages us: For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.  Psalm 86:11 states that God’s way is the way of truth: Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth...  The evidence of the joy it brings to those that love us, when they see us walking in God’s truth is found in 2 John 4 and 3 John 3-4: I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth......For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.  Are we following God’s lovingkindness today, walking in truth, bringing joy to the Father and to those that love us most?  The pathway is laid before us, we must each choose whether to walk it today.  If we choose to walk that path of light, we should be reminded of the great promise of the God of light: For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11  All our duties should be performed in the Light!  Some of the spiritual duties mentioned in connection with light in the Scripture are: Worshipping (2 Chronicles 5:13, 14), Working (John 9:4), Warring (Romans 13:12), Walking (Ephesians 5:8), Witnessing (Philippians 2:15), and Watching (1 Thessalonians 5:5,6).  When we walk in the light, we can see clearly, our path is not obscured, there is no stumbling as in the darkness, fear is removed and there is joy!  There is also a certain cleanness and shining of purpose and direction in the light of the Lord!  The first mention of light in the Scriptures is in Genesis 1:3-4.  There in the creation of the world, God said about the light, "It [is] good!"  And so in our lives, as we seek to walk in the light of the LORD, we too can say, "It is good!"

Running the length of the front of our yard is a covert.  It is a well constructed ditch, lined with large river stones and contains a section of pipe under the driveway to allow a continuous channel.  It is designed to provide a place for water run off so that both our yard, house and the street will be protected from flooding.  This is our most common modern understanding of the word covert.  The dictionary offers other meanings: covered, sheltered, concealed, disguised, even in the terminology of the law: the protection of a husband, in nature: a thicket giving shelter to wild animals, and in birds: the smaller feathers of a bird that cover the bases of the important large feathers of the wing and tail.  In our verse, it is true that God’s covert provides for us a covering and shelter that is concealed and often "disguised" to those who do not believe.  It offers us a unique protection by our relationship to the Lord.  It is as dense yet accessible as a thicket as we flee the enemy or gather our family in its security and privacy, where unseen by the world we choose the place visible to our eyes of faith.  The delicate interweaving of God’s grace in our lives protects our areas of vital service and allows us to use to its fullest potential the things that equip us for full "flight," as we are allowed to soar as an eagle for our Lord.  All these are true and contained in the meaning of our verse.  Yet there is still the covert in my front yard and the impact it has on my understanding of this verse.  It was constructed to provide a place of run off for that which could damage.  Indeed, we saw the value of it when we had a sudden flash flood this summer.  The normally dry covert was filled to the brim with racing water.  From high above the slope behind our back yard, we suddenly heard the rushing sound of water as the deluged overflow from the streets in our area that are higher than ours, came surging towards us.  Our neighbor’s yard lies at a much lower level than the surrounding houses and suddenly we all realized his house was truly in danger.  My husband joined the other neighbors as they rapidly dug a long trench between our yards to form a stream bed for the approaching water to empty into the covert.  Even as they dug, some of the flood waters covered the lower yard, yet, it soon flowed into the newly constructed trench and the house was spared damage.  Through it all, the covert’s waters rushed on by.  After it was all over, our yard stood undamaged, just washed clean by the rain.  So, in my mind, the idea of a covert is to provide a place of run off, not contained in the natural flood plain, but a well constructed place (a ditch or trench) to allow the flood waters to pass through or by, without causing destruction.  Its purpose is to rechannel the run off that might erode or wash away that which is essential and constructive.  The trials of life will come but with our heavenly tabernacle "coverting" us, they will not destroy, we will be safe until the storm passes by.  Verse five states, ...for upon all (i.e., the holy in Jerusalem) the glory shall be a defense.  The glory is seen in the cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night being reinstituted for the assemblies of God’s people in the latter days.  God’s glory is our present defense.  There is a glory of God that is seen in nature, in His workings, and in changed lives.  There is also that glory that is His invisibly, the very glory of His person, which is our sure defense, not only individually, but in our assemblies.  Let us hold tight and reach high to the shining pristine glory of the Lord in our churches.  All the refuse of in-fighting, personal ambition and self glory, should be purged away by the spirit of burning (verse 4), the burning of the spiritual fires of true Holy Spirit revival in our midst.  The word tabernacle in Hebrew, means "covering."  It is a covering of a shadow in the daytime from the heat.  Where there are no shelters, no trees or caves, the desert wanderer looks for a shadow to give him respite from the beating rays of the sun.  It might be found in the shadow of a cactus, a rock outcropping, a hillside or a brush tent, anything that would protect and relieve the person from the heat.  Often times he would be forced to move himself with the traveling position of the shadow as its position is changed in its angle to the sun.  Just so, we are never to remain stationary, but following the Lord as He beckons to us and we hear quietly within, "Walk in this way if you will find rest and peace from your weariness of soul."  I heard the story once of a missionary couple traveling in a hot arid place and beginning to feel ill from the heat.  A cloud in the summer sky suddenly overshadowed the sun.  That cloud remained above them all that day as they traveled and they had relief from the heat, yet no other clouds were seen in the sky.  It was for them a miraculous shadow and refuge.  In Isaiah 25:4, these two illustrations of God’s grace are put together again: for thou hast been...a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat...  There is that part of God’s protective care that overshadows us as the storm passes by, that gives us that place to run into for refuge.  It is strangely that very place where we are to permanently dwell, to tabernacle: the Lord Himself.  In a unique way, we must run into that refuge.  Perhaps it is meant that we are to dwell deeper within that tabernacle, and watch out the windows as the flood watches rush by in that covert built by His love.  Yet we must beware and not ignore the warnings of danger from the flood or surely we would fall into the rushing waters of the covert.  Our driveway is like a little bridge over our covert and if we miss the boundaries of the sides of that driveway, we would be in the rushing waters.  In the Christian life, our shadow and tabernacle is always available, yet we must be ever careful to live within the boundaries that the Lord has laid down for us.  For our guidance and protection, we must seek to stay within God’s parameters.  For my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be over past. Psalm 57:1