In response to a reader suggestion, I’ve figured out what Bible verses are quoted the most here and am writing a series about those verses. Today’s post is #2 of the series, covering the verse quoted the 2nd least out of the 10 most quoted, Isaiah 9:6.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
This verse makes the most-quoted list because I of a Christmas series about it inspired by James Boice, who compared the 4 names Christ is called in this verse to Christmas gifts we can all have. “Four gifts for Christmas. They are the greatest gifts that anybody can give or we can have, and they are all in Jesus. They are for us. They are for you, if you will have them.”
Boice speculated that if we took a poll (and people were honest), we could find out that people’s deepest needs are wisdom, the power to do what is right, satisfying relationships, and reconciliation with God and others through forgiveness. Then we’d realize that the 4 aspects of Christ from Isaiah 9:6 would meet those deepest, most significant needs, like this:
As Wonderful Counselor, He is our source of wisdom; As Mighty God, He will empower us to live as He did; As Everlasting Father, He invites us with unconditional love into His family; As Prince of Peace, He buys peace between us and Him, and between us and others.
Because Jesus came and lived and died for us, we can have all of these things because He offers them to us as a free gift to those who accept Him. So, Christmas may have already passed, but Jesus still lives and is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Regardless of the season, we can be thankful for all that God has given us in Christ.
Near the end of Book 3 in the Psalms (43-89), several Psalms read like cries for help by writers at the end of their rope. In Psalm 86:14, for example, David writes: “O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.” While the exact circumstance is unclear, David knows there is a wide conspiracy against him, and his only hope is to turn to God. The Psalm opens with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.”
Likewise, when we feel desperate and don’t know where to turn, these Psalms remind us that God will never turn us away. On Psalm 86 John Calvin comments that “the more severely any one is oppressed, and the more destitute he is of the resources of human aid, the more inclined is God graciously to help him. That despair therefore may not overwhelm our minds under our greatest afflictions, let us support ourselves from the consideration that the Holy Spirit has dictated this prayer for the poor and the afflicted.” In other words, because these Psalms are in the Bible, we can be sure that, no matter the mess our own choices or the actions of others have put us in, God in His steadfast love will listen.
Throughout the Psalm, David writes reminders of the character and works of God as a contrast to both his circumstances and his feelings of futility. Like him we must always remember that our character is never so bad that God loving us is inconsistent with His character, and that our circumstances are never so bad that loving us is beyond His power to achieve.
When all you have is God, He is enough.
Even for the most desperate, there is always a way out, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” In Psalm 86, David does not just pray for a miraculous deliverance, but in verse 11, David looks for the way of escape: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” A united heart is one that feels no anxiety because it knows it is seeking God’s will and willing to act on it based on reverence for Him. God may urge us to merely wait for His deliverance, or prod us to actions we may not expect, but in all cases, He knows the way, because He is the Way. Only He can unite our hearts.
Bring your desperate anxiety to Him and let Him show you the way forward. When all you have is God, He is enough. When you feel your faith is weak because you can’t see or feel God in your life or the world around you, begin with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy,” and He will listen.
Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection. These five somewhat related sayings suggest the particular time and place we live in may not be very different from every other time and place. I hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?…the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” – Genesis 3:1,4
“Every age has some ostentatious system to excuse the havoc it commits. Conquest, honour, chivalry, religion, balance of power, commerce, no matter what, mankind must bleed, and take a term for a reason” – Horace Walpole, British politician, in 1762
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12, 16:25
“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals”. – George Orwell, in the 1945 introduction to ‘Animal Farm.’
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5
The following is quoted from Warren Wiersbe’s Be Alive commentary on John 3:14.
“On January 6, 1850, a snowstorm almost crippled the city of Colchester, England, and a teenage boy was unable to get to the church he usually attended. So he made his way to a nearby Primitive Methodist chapel, where an ill-prepared layman was substituting for the absent preacher. His text was Isaiah 45:22 – “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” For many months this young teenager had been miserable and under deep conviction, but though he had been reared in church (both his father and grandfather were preachers), he did not have the assurance of salvation.
The unprepared substitute minister did not have much to say, so he kept repeating the text. “A man need not go to college to learn to look,” he shouted. “Anyone can look—a child can look!” About that time, he saw the visitor sitting to one side, and he pointed at him and said, “Young man, you look very miserable. Young man, look to Jesus Christ!” The young man did look by faith, and that was how the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon was converted.”[1]
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Alive (John 1-12) (1986). P. 55.
All the people benefit from leaders and rulers who fear God. In Deuteronomy, when God reluctantly says Israel may set a king over them in the future[1], He also required the king to have specific habits to cultivate a fear of God in them:
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20, emphasis mine)
These requirements have several parts. First, the king was to “write for himself in a book a copy of this law.” “This law” refers to what we now think of as the first five books of the Bible – all 187 chapters of it. Imagine the time that would take, but this tedious exercise was designed to help the king internalize the message. Quickly skimming over the Bible would not do.
Second, the king had to get this copy “approved by the Levitical priests,” to make sure nothing was added or left out, but also to remind the king that His authority is subject to God’s authority, as intermediated by the priests at that time. Regardless of what laws the king might pass, God’s laws would always reign supreme and eternal.
Third, the king was to “read in it all the days of his life,” because it takes time and effort to dig the treasures of wisdom out of the Bible. However, it is worth the effort because Psalm 19:10 tells us these truths are:
“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”
Also, the king would be surrounded by reminders of his worldly greatness every day, so constant meditation on the law would show him his reliance on God. The king needs a constant reminder that he is under God, whose law applies to everyone.
These habits exist “that he may learn to fear the LORD,” which leads to “doing” the law. Even the king is expected to do what God commands, not just tell others to. With “doing” as the objective, the king will remain humble and learn the fear of God, because we may be able to know God’s word, but doing it is the real challenge and we can only succeed by His grace.
These habits also exist to make sure the king does not err “either to the right hand or to the left.” This encouragement is later echoed in Moses’ words in Joshua 1:7-8, but what does it mean? I think it means that without constant saturation in God’s word, we can fall into a trap of not following God’s positive will, but instead defining ourselves by what we’re against. In trying to avoid one sin, we drift too far in the opposite direction and into another, equally destructive, sin. Instead, positive obedience coming from the fear of God should be better than fine gold and “sweeter also than honey.” Truth is often subtle and not as black-and-white as we’d like it to be.
Most of us aren’t kings, but we can apply the passage from Deuteronomy in our prayers. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” But what shall we pray for them? As Deuteronomy suggests, we should pray that they know God, fear God, and obey God, that they may be humble, and we may prosper.
Also, are you a leader? Do you serve in a position of authority at your church, workplace, or other organization? These habits will benefit you and those you serve anywhere. (In societies where we can easily get a Bible, we don’t need to create our own copies of it, but we should seek to internalize as much of the Bible as possible, through memorization and other means.) As Solomon wrote in Psalm 127:1 –
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
If you’re not a leader, these habits are beneficial for you as well, as Psalm 128:1 says:
“Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 