1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another continually, from a pure heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you. 2:1 Therefore, having rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind, 2 like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Introduction
You are not stuck!
I preached a sermon last week about undying love. Peter told us, “Don’t give up on love.” Your love is powered by an undying, eternal power source, so don’t quit on loving when everything in you is saying, “I can’t continue to love this person.” That is a message we all need to hear because we are so often tempted to give up on love. In fact, we are tempted to give up on any virtue that does not come easily. Some of you may be on the cusp of giving up on spiritual growth altogether. You just feel like, “This is what I am – it’s all I’ll ever be. I’ve tried everything. I’ll never be able to change.” Growth and progress feel impossible to you. Today’s passage gives hope. Look at 1 Peter 2:2. He tells us to do something and then promises that if we do it we will grow. But before we jump in to what Peter says about how to do it, let’s refresh our memories on where we are in this passage.
Review: Love
Peter’s reason for not giving up on love is that the gospel that gave us spiritual life is the same gospel that defines spiritual life as a life of love for the saints. You cannot separate love for the brothers from the gospel. The only way to go to heaven is to believe. It is only by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ that you can be saved. And that means trusting Him when He points in the direction of Christian love and says, “That’s the way to go.” If Jesus points in that direction and someone says, “No – I’m not willing to go that way. I’ll take another route” – that person will discover that there is no other route. The highway to heaven is paved with bricks of love for the Church. And that highway of love is the only one that can take you to heaven. The roadmap to heaven goes through the land of love. So just keep going on that road. The thing that took place in your heart at the moment when you became a believer – that is exactly what is to take place every moment for the rest of your life. When you became a Christian the way it happened was you were exposed to the truth of God’s Word, and you delighted in it, trusted it, and obeyed it resulting in love for the saints. That is how we are to live every day.
All that was last week. But there is so much more to what Peter is saying here. It is going to take today and next week just to put it all together.
What? Milk
The Command: Crave Milk
The first section of 1 Peter gives no commands. It just praises God for salvation. Praise God for the new birth into the glorious inheritance. Peter was just calling us to ride through this life with our noses pressed up against the window of eternity with inexpressible and glorious joy as we experience foretastes of the salvation to come. That is the first half of the chapter (vv.1-12). Then in the second half he says, “Therefore, here’s how you should live,” and that is when the commands begin. Peter gives five commands. We have looked at the first four. Today we come to the last one before moving on to the next section of the book. This command comes in 1 Peter 2:2 – and it comes to many as a shock. Crave. That is the command – we are required to crave something. I say that is a shock to some because many people believe it would be unreasonable for God to command us to have a particular craving. It is one thing for Him to tell us to do something, or to think a certain way – but to command us to have a desire? Even a craving? How can you make yourself crave something you do not already crave? Peter is going to answer that. In fact, he is going to answer three questions for us. What is it we are supposed to crave? Why are we to crave it? How can we generate that craving in our hearts? What? Why? and How?
Let’s start with the what. What is it we are commanded to crave? Pure, spiritual milk. What is that? The word spiritual is a hard word to translate, but most likely in this context it means spiritual in the sense of non-literal. He is saying, “I’m not talking about literal milk. This is a metaphor. It’s milk for your soul”. So what is it? Well, we know it is something they had already tasted – look at verse 3.
2:2 … crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
So if we take a look in the context here and try to pin down what it is that they have tasted – this thing that enabled them to taste the goodness of God and that they should crave more of so they can grow – what do we see? What sort of life-giving thing has Peter been talking about that would be capable of causing growth in us and that we have already tasted?
1:23 you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
We were born again, and the source of that spiritual life was the Word of God. That is what Peter has been talking about throughout this section. We were purified by obeying the truth of God’s Word (v.22). We received new birth through God’s Word (v.23). God’s Word is eternal, unlike the glory of man (vv.24, 25). And it was God’s Word that was proclaimed to us (v.25). Then in chapter 2 he says, therefore, given everything I just said about how you received life from God’s Word, crave more milk so you can grow. That is why most commentators agree that the milk here represents the Word of God. It is something that sustains life, it is something they have already tasted of, and it is something that brings about salvation. And in the context it is the Word of God that does all those things. So what is it that we are to crave? The truth of God’s Word.
In other places the metaphor of milk is used to describe the basics of the gospel – milk as opposed to solid food. That is not the analogy here. Peter is not using milk to describe basics. He is using it to describe all of God’s Word. And the idea is not that we are like infants in the sense of being immature, but rather we are to be like infants in the way that infants crave milk.
Pure
And Peter throws in an interesting word here – he says pure milk. Our desire and craving should be to receive the truth of God’s Word in the purest possible form. Not watered down, not diluted or contaminated or mixed with human wisdom.
Human wisdom is like poison when it is mixed with God’s Word. Sometimes people sit in a church where they get 80% God’s Word and 20% human wisdom and they wonder, “Why do I feel so malnourished spiritually?” It does not take very much human wisdom to destroy the effectiveness of God’s Word.
1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Did you know that mixing human wisdom in with the Word of God actually empties the gospel of its power? We need it in pure form.
Now, sometimes people misunderstand that. They think the only thing they should read is the Bible, and never any commentaries or books about the Bible or sermons – just the words of Scripture. That is not what Peter means by pure. We do not contaminate the Word of God by teaching it. We do not water it down by explaining the meaning and significance of it. Not at all. What waters it down and contaminates it is when instead of teaching it, we teach our own ideas.
When people say, “I don’t read commentaries or books – I just read the words of Scripture and nothing else” – that is foolish. From beginning to end God has commissioned teachers and has called us to listen to them. Scripture is designed to be learned through teachers. You see that everywhere in the New Testament.
In fact, when people want to only read the words of Scripture and have no interest in teachers or commentaries or sermons – I question whether those people really have a true craving for the truth of God’s Word. When you really crave the truth of Scripture you will do anything to get it. You will not be content to just read a chapter in the Bible and walk away not understanding it. You will investigate and study and read and pray and ask questions until you do understand it. The craving is not just for the bare words themselves. The craving is for the truth those words convey. And it is mostly through teachers that we gain access to that truth. That is God’s design.
The thing that waters down God’s Word is not teaching, it is human wisdom. Interjecting psychology, importing scientific theories into the Bible, teaching life lessons and using the Bible to support them, twisting the Bible to fit common sense – that is how human wisdom contaminates the Word. It just breaks my heart when people are malnourished spiritually and counselors want to feed them empty human psychology. And so Peter says, “Crave pure milk.”
Craving
And do not just drink it – crave it. He does not tell us to read the Bible; he does not tell us to study it; he does not tell us to listen to it or preach it or memorize it – he tells us to crave it. The reading and studying and all the rest will come if we crave it. If we do not crave it, then all the reading and studying will have limited value.
And that craving is to be like the craving of a newborn for milk. Peter uses two words – one for a nursing infant, and then another word that means “newborn.” Either one of those words would have been enough by itself, so Peter is really emphasizing the fact that this is a brand new baby. Usually you can train a baby to begin to feed on a schedule, but not right after they are born. When they are first born they demand milk every three or four hours around the clock. It is the only thing they care about. That baby has no interest in a toy, he does not care if his booties are pink or blue, he has no desire to play – he does not want a hamburger or a piece of candy – he wants one thing and one thing only, he wants milk, and he wants it now, and if he does not get it he becomes as violent as that little life is capable of being. When he does get it, there is no greater picture of contentment in all the world. He will go from screaming as loud as he can to the picture of rest and delight in one second. And the result is the most dramatic growth a human being ever experiences. He doubles in size in five months – taking in nothing but milk.
So Peter points to that and says, “That’s the kind of desire we are required to have for the Word of God.” It is not just a vague favorable attitude toward the Bible. It is an insistent, unrelenting, passionate, need for God’s Word.
A hungry baby is a healthy baby. I love it when I hear people looking for a church where they can be fed. I have actually heard pastors rebuke people for that – for wanting to be fed. They accuse them of being selfish. Isn’t that amazing? Can you imagine doing that with your kids? Every time they show up around the table at dinner time you spank them and say, “You kids just want to be fed.” No – you want them to come at dinner time.” And if they don’t – if you have a child who does not eat all day long, and does not eat anything the next day or the next day – you take that kid to the doctor and do whatever you can to get his appetite restored so he does not die. An appetite to be fed is a wonderful thing. It is a sign of health.
And lack of desire for food is a terrible thing. Anorexia is a life-threatening disorder in which women starve themselves. It causes all kinds of health problems – ranging all the way from inability to conceive children all the way to death. Women die from anorexia. And the amazing thing about it is, it is not an organic disease. There is nothing wrong with the body at all. It is not a digestion problem like Crone’s disease, or an inability to eat food. If those women just ate food, they would be fine.
So when they go to the doctor, why doesn’t the doctor just take out his prescription pad and write one word – “Eat!”? They do not do that because they already know they need to eat. Their problem is in the realm of desires and attitudes. They value thinness more than life itself. So no matter how much you tell them to eat, it will not help because they love thinness better than life. They would rather be thin than healthy. And until those desires are changed, they will never be cured.
If you look up the symptoms it says an anorexic is someone who goes long periods without eating, often punctuated by occasional binges followed by vomiting or enemas. No food for a long time, then an overdose of food that is rejected by the body.
That is how it is with spiritual anorexics, too. Long periods without taking in God’s Word, punctuated by an occasional exposure to Scripture out of guilt or some other pressure, but it is rejected by the soul. Instead of gobbling it up, the inner man says, “This is boring, it’s useless, it’s irrelevant,” and all that does is make the desire even smaller than it already was.
That is why God is not satisfied with you just reading the Bible. If the craving is not there, you can read it, study it, memorize it, preach, it sing it, and everything else and it is not going to be received by your heart. The only way for the life-giving nourishment to be absorbed is if you have that craving.
Why? Because it gives life
So, what are we to crave? Pure, spiritual milk. Second question: Why? What is so great about this milk? Why should we crave it?
2:2 crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up
The reason we must crave it is for spiritual growth.
The Importance of Growth
We need to grow. No matter where you are in your walk with the Lord, you need to grow from there. Even if you are the strongest Christian in the whole church, you need to grow. An 8 year old is a lot bigger than a 6 month old, but that 8 year old still needs to grow, and keep growing until he finally reaches full maturity.
2 Peter 3:18 grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Even Jesus developed spiritually
Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
There is nothing more tragic than a person who does not develop. You see an adult who has the mind of an 18 month old and it is heartbreaking. It is even more heartbreaking when it happens in your spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 3:1,2 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
That is tragic. And yet it is epidemic, and so Peter tells us, “Crave God’s Word so you will grow.”
Growth toward Salvation
So we need to grow up. Now in Peter’s analogy, what is the full maturity that we are growing toward? What is the goal of all this growth? The NIV says “so that you may grow up in your salvation,” but the word “your” is not in the Greek. And the word in is actually into. It is the same word we saw back in1 Peter 1:22 that I told you means toward or into. There the idea was that you obeyed the Word toward – with the goal or result of – loving the saints. Here the idea is that you crave the Word toward – with the goal or result of – salvation.
Future Salvation
Now, if you are not familiar with Peter you need to understand that there are three aspects to your salvation: past, present and future. You were saved in one sense in the past when you first became a Christian. You are currently being saved right now in the present because of your ongoing faith. And you will be completely and finally and ultimately saved when Jesus returns. And when Peter talks about salvation he usually has that future idea in mind. So when he says we need to grow up toward the goal of salvation, he is not saying the goal of growing is that you will someday be converted. You are already converted. He is saying the goal of your growth is to reach the final, ultimate fullness of salvation.
“What’s that?”
It is everything Jesus died to make you.
What goal did Jesus have in mind for you when He died for you? He died to reconcile you to God, right? He died to make you holy. He died to make you eager to do what is good. And Peter is saying, “You need to crave His life-giving, life-sustaining Word so that you will grow closer and closer to that person Jesus died to make you.”
When you go into your prayer group and they ask you, “How can we pray for your spiritual life,” I hope your answer isn’t, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really have anything I’m working on at this time in my spiritual life.” Unless your character is already exactly like Christ’s then there’s some growth that needs to take place. That is why we have those prayer groups – to seek grace from God together for that growth toward our ultimate salvation.
Gives Life
And that comes through the life-giving nourishment of the Word of God. All spiritual life and growth comes from Scripture. The Bible is not like any other book. It is not mere information. It is living and active, and it feeds and nourishes and grows and matures the soul.
Regeneration
It is the Word of God that gave you life to begin with.
1:23 For you have been born again … through the living and enduring word of God.
It is through the Word that new birth takes place. Unbelievers are spiritually dead. They cannot see the beauty and desirability of God. When you put a blind man in front of a spectacular sunset it has no impact on him emotionally. And that is how unbelievers are with the glory of God. Sit them down in church and preach your heart out from God’s Word about all the glorious, delightful, wonderful attributes of God, and they are bored to tears. They would rather be doing anything else. They are bored because they are blind men standing in front of a sunset. That is what it means to be spiritually dead.
And what is the solution? Man-centered religion says the solution is human wisdom. Just find the right way to talk to them. That is the philosophy of many people in “seeker-sensitive” church growth movement. For example Rick Warren, who says this on page 219 of his book, Purpose Driven Church - “Anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart.” You can make anyone a Christian if you just find the right approach. If you are skilled enough with methods, you can talk anyone into becoming a Christian. That is why those kinds of churches are all about creating appealing music and appealing buildings and appealing rhetoric and everything else. They are all about talking blind men into liking the sunset. You might be able to talk a blind man into accepting a sunset as a good thing, but you can’t talk a blind man into being delighted by its beauty. Nor can you talk a dead man into walking.
The solution to spiritual death is one thing - Life! So how do you bring that about? Or can you? Is it even possible for us to do anything to cause it to happen?
Some say no – there is nothing you can do. It is a work of God, and we can do nothing to bring it about. All you can do is pray, and wait around for God to make it happen.
One group that fell into that kind of thinking was the Particular Baptists, in the early 1900’s. They were Calvinists. Calvinism is a theological belief system that emphasizes the sovereign control of God. But the Particular Baptists got so carried away in emphasizing that, that they said, “If salvation is all of God, then man is not involved at all.” So they stopped evangelizing. They stopped preaching the gospel to the lost, and they stopped sending missionaries. They figured – “We can’t manufacture salvation with human persuasion, so why bother even opening our mouths at all? When God brings spiritual life, those people will be saved and then they will come to church.”
That kind of thinking has been called hyper-Calvinism. “Hyper-Calvinist? What’s that? Is that a reformed person with ADD? A Presbyterian who can’t sit still in church?” No – a hyper-Calvinist is someone who gets so carried away with emphasizing the divine role in salvation that there ends up being no human role at all. And so they don’t preach the gospel.
The hyper-Arminian becomes so man-centered that he thinks he can schmooze anyone into the kingdom by human programming. The hyper-Calvinist says, “No, there’s nothing humans can do to bring about spiritual life.” What does the Bible say? The Bible says new birth comes through the living and enduring Word of God. We cannot schmooze anyone into spiritual life, but we can preach the gospel.
Peter calls it a seed. The Word of God works like the male seed in procreation. Think about it – can human beings create a new human life? No. Only God can create a human being. But does that mean we are not involved at all? No! A man and wife can decide to come together and do what God has designed as the means by which He brings new life into existence. When the hyper-Calvinist says, “Why bother preaching the gospel? Only God can make spiritually dead people come to life,” that is a lot like saying, “God is the Lord of the womb – He alone decides when a child is conceived. Only God can bring a new human being into existence, so why bother with the marriage bed? Why bother with a physical union between a man and woman?” It is true that it is a work of God, but God has chosen to do it through certain means. He brings about physical life through the physical seed in the marriage bed, and He brings about spiritual life through the imperishable seed of His Word being proclaimed. If the man and woman do not come together, no baby. And if the gospel is not preached – no new Christians.
If you go to your garden and walk up to a patch of dirt and try to talk some tomatoes into growing, you can talk until you are blue in the face but until you put some seeds in the ground, nothing is going to grow. But if you do plant a seed, and the Lord blesses it, life will appear.
Growth
Spiritual life only comes into being by means of the Word. And not only that, but spiritual life only progresses and grows through the Word. Take a newborn to Country Buffet and he will starve to death. French fries will not help him, fried chicken is useless to him, green beans, fried rice, chopped steak, mashed potatoes – none of it is any good to him. A just-born baby can digest one thing. One thing will grow that child – mother’s milk. That is it. And one thing, and one thing only, will grow a Christian – the Word of God. Not relationships. Not acceptance. Not music. Not moving religious experiences. Certainly not human wisdom. Not even trials. Some of those things can provide an occasion for the Word of God to be applied to the heart, but apart from the Word, none of them will bring any spiritual growth. Not even prayer will bring growth apart from the Word.
This is one reason why God’s Word in the Bible is different from what is revealed about God in the creation. There is a brother in Christ by the name of Hugh Ross, who teaches that the creation is like the sixty-sixth book in the Bible. He is a scientist, and he holds the conclusions of the scientific community at the same level as the Bible. I believe Hugh Ross is a brother and that he loves the Lord and I will enjoy being in heaven with him for eternity – but I have to strongly disagree with the idea of placing natural revelation (what God has revealed through the creation) on the same level with special revelation (what God has revealed in the Bible). They are not on the same level.
Very often when it comes to science or psychology, people will say, “All truth is God’s truth.” But what they do not realize is all truth may be God’s truth, but all truth is not God’s Word. And it is only God’s Word that can nourish and grow the human soul. Psalm 19 talks about both kinds of revelation – natural revelation in the creation in the first half of the psalm, then in the second half of the psalm he talks about Scripture. And it is only in the section about Scripture that we find statements about the benefits to the human soul – reviving the soul, bringing joy to the heart, giving light to the eyes, etc. The heavens declare the glory of God, but they do not renew the soul. The Scriptures alone do that. It is the Scriptures that feed us.
And it is such a beautiful picture. He does not just give a vague, abstract idea that God will supply our needs through the Bible. He paints a picture of the most tender, beautiful image in all human experience – a nursing mother. God wants us to think about our Bible reading that way – a newborn infant drawing nourishment at its mother’s breast.
That image shows us how we are to approach God’s Word, and it also shows us the effect God’s Word has on us. It nourishes us like a baby is nourished by milk. Sometimes people come in for counseling and they are really struggling with something, and we ask, “Are you reading your Bible?”
“No, but that’s not the problem. This is way deeper than that. I need counseling.”
That is like someone going to the doctor saying, “I feel weak and dizzy and lethargic.”
“When is the last time you ate some food?”
“Oh, it’s been a week or two, but that’s not the issue. It’s not that simplistic – I need an X-ray or a CAT scan or an MRI or an EEG or something – this is really serious.”
That doctor is going to gather all his wisdom and knowledge and experience and tell you, “Eat a sandwich.”
And that does not trivialize the need in any way. The body has many, many complex nutritional needs that not even the experts fully understand. I am certainly no nutrition expert, but I am still alive after 44 years – why? Because God made food with all kinds of things we need in it, so if we just eat a variety of food, our needs are met. God’s Word is the same way. Just take it all in, and let God apply it where it needs to be applied. And if you do not fully understand how reading about scrolls in Revelation or about the Tabernacle, or about some Parthian magi, or a genealogy will nourish your soul and help you grow – just take it in and let the Lord worry about how it all works. Someone who really understands Biblical theology could explain to you how all those things will grow you, but there is plenty of benefit that comes whether you understand that or not. A little newborn does not understand anything about caloric requirements, and vitamins, protein, fats, minerals, hydration, etc. He does not wake up from his nap and say, “Hmmm, I sure could go for about 1/10 mg of Riboflavin. I think I’ll have some breast milk.” He just takes it in and grows. And that is how it is with the truth of God’s Word.
Philosophy of Ministry
This one simple truth drives our whole philosophy of ministry at Agape. If you are new here and you want to know, “What is distinctive about this church?” Our #1 distinctive is this – when it comes to the question of how do you cause spiritual growth to take place, our answer is – “Through the Word.” That is not our full purpose statement, because we do other things as well – like worship and pray. But when it comes to the question of how we manage to bring unbelievers to faith, and how we bring about spiritual growth in the saints, we have one method – feed them the Word of God. Why have a sermon? To apply the Word of God to the hearts of men. Why have air conditioning? So people are not distracted from the preaching of God’s Word by too much heat. Why have a potluck? So we can build friendships that will enable us to have greater opportunity to apply the truth of Scripture to people’s hearts. If you build a friendship with someone, that person will be more open to receive what you tell them from the Bible. Ministry is accomplished by applying the Word of God to the hearts of men to cultivate love, holiness, and worship through faith.
So if you come to us with a ministry idea, and you say, “We should start doing this,” – our question will be, “How would that enhance our effort to apply the Word of God to the hearts of men?”
The same goes for missions. We do not support missions organizations that just do humanitarian aid, without preaching the gospel. We do not get into kindness ministries that do not include the gospel. Nobody ever got saved by being treated well. Nobody ever became a Christian by having a well dug for them in their village. Spiritual life comes only through the Word of God.
What it Looks Like
So what does that process look like, exactly? We all know it is possible to read the Bible and not grow, right? There are Bible experts who have no godliness at all. They can quote chapter and verse, and they can wax eloquent about the historical background, and they know all about the families of manuscripts and textual criticism and all kinds of scholarly info, and their heart would make a black mark on a piece of coal – no spiritual fruit at all. There are people who become milk experts, but they never actually drink any.
Reading is not the same thing as drinking. What does it look like to drink it? What is it that makes the difference between the people who hear the Word and it nourishes their soul and brings growth, and the people who hear it or read it and it is of no value to them? Hebrews 4 talks about some people who heard the Word, but it was of no value to them.
Hebrews 4:2 … the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
Just reading does not get the milk inside you. The only way is to swallow and get it inside you where it can sustain your life is by combining it with faith. And I think that is why Peter quotes Isaiah 40.
Isaiah 40
Go back to 1 Peter 1:24-25. Peter quotes from Isaiah 40, which speaks of the Word of the Lord to ancient Israel, and he says, This is the word of the Lord that was proclaimed to you. Lit. …the Word of the Lord that was gospeled to you. That means the message of Isaiah 40 and the gospel of Jesus Christ are, at the core, the same message. What was that message? Let’s take a quick look. The first half of Isaiah is all about these horrible judgments that are going to fall on the people for their sin. Babylon is going to come and destroy Jerusalem, plunder the Temple, and take the people off to captivity in Babylon. That is the first half of Isaiah (ch.1-39). Then the second half of the book turns to comfort mode. Isaiah speaks to that future generation that will be in captivity, and speaks words of comfort that promise restoration. All that comfort starts in chapter 40, which is the chapter that Peter quotes from.
Now, what is Israel’s problem? Captivity in Babylon. They are prisoners of their enemies, the Babylonians. That is the problem. What does God say He is going to do about that problem? What does God say in that chapter about what specific steps He is going to take to solve this problem? Nothing. Not one word. He does not promise to overthrow Nebuchadnezzar, he does not give them any kind of timeline of when they will go back home, not one word on what He will do. The entire chapter is just God comparing the size of the problem to the size of God.
Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. … 5 For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 6 … "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." 9 … say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? 14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? 15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. …17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 18 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? … 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. 25 "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
What is God promising to do about their problem? Not a word about that.
“Your problem is the nations. The nations are dust on the scales. I hold the universe in My hand.”
When we get on the scale we always want to make sure there is no excess weight, right. We strip off all our clothes, and take off any jewelry, we pull fillings out of our teeth – we do not want anything adding extra ounces to that number that comes up. But I have never seen anyone get worried about a speck of dust on the scale, because it does not even register. God is saying, “All your problems – the nation of Babylon – world superpower – the United States of America – don’t even register on My scale. I’m huge; they are microscopic.”
We always want to know, “God, what are you going to do to solve my problem?” And His answer is, “What will bring you comfort isn’t to find out what I’m planning on doing. What will bring you comfort is to open your eyes to how big I am compared to how big your problems are. That is all you need to know.” Like Linda says – He walks on the stuff we drown in. That is all we need to know.
And not just how big and powerful God is, but also how long He lasts. That is the part Peter picks up on. Look at verse 6.
All men are like grass.
My Word endures forever. And in the context of Isaiah 40, His Word refers to His promise of comfort and restoration. Mark it – God’s promises outlast your problems. What problem do you have that will even exist in 100 years? Every one of God’s promises will be there in 100 years – how many of your problems will be there?
God says all His promises will outlast all our problems. And you have a choice. You can trust that, or you can trust in grassy glory. If you put your attention on temporary things, you are on your own. But if God makes a promise, and that promise comes into your ears, and you combine it with faith – you trust in it and bank on it – that is how the Word of God goes from being words on a page to nourishing, life-giving milk for your soul.
So we have answered two questions – What are we to crave? God’s Word. Why? Because it is the source of life. One last question – how? How can you generate a craving where it does not already exist? How do you increase your desire for God’s Word. That is next week.
Benediction: Colossians 3:15-17 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him
1:25 Questions
1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your level of craving for God’s Word?
2. Can you think of anything in your life that is hindering that appetite? What specific steps could you take to correct that?
3. When is the last time you tasted the goodness of God in a way that increased your appetite for His Word?
