The life of thine own hand

Dear brothers and sisters, I share this with you all as one needy and in need of grace. May God look upon us with compasion and love and be our help.

"Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved." - Isaiah 57:10

The scripture says the way of transgressors is hard.

Hard, so that men might not find comfort in it and go on in transgression and iniquity, and perish. Hard, so that they might turn, and find the way of rest(Matthew 11:28). But our rebelliousness resists the patient rebukes of God as He opposes us in our sin.

Instead of saying 'we have sinned', 'we have foolishly erred'

We say 'whatever does not kill you makes you stronger, and 'only the strong survive.'

But the word of God testifies against us, saying "let the weak say 'I am strong'(Joel 3:10), and the Lord Jesus said

[b][color=660033]Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.[/color][/b]

Broken in contrition or crushed in judgement.

This all may leave us wearied but not grieved.

Weary, from going here and there, up the mountains of pride and behind the closed doors of hiding and shame, taking many lovers(even the pleasures of this world) and seeking the favor of kings and of princes(of those who have earthly power or power with men), this may leave us weary, for 'vain is the help of man'(Psalm 60:11) and 'salvation belongs unto the Lord'(Psalm 3:8)...

Weary, but not grieved.

Not grieved becuase we have found [i]the life of our own hand[/i]. That is, life from our own ingenuity, and resources, and strength, and power. And these may be enough to bear us up under the chastenings of God, so that we do not utterly sink down under the load, and bow down ourselves in the dust, and cry out to God for salvation, and for pardon, and for mercy, and for rest.

And so the Lord may say of us "In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction:"(Jeremiah 2:30). Neither then do we say 'there is no hope'. Becuase we have found [i]the life of our own hand[/i].

We think our prosperity is God's blessing; our promotion His favor; our health His covenant faithfulness; our ingenuity and creativity, and inspiration His word and revelation; yet all these things may only be [i]the life of our own hand[/i]. And so we do not say 'there is no hope', there is no hope in any of these things, but in God alone.

But if we would forsake them, the hope of them, and utterly cling to the Lord our God, we would have life. For the scripture says [i]he is thy life, and the length of thy days[/i](Deuteronomy 30:20)

He is our Life and the length of our days.

Find comfort in the words of the apostle
Paul to the church in Corinth:
"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not
crushed; we are perplexed; but not in despair,
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down,
but not destroyed--always carrying about in
our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that
the life of Jesus may be manifested in our
body."

The Hand of the Lord is tempered with mercy!! ;-)

Chris, when I read your post it reminded me of this verse:

For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13

Isn’t this the reality of what the strength of our own hands can create? Just a bunch of broken cisterns. It might look good on the outside, but it holds no substance.

Kinda like a small child who no longer wants to be fed by the parents, but desires to be independent. "NO! I want to do it myself". And they always end us making a terrible mess and not getting enough food into their mouth to satisfy.

This from Matthew Henry:

They took a great deal of pains to hew themselves out cisterns, to dig pits or pools in the earth or rock which they would carry water to, or which should receive the rain; but they proved broken cisterns, false at the bottom, so that they could hold no water. When they came to quench their thirst there they found nothing but mud and mire, and the filthy sediments of a standing lake. Such idols were to their worshippers, and such a change did those experience who turned from God to them. If we make an idol of any creature-wealth, or pleasure, or honour, - if we place our happiness in it, and promise ourselves the comfort and satisfaction in it which are to be had in God only, - if we make it our joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall find it a cistern, which we take a great deal of pains to hew out and fill, and at the best it will hold but a little water, and that dead and flat, and soon corrupting and becoming nauseous. Nay, it is a broken cistern, that cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so that the water is lost when we have most need of it, (Job 6:15). Let us therefore with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord only, for whither else shall we go? He has the words of eternal life.

Danielle

Thank you brother Chris for sharing these words.

Thank you all :)

I have words written in the front my Bible by Keith Daniel that I have often thought of, [b]'May God give you the grace to stay close to His heart throughout your life.'[/b]

Amen.

As brother David Wilkerson used to say, [i]Lord, if You do not help me...[/i]