Cross Way Publications Monthly News
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Poem of the Month
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Is God Your Co-Pilot?
By: Jerry Hoffman
God is my co-pilot,
The license plate declared.
My heart was filled with sadness,
From the message that it shared.
So many folks have given,
Our Lord just second place;
Just a stand by position,
In our life's greatest race.
They want the full control,
In our eternal flight;
They tell God, He's on standby;
In case things don't go right.
But they're just flying solo,
For God will not be where,
He's told to move on over,
In case we need a spare.
If God is your co-pilot,
You're surely doomed to fail;
For great storms lie ahead of you,
And you cannot prevail.
To reach your destination,
God must be in control;
For He alone can set the course,
That's best for every soul.
If we just leave the cockpit,
In His sure and able hands;
We'll know joy in the journey,
Till our flight safely lands!
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Poet Notables
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1. Thank you to Cinda Carter and Gabriele Embry for their financial contributions in February. We’d also like to extend a warm thank you to Rita Broden, whose donation has made her the newest member of Our Macedonian Faithful.
2. Welcome to our February 2011 members. Please be sure to stop by their Poet Pages to enjoy their poetry:
Rita Broden
Kim Davis
Trina L. Galloway
Ivy Ganya
Christine Gail Garcia
Ronniece S. Garner
Ricky L. Gibbs
Doreen Margaret Higgs
Andre J. Jones
Evelyn W. Jones
Miranda D. Lehman
Cherish Michelle Love
Michael J. Martinez
Carol Ann McCartney
Alfield Reeves
Raine Stranger
Nathalie Wanogho
Nigel S. Williams
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Scripture of the Month
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Isaiah 28:20 (NKJV)
20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
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This Month's Devotional Thought
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We have all heard the saying: "You make your bed, you lay in it." The meaning of which is you are responsible for what you do and must pay the consequences for your own actions. The apostle Paul put it like this, "... whatever a man sows, that he will also reap", (Galatians 6:7). Isaiah chapter 28 is a poignant and sharp word of pending judgment that was spoken against God's own people for their unrepentant sin. They made their bed and they were about to lay in it! It is a prophecy against the proud and drunken state of Israel, (verses 1-13); and a warning to the arrogant and scornful rulers of Judah, (verses 14-22). Israel thought they could make an ally with Egypt and secure victory against Assyria, but God was raising up Assyria to remove Israel and anything they would do, short of repentance, would prove to fail. Meanwhile Judah's rulers were persuading their people that "When the overflowing scourge passes through, it shall not come to us." (verse 15). But the Lord spoke through His prophet, Isaiah, that His anger against their sin was about to produce an unusual act of retribution as He had done in the past against the Philistines "at Mount Perazim" and "in the valley of Gibeon", (verse 21). The thing that made it so unusual is that now it would be levied against His own people.
In this context Isaiah uses a proverbial piece of satire to describe the mess Israel got themselves into and how all their efforts to avoid God's judgment would prove to be completely inadequate. He uses an analogy of a bed that they made, but could not lay in it. In Isaiah 28:20, He in essence told them that they shouldn't expect any rest from their enemies because their bed was too short. The everlasting arms were no longer undergirding them and they were placing their hopes in other ungodly nations to come to their rescue. Resting on anything other than God is like lying in a bed that is too short. He was also letting them know they would never find protection in their own devises because that blanket is always too narrow. They had exposed themselves to the elements of a cold night of judgment by discarding the Lord as their refuge and depending on other lesser gods to cover them.
There are several applications that we can glean from this picture of the inadequate bed and bedding. When it comes to our salvation, if we expect to rest in our own works they will, in the end, prove to be insufficient. Our own works will always fall short of His glory. There is nothing a sinful creature can do to satisfy the Holy God. But there is something the Holy God did to make satisfaction for the sinful creature. He sent His Holy Son to pay the penalty for our sin by His death on the cross. It is in the cross that we can find rest and refuge from the wrath of God. It is only Christ who makes an adequate bed where we can rest our souls and it is only at the cross where He provided the sufficient covering and atonement for our sins.
Another lesson we may take from this image of a short bed and a narrow sheet is that the Christian's self-reliance in the work of the Lord will always prove inadequate. The saved need the Lord for their work in His kingdom as much as the perishing need the Lord for their salvation into His kingdom. When we do not rely on the Lord's leading or depend on His strength, we expose ourselves to failure and are no different than Israel of old, to whom God said: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!", (Isaiah 31:1). We need to seek the Lord and depend on Him. There remains a rest for the people of God but only when we cease from our own works, (Hebrews 4:9-10). There is no reward for wearing ourselves out by doing what we do in our own strength. We've been given the Spirit of Christ and have been made to rely on Him, so that when we do what we do in our own strength, it's like trying to get comfortable in a bed that doesn't fit us.
There is another point that may be illustrative of the poor excuse of a bed which is described in Isaiah 28:20 - that being how we demonstrate God to the world around us. Do we sometimes make Him appear to be deficient? Are we, as Christians, claiming to rest in God but not living like we are? Do we worry about everything as if He has no control over anything? Are we restless and anxious; hot and bothered; stressed and often at our wits end? ... This is not exactly a picture of resting in the Lord, and it should never be the bed we exhibit before a world that is looking for rest
Philip Hoffman
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Quote of the Month
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"How unworthy a character would it make our Lord, to measure Him by the lives and spirits of those who call themselves His followers?"
From Henry Scougal
