No More Compromise

"There is no failure in God."

AM I THE only one doing right because it is right? Unwilling to compromise and disinterested in pleasure of sin? It feels like it at times, even amongst those in the church. Used to, I’d hear people make such a remark and then wonder who they were talking about. I see compromise everywhere now. And His forgiveness. It’s huge, far larger than I had any idea. Jesus, the Father and the Spirit, are so longsuffering and kind. Mom always jokes “longsuffering” is the opposite of short-suffering, and it is … but it is far more than just the modern definition of “suffering”. It is patience fueled by love such as we have no idea. We see what we hate and act out, speak out. He sees it and desires to show mercy.

I spoke about Ezekiel 20 a while back. Tonight I was reading an unusual translation by James Moffatt, and it spoke so clearly about God’s mercy. Unfortunately, his translation is not in ebook, or I haven’t found it, so it requires direct word-for-word typing, and the chapter is considerably long. But I’ll put one passage for you below, to study and meditate on.

God didn’t create sin or cause it. Satan, then angel Lucifer, chose to sin. This is recorded in Isaiah 14:13-15. He thought he could use what God had given him – his beauty, his wisdom, his authority, his stature – to take over God’s throne, but God is all-knowing and knew when He’d created him this would happen. He foresaw it and planned for all the consequences of it, down to Jesus’ Resurrection (Acts 2:23). We aren’t here to debate why He created him since He knew that, an obvious question, but to see that Satan failed in all he thought he’d do. Revelation 12 is a good example. This chapter is often painted as some victory battle Satan had, and many inferences are incorrectly made over who the woman is, and who her child is, as well as many other pictures drawn by the apostle John. We are better served to see it as the devil’s bloated opinion of himself.

No, I am not kidding. He thinks he is a dragon with great power. That’s the first thing to note. Next, what we should see is he failed to catch the woman, he failed to abort the birth of her son, he failed to capture the son, and he failed in the battle against heaven. Lastly, he failed to cause those whose testimonies speak deliverance to give up on God. He failed at all of it. And he didn’t capture the throne, nor prevent Jesus’ birth. He wasn’t even sure if Jesus was the Messiah or not. This is seen especially in Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. He said, “IF you are God (Matthew 4:6.)” He wasn’t sure, though the devils who encountered Jesus at a many individuals’ deliverance knew when it happened.

He failed in all he tried, down to his failure to prevent Jesus’ Resurrection with inane attempts at making it look like a lie. Though the Roman guards were bribed to hold silent about what happened at the tomb, the story of their lie is recorded. The church has seen these Truths wrong, to put it flat. There is no failure in God. This is said in Isaiah 55:11.

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

Yes, Isaiah was an Old Covenant prophet, but many of his visions are still pending. He foresaw the death of Christ and pictured it beautifully in Isaiah 52 and 53. The Ronald Knox translation, out of print, is especially moving. I’ll include a portion here as well. But Isaiah 55:11 tells us that no word God speaks fails to be accomplished. Not one word comes up void. The word “void” has great meaning. It can mean “emptily” and “vainly”. Now, that doesn’t sound like God at all, does it? When has He done anything that “came up empty”? The only thing empty is the tomb. He is the God of exceeding abundantly above (Ephesians 3:20).

He gave His all, so He can have all of me. What I do not understand, I place in His hands, knowing He will reveal its Truth to me, and having done so, I refuse any more compromise. To honor the gift He has given me—new life. Eternal life. With Him filling all that I do. Nothing else matters to me. I know where I struggle against myself, He can change me and make me peaceful over that thing. I am not alone to “figure things out” but have the very best of Him at all times and in all things.

Ezekiel 20:18-22, Moffatt
“I said to the children in the desert, ‘Live not by your fathers’ rules, follow not their regulations, do not befoul yourself with their idols. I am the Eternal your God, live by my rules, observe and obey my regulations, keep my sabbath sacred and let it mark the tie between us—to teach you that I am the Eternal your God.’ In spite of this, the children rebelled against me; they would not live by my rules, they would not observe and obey my regulations, obeying which a man shall live, and they desecrated my sabbath. So I resolved to vent my fury upon them, to execute my anger against them in the desert. However, I withheld my hand, out of regard for my own honour, lest it should be sullied in the sight of the nations who had seen me bring them out.”

Ezekiel 20:44, Moffatt
“O Israel, you shall learn that I am the Eternal, when I have dealt with you for the sake of my own honour, not as your evil life deserved, not as your corrupt practices deserved’—says the Lord the Eternal.”

Isaiah 53:2-6, Knox
“He will watch this servant of his appear among us, unregarded as brushwood shoot, as a plant in waterless soil; no stateliness here, no majesty, no beauty, as we gaze upon him, to win our hearts. Nay, here is one despised, left out of all human reckoning; bowed with misery, and no stranger to weakness; how should we recognize that face? How should we take any account of him a man so despised? Our weakness, and it was he who carried the weight of it, our miseries, and it was he who bore them. A leper, so we thought of him, a man God had smitten and brought low; and all the while it was for our sins he was wounded, it was guilt of ours crushed him down; on him the punishment fell that brought us peace, by his bruises we were healed. Strayed sheep all of us, each following his own path; and God laid on his shoulders our guilt, the guilt of us all.”

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com