Make Room for More | Isaiah 54

if I've been in a season of wandering or have distanced myself from him, I'm always like, all right, now we're not gonna take another time period away to like fix myself up, get clean, then I will be gathered again to God. And he's like, this is immediate. Like he wants to bring me back in. Like that shame, put it in the past. I have covered it, but I'm just so quick to be like, all right, well, you sure? Like what about this, this, this? He's like, nope, forget it. - That's right. - It's over. - This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. - I'm Chris. - And Jamie. - I'm Jordan. - And we are talking about revival all week. And I'm really excited about this. You know, we have a friend, Peter, who helps come up with some of the questions for this. And I send him a text and I said, dude, this is fire. Like this is fire. So I'm excited for you to get into these conversations with us this week. We're starting with Isaiah 54.

And Isaiah is one of these prophetic books that has a lot of like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You did it wrong, you messed up. This is gonna happen because of sin. And I think it's so important that we are honest about our sin and honest about the consequence of our sin. Nation of Israel is an exile because of their sin. But starting in Isaiah 40 through really the rest of the book, but certainly through 55, which we're in, it's called the Book of Consolation. It's almost like a little book within Isaiah. Some people think it was even a different author. And I don't know that it has to be a different author, but it definitely takes a turn and the turn is toward hope. The turn is toward God can restore no matter what. And someone put it really well. Before anything can change around us, something has to change within us. And Isaiah 54 is inviting the nation of Israel to a God who will change things. And they're like, so I'm just wondering, 'cause God talks about gathering His people back. What do you think that, what does that make you think of when you think about God gathering people back from a place of distance? Have you experienced that kind of gathering in your own life in relationship with God? - The first thing that comes to mind for me is just thinking about all the times in the Old Testament and in the Bible where God brings people to,

like His people together. And they engage in feasts and meals and celebration and all these things. And it's always centered around them remembering ways that God's been faithful in the past. - That's right. - And I even think about in my own life, much like the Israelites, I'm so prone to just forget how God's shown up in my life in small ways and in sometimes been really big ways too. I'm just living in the moment, seeing what's right in front of me, and I just forget. And so I think there's something about just people coming back together and just being like, hey, let's remember what's happened in the past and how God's been faithful. And God's past faithfulness is the thing we can like bank on when we look to the future. - That's right. - Like if He was faithful, then He'll be faithful again. - That's exactly right. - Yeah. - Now I relate to that too, just the forgiveness that we have. And the fact that it always, there is, there's always food, like God throws parties. He throws parties when he brings people back together. And I think that says something about his generosity and about his kindness. So how about you guys?

When you think about like God gathering, what comes to mind? - I think similarly on that vein of like the celebration or like the party that happens, but I think it's genuinely because of when God gathers me back, like the getting away from God can be slow at first. Of like, oh, it's not like, I just, I'm gonna not do that today or I'm really busy and I have this other thing. And then I look up and I'm like, oh God, where are you? I'm out here on my own. And then there's this feeling of when I can put my pride aside when I can put my shame aside and recognize that that's not from him. There's like a welcoming back that he's like, he's drawing me near like with love and compassion and it's gentle in its firm. But it's like both can be true. And I think it's a celebration. Like the celebration comes from God wanting to be reconciled to us. - Yeah. - And so like that's where his heart is of like everything he's done. Like when we look at different things in the Bible, it's because he wants to be reconciled to his most prized creation. And so I think in that space of like the gathering back and I think in the chapter, it says with compassion, he gathers his people.

And so I think there's just like a love there that you just, maybe I can't explain it well, but I know I feel it. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I love that it speaks to in verse four, it says that you will not be That's like when God is wanting to gather me back to himself, if I've been in a season of wandering or have distanced myself from him, I'm always like, all right, now we're not gonna take another time period away to fix myself up, get clean, then I will be gathered again to God. And he's like, this is immediate. Like he wants to bring me back in. Like that shame, put it in the past. I have covered it, but I'm just so quick to be like, all right, well, you sure? Like what about this, this, this? He's like, nope, forget it. - That's right. - It's over. That's right. Yeah, I had to learn that in my own life, you know, having an addiction. One of the things about the addiction cycle is shame is actually the thing that triggers you back into the negative pattern. And so the thing that, why does a group work? Why do you need to be in AA or NA? Like the reason is because you need a way to break that shame

'cause it'll have a grip on you otherwise. And the more that you're able to break out of the shame, it actually begins to open you up to different pathways where you don't have that pain that you're trying to medicate with whatever the thing is you're medicating that leaves you right back to shame. So I had to learn like how important that is. And I think I love the verse that you called out, which is like God says, like, I will remove shame, you know? I mean, we've all made mistakes. And I love to say the shame of your youth. 'Cause like, if there's any point in our lives, we're fighting some dumb stuff. It's like, you know, our youth, right? You know? - Yeah. - And that could be youth age wise. That could also be youth in terms of like maturity in your faith, you know? I mean, not everybody's in the same place, faith, or not that you get to a place where you ever stop making mistakes, I'm not saying that. But I think we all have that, you know? I think about the parent, like, man, I wish my kids could have had the 50 year parent, 50 year old parent version of me when I was 33, but they couldn't 'cause that's all I had, right? You know, to offer them. And I think there's something about that. So let me ask you this, you made me think about this. God invites us to the table.

We also have to accept the invitation. What are the distractions, maybe the disappointments, whatever it is that often keeps us from coming back to God, even though he's calling us back to himself? - I think a big thing I've chased after my life is feeling. So if I return to God in some way, shape, or form, if I'm like, all right, I'm getting back in the word, or I'm gonna be more in prayer, whatever. And I don't feel an instant gratification from that or a payoff that I'm like, okay, well, I don't know if this is worth it. I'll go back to my wandering. And so I think it's easy to chase the feeling when disappointment is like, oh, I don't really feel God right now. So that must mean he's not present, or this isn't really worth it, or it's not true. And all this comes from like, you know, if I'm focused on my shame, it's because I think that God wants me to stay in shame. It's always a distrust and a misunderstanding of who God actually is. Like I wouldn't be wrestling with shame if I understood that God was really gracious and forgiving. So it often comes back to like, I don't understand who God is clearly if I'm wrestling with shame. - Yeah, that's good. - I think for me, a lot of times it's the, what am I putting in the top seat in my life?

Like what am I putting in the head priority? Or like, my desire over God's will. And not to say that I wouldn't love what God has for me, but I'm like, sometimes I just am at this moment where I'm like, hey God, you know, sisters got married this year, and I'm still single. And is that the one thing where I'm like, if I stay single my whole life, I'll think you're not good? And then I have to sit in the space, and I don't want to see the thing. Like I mean, I'm human, I said the thing, and then in the back of my mind, I'm like, I don't mean that at all, God. So I just like, I think you come to these checkpoints where you're just like, or I come to these checkpoints where I'm like, okay God, what am I choosing to believe more? And like, no one else is in the room, it's just you and I. So like, just gotta be honest. And so I think it's like my desires can get in the way of me being gathered back to God. Or my, just like sometimes when you're wondering, you're like, hey, I know this isn't the best thing for me, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it right now. So okay God, well, you know, I will be gathered back to you, but maybe I'm taking a little break right now. Maybe that's not for anyone else, but just so just in that space of like choosing that to die to that desire so that I can be gathered back to God. - I love that. - Yeah, I love it.

- Sometimes I get stuck in the, I guess I would say it's some pride or like some judgment around like, I see what's happening in the world. And there's just jacked up stuff going on. - There is, yeah. - And it's, I can kind of get really in my head about it or really like down on kind of like, man, there's so much war and anger. and I can either do two things. I can look at it and go like, well, I'm not doing that stuff. (laughing) So I forget that like, oh, there's things God's trying to work on in me. Or I can look at it and go like, God, I sometimes don't see how all this is gonna get redeemed and restored. It feels overwhelming to me at times. And it kind of almost makes me wanna like, why would I even try to be a part of solving this or investing it? Yeah, you just get stuck and it feels so big and I feel so small. And then I'm just like, is it even worth me trying to put the effort out there into doing that? I get caught in that sometimes. No, it's real. Well, man, as we're talking about revival,

I think that what this tells me is like, God is always, it's an open invitation. Like there's always an open table. There's always an open table that you can join, but revival means returning. We've got a return. I love what it says here. We'll finish with this. Enlarge the place of your tent and let your curtains of your habitation be stretched out. Do not hold back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. I think that God is actually asking us to be vulnerable enough to seek him, to enlarge our expectation of him, which is a risk, right? Because on the other side of that, it's like, is he gonna come through? But I think what the Bible wants us to be reminded of is he always comes through. Yeah, right. And he always has better for us than we could ever have for ourselves. So as we talk about revival this week, we're excited to just continue to enlarge our tents. What is it in you that needs to be enlarged? Maybe it's you need to enlarge your hope. Maybe you need to enlarge your source of joy in God. Maybe you need to enlarge the time that you're spending engaging with God,

because that's the place where he wants to meet you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)