13Apr09 Isaiah 48: 17 - 22
Oh that you had heeded my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river . . . v 18
One of the first Christian songs that I learned to sing in my early Christian days in school was a simple Negro spiritual that goes, "I've got peace like a river (3x), in my soul." Back in the 70s we often sang it during Wednesday Chapel Services and at our Friday CF meetings in MBSKL. And we'd always sing very heartily indeed.
In those days, Christian young people were very keen on experiences of peace, joy and love that God gives to every one who sincerely turns to Christ in his heart. Testimonies of new Christians would invariably include at least a mention of how peace came into their hearts after they believed on the Lord Jesus and opened the door of their heart to Him.
And so, with the accompaniment of an old guitar, we'd sing "Peace like a river" together, loudly and cheerfully.
Today, I had the opportunity to turn aside from my work and ask myself - what had happened to this river of peace which my Christian school-mates and I used to talk so much about in those good old MBS days? Thirty years have passed, and it appears that all the hard knocks in life, and the hectic pace of both work and family, have hardened my heart somewhat.
Instead of making melody in my heart about having peace like a river from God, I am occupied with struggling upstream to gain profits offered by the world. In this OT passage, as the prophet Isaiah rebukes the unfaithfulness of Israel, he speaks forth the word of the LORD:
"I am the LORD your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go." v17
Brothers and Sisters, it's time to let God teach us to profit - His way, the way that we should go. It is time to go back to our good old days, to take heed of God's commandments, and to sing "I've got peace like a river in my soul" with gusto again.
