Making Choices

The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. (Psalm 25:9)

Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. (Deuteronomy 1:17)

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:24)

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. (Proverbs 11:3)

We know basically what a meek person is, one who is willing to be taught by God and willing to be overruled when appropriate.

But what does it mean for God to guide someone in judgment? I want God to guide me, I want to make the best decisions and God has access to all the information to make the very best decisions. I want God's help, but how would he help me?

First, what is judgment? God says in Psalm 25 that he will guide the meek in judgment. What is that? Deuteronomy 1:17 is one of many examples where the word "judgment" (Hebrew: Mishpat) is used elsewhere in Scripture. Essentially, the word is similar to the concept of "deciding", sometimes between a right and a wrong, sometimes between two options, but often in very complex situations. We could call it "situational wisdom" the ability to apply wisdom in a specific situation, where true wisdom is sharing God's paradigm (world view) to build other knowledge onto and to back up decisions. So judgment is the mental ability to make decisions. Should I call this person? When should I call this person? How should I speak to this person? All these decisions are made by the judgment of the mind, so how does God influence the judgment of the mind? Does he want me to pray "God, please open a door/ close a door/ give me a sign/ give me an impression/ give me a 6 on the dice/ appear to me in a vision." We shall see. What does "guide" mean?

Psalm 73:24 teaches us that God will guide us using his counsel. What is counsel? Counsel is advice. That is probably why God guides the meek, because they are the ones who are willing to take advice. If you follow Buddha's counsel you will probably have a reasonably happy life, you just won't live forever. If you follow Joe Blow's  counsel you will probably be miserable and relieved when death comes, because the chances of him being wise are slim (this is a generic name for the average person). If you follow God's counsel he will use this to inform your decision-making process. The Bible is full of God's advice, not all of the Bible is full of requirements, a lot of it is counsel from Christ. Correct counsel is what your brain needs to make the best decisions.

Also, Proverbs 11:3 instructs us that good people are guided in decision-making by their integrity. What is integrity? It is not so much always doing right, but it is refusing to do wrong even when you would really like to. So God teaches us that when making a decision, we can always know that a choice that goes against his holy moral law is always going to be a bad choice. So if I am deciding what to say to someone I should choose to say things that are not likely to hurt them in the long term. I may need to say things that hurt now, to prevent greater hurt later. But sometimes saying something they really want to hear now could result in harm in the future, this is where wisdom is needed.

God guides my decision making process. He does it for anyone who is willing to be taught and ruled by him. He does it by giving me the Bible to read and absorb both his requirements and his advice.

Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. (Proverbs 23:19)

I am required to guide my own heart, God will not guide it. My heart is the deepest part of me, however you define it. But the Bible does not say: "The meek will guide themselves in judgment" It says "The meek will he guide in judgment" Ultimately, God takes responsibility to guide me if I am reading and following. The rational decisions that you make based on your best knowledge of his word and prayerful willingness to go with his agenda will be the right decisions, they will be exactly what God wanted you to do.

This is how you can know God's will for your life, and what God wants you to do today.

Destroyed and Renewed

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. (Micah 4:4)

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)

The ultimate reward for obedience to God is eternal life in a restored world, without this hope everything else would be pointless. This hope makes every soul of infinite value, because God can give it the power to live forever and do an infinite number of things. I don't need to understand this to believe it, just like I don't need to understand quantum physics to believe it.
Jehovah promises that our eternal life will not be lived in the clouds playing harps, though we probably could do this if we wanted. It will be lived here on earth, with all the world restored; all the waste cleaned up. Not only will the earth be destroyed and renewed, heaven will also be destroyed and renewed, but the words of Jesus will never be destroyed and renewed because they are untainted.

We can trust that the Bible in our hands is true because Jehovah has preserved it over the centuries.

Messiah and Isaiah

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 1:20)

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40:5)

I can't help commenting that this last passage is in Handel's Messiah. When I was memorising Isaiah 58 and got to this last line I sometimes couldn't stop myself singing it: "for the mouth of the Lord, the mouth of the Lord, [Dramatic pause] hath spoken it!"If you've listened to Handel's Messiah a lot you'll know what I mean. It is quoted in Handel's Messiah because of the first part of the verse: "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together" which predicts the nature of the Messiah as the example to all men, and that in our bodies (not merely in the spirit) men would see God's glory lived out.

The book of Isaiah has the phrase "for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." throughout the book. This is evidence against the dogma that it was written by two different people.

When you read the Bible you may as well consider it God speaking to you. It is true that the Bible was written by historic prophets to historic people at a time in history, but the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The Bible is still relevant to you and me today.

The glory of the Lord was revealed in Jesus, he was a man without fault and our example. God wishes to reveal his glory in you and me as well. Those who refuse to abandon sin and become givers of love will eventually need to be destroyed, because sin is a deadly virus to the universe.

Take the Sabbath seriously, take love seriously and you will love God and be in tune with the universe.

Conquering Paradise

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people. (Psalm 135:12)

And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: (Psalm 136:21)

But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. (Jeremiah 3:19)

The fact that God gave the land of the Canaanites to Israel was an important thing to them, that must be why it is repeated almost word for word. We are living in strange and unusual times as David Asscherick would say: people question that God is worth worshipping because he told the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites. But at the time the worth of a god was determined by his or her ability to provide a service, especially victory in battle and ultimate conquest. The greater the conquest, the greater the god. It is just interesting to me because I suppose that nobody in ancient times ever criticised God as too violent, they would have criticised him for being too soft.
Jehovah presents himself as a father to his people. He wants to care for us and bring us into a beautiful land that will be perfect for us. But it is still only a promised land, we have not received the promise yet. After Satan is finally destroyed we will have this promised paradise, and not before.

Living Off The Land

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (Isaiah 1:19)

Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; 10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: 11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: (Psalm 105:9-11)

Food is essential for survival, and an abundance of food is necessary for the survival of a civilisation. God wanted the Israelites to have a reliable source of abundant food, so he promised them the land of Canaan. Looking forward to this abundance kept the Israelites going when things were tough. God promises every one of us a place in the New Earth, a paradise better than a new Canaan, if we will only be willing and obedient to his commands. God has commanded us many things in the Bible, varying from which day to rest on all the way to how to use our money. But ultimately God has commanded us to believe in Jesus, because when we really do this we will become loving enough to want to keep his other commands.

Read about and think about the real Jesus of the Bible. Follow him in his ways, and you will find yourself wanting to live according to every word of God.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

Mountaintop Experience

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:29)

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. (Habakuk 3:19)

Once again, there are even more variations on high places. In Deuteronomy the Israelites are promised they will desecrate the shrines of the heathen which were on the tops of hills and called high places.  We can claim this promise that we also will overcome the power of the idols of this world, though they are so strong we often do not even think of fighting them. It is this usage that is most common in the Bible, there are dozens of references in Kings and Chronicles to high places as pagan temples. Kings who were most faithful to God destroyed these places, those who were not so faithful looked the other way, perhaps to keep their popularity.

On the other hand Habakuk uses the term in a more literal figurative sense. He seems to be referring to the thrill of a mountaineer climbing a mountain and standing on the summit. It is quite a typical modern sermon illustration, but a bit more unusual for its day.

Either way, both passages can encourage us to overcome the obstacles that oppose God which look too great to fight. To do this by the power of fervent prayer. Do you wish you prayed more? Attempt more and you would have the motivation to pray.

The High Places of the Earth

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)

He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. (Isaiah 33:16)

He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; (Deuteronomy 32:13)

When Isaiah 58 speaks of the high places of the earth, I suppose the most logical explanation would parallel Isaiah 33 where a high place is described in reference to how safe and secure it is from enemies. This could well be the fundamental significance of the high places of the earth.
But in Deuteronomy 32 we see a long passage, describing Jacob which Isaiah 58 refers to, where the exact same phrase is used: ride on/upon the high places of the earth. The context describes Jacob's great earthly success given to him by God. Yes, Jacob worked hard for his success, yes, Jacob had his troubles. But God blessed him. I'm not about to preach some prosperity gospel. But to say the phrase  ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father has nothing to do with visible earthly success would be unkind to the clear word of God.
When we fulfil the conditions set earlier in Isaiah 58, we will experience the success we really want: that is the gospel going to the whole world and Jesus' return in our lifetime.