I will NOT be put to Shame

I read an interesting response to one of my Facebook posts. I posted on Indiana Wesleyan's Seminary page. They were "advertising" on facebook and I decided to post my endorsement of their work. I truly loved my three years at IWU earning my Masters in Biblical Studies. The professors are great, the interaction with other, like-minded people was great. It was just a great overall experience. 

So, I posted positive comments about that experience. Then someone, not a facebook friend, posted a serious challenge to who Jesus was and God in general. I thought that was a strange place to post a critique of Christianity. Then my next thought was, "Do I respond?" 

That stirred up quite a bit of debate in me. In the end, I decided not to respond and hid the comment from my post. Is this acting like I am afraid to engage? Are we called to engage with everyone who is hostile to the Lord?

I have often said, leading someone to the Lord is the most important act in a person's life. Yet, in reality, it is not me that does the leading. The Holy Spirit is completely in charge. In this case, as I briefly prayed over what to do, I got a sense that this man was not ready to hear the word of the Lord and he was just looking for a fight. My decision was not to fight and just walk away. I avoided a Facebook battle that more than likely would go nowhere and please no one. There have been other times I have completely engaged and felt the need to post the gospel message. I leave that decision to the Lord. 

I always want to be an obedient servant of the Lord. I want to listen and obey his words of wisdom. When I wake up in the morning I pray that today I will follow his perfect will in my life. He speaks. I listen. There are times I will fight and there are times I will turn the other cheek. In the end I know I will not be disgraced. I think this is the message of Isaiah 50:4-7:

"The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame." (Isa. 50:4-7)

Isaiah wrote this about Jesus and the suffering he was going to take for you and me. If I want to follow Jesus I have to be willing to fight and sometimes I have to be ok with walking away. I need to be okay with leaving the battle to the Lord. He doesn't always ask for my help. 

I woke up this morning with a lot on my mind. I have a challenging day today and I am nervous about it. Reading these verses in Isaiah 50 reminds me that regardless of what happens today. Even if I am mocked or spat upon, not likely, the Sovereign Lord is always there to help me. I hope and pray you are also encouraged by those words.