Through the Refining Fires of Affliction to the New Life of Spiritual Spring:
REST, VESSEL. ~ “Requies, Vas.” ~ A VESSEL RESTS.
Has God Our Sovereign Savior allowed unfathomable pain in your life beyond human utterance? If so, take refuge in His paradoxical, great divine work of love and grace. When fiery afflictions come, He is our only hiding place.
ז ZAYIN
49 Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
51 The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
52 I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself.
53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.
56 This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
STANZA 19
•Should the vessel question the Potter’s hand?
Cyrus, God’s Instrument
“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’? Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’” Isaiah 45:9-10
The Blindness of Disobedience
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us? 16 Surely you have things turned around!”Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Isaiah 29:15-16
“The image of potter and clay is a common one for the Lord’s sovereignty over His people. He is their creator and as such, He has the right to assign them their purpose and determine whether they are fulfilling it. Indeed, like a potter, the Lord literally formed the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground. Human beings have no rights independent of those assigned to them by the One who who created them, and to seek such autonomy is to place oneself under a judgment curse (“woe”).” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Isaiah 45:9-10) (Isaiah 45:9-10; Isaiah 29:15-16). No matter the circumstance, we the vessels need not question the Potter’s fashioning hand! (Isaiah 45:9-10; Isaiah 29:15-16)
•Though of its very life it may demand
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matthew 16:24-28
“Jesus adds the command to deny oneself. The call to discipleship demands that one completely abandon the natural desire to see comfort, fame, or power, and even the instinct to preserve one’s own life at all costs. The Messiah’s route of rejection and suffering blazes the trail for those who follow.” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Matthew 16:24-28) To blaze—to make public far and wide—the name of Jesus will demand our very lives be at will in our Maker’s hands—no matter the loss, no matter the cost! (Matthew 16:24-28)
•Humiliation, despising, and shame,
The Suffering Servant
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lordbeen revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:1-3
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:12-15
The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles
Thus says the Lord, The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, To Him whom man despises, To Him whom the nation abhors, To the Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, Because of the Lord who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You.” Isaiah 49:7
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
7 All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt.
8 “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me. Psalm 41:7-9
Submission to Masters18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. I Peter 2:18-25
Isaiah 53 hearkens to John 15:13: “Greater love has no [man] than this, than he lay down his life for his friends”; and, Hebrews 2:18, “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Jesus being shamed and forsaken caused pain and grief that was literally “sickness”. Jesus deliberately embraced His vicarious humiliation and weakness on behalf of His wandering people. Jesus’ betrayal by Judas Iscariot is akin to the Psalmist’s experience: “Even my own familiar friend…has lifted up his heel against me”. David’s “close friend…betrayed him in his moment of need. He is abandoned by everyone…The extremity of Jesus’ suffering shows that His compassion is real not theoretical…[And like Christ we are to submit to harsh masters; it is commendable to suffer for good.] God will exalt the despised and rejected Servant.” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Psalm 42:7-9; Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 49:7). (Isaiah 53:1-3; Isaiah 49:7; Psalm 41:7-9; I Peter 2:18-25)
•Even the questioning of own’s own name?
An Exuberant Declaration of Faith Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. Psalm 27:12
The Lord the Avenger of His People
11 Fierce witnesses rise up; They ask me things that I do not know.
12 They reward me evil for good, To the sorrow of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart.
14 I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother. Psalm 35:11-14
The Ways of Life and Death
5 A faithful witness does not lie, But a false witness will utter lies.
6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, But knowledge is easy to him who understands.
7 Go from the presence of a foolish man, When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, But the folly of fools is deceit. Proverbs 14:5-8
“When the Lord looks down from heaven, He is not looking to find those who are strong but to watch over those who fear Him and hope in Him….[Birthed from this fear and hope in the Lord is] concern for the needy…a practical demonstration of true godliness…[In demonstration of concern for the needy, we are to have salt in ourselves]…The image of salt describes true discipleship. Salt is a preservative.” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Psalm 33:18; Isaiah 1:17; Mark 9:50) As children of God, we are to humbly and purely “preserve” others with the confidence of Christ’s appearing as seeing and loving others avails peace.
