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KENDRA GRAHAM NOTES FROM ISAIAH 66:2
Be Humble. Be Faithful.
For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the LORD.
“But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at My Word.” (Isaiah 66:2, NKJV)
What Does it Say?
All things My hand has made, all things exist, BUT on this ONE I will look: him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at My Word
What Does it Mean?
As things are calming down in the family and in the media regarding the life of Billy Graham (“Daddy Bill,” to family), one thing consistently strikes me; one thing is constantly brought to the surface: Daddy Bill was faithful to the God he loved and remained faithful to the end. I have seen things on YouTube from the archives of the Billy Graham vault that I have never seen before: interviews he granted and shows on which he appeared, people he touched. I see God’s favor all over Daddy Bill’s life. What was his secret? IT was no secret at all; it is truly what God’s pleads for all of us to experience.
So God, in His love and mercy, gave us His Word to cling to, day in and day out.
I love this verse in Isaiah! God is saying in HIS WORD, which never fails or changes (See Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17), that over everything He has created in the earth and in heaven, the ONE thing He looks upon is “him who is of a poor and contrite spirit.” We all want God’s hand upon our lives, do we not? Do we not pray that for our families, children, churches, nation and ourselves? Have you ever thought about that—really thought about it? The hand of God! Just how big is the hand of God? How heavy do you think His hand is? If the hand of God is upon you, can you even stand? These are just a few of the questions I’ve thought about with regard to the hand of God.
So God, by His grace, keeps me low, dependent and on my knees. This is NOT a bad thing, it is a gracious thing. In order for me to stay in God’s presence, He demands humility. (Ugh!) This is a HARD thing, absolutely; but it is the loving-kindness of a Father who does what it takes to keep me in His presence. In Micah 6:8 the Bible says that God requires of us to walk humbly with Him. It is not in us to be humble; it is in us to be proud and self-serving. Oh, we can sometimes be selfless, if it serves us better. The only way true humility is possible is through being in the Word of God daily and allowing God to keep His hand upon us, even when it hurts, even when our knees buckle—especially when our knees buckle.
It was in desperation that the disciples called out to Jesus who was asleep in the boat when they thought they were going to drown. Those disciples tried every sailing trick in the book before they went to wake Jesus; and honestly they did not ask Jesus to fix the situation, they demanded Jesus look at the situation that He sent them to (see Mark 4:35-41). If we were never desperate, we would never see our need for God. God loves us enough to allow us to be desperate.
Faithfulness is who God is (see Deuteronomy 7:9 and Psalm 86:15). It is His character. Faithfulness is something each of us must decide to embrace on a daily basis. Some of us think it’s too late; too many mistakes have been made. That is a lie. Start today—this very moment—one step at a time. Get into God’s Word. Allow the hand of God to burden you and bring you to your knees, contrite and poor in spirit. The lower we are, the more God is visible. Do we really want people to see us anyway? REALLY? Our failures and pitfalls become very small as we fall in the presence of Jesus; the grace and love of God who loves us with an everlasting love becomes very BIG and very visible. When this happens, it is not us they see, but it is Yaweah, who has come desperate for His handmade creation to know Him and to walk in His presence.
SO…how heavy is the hand of God? It is so heavy that it keeps us low, and it is gracious enough to keep us in His presence; for if the hand of God be upon us, we will find ourselves at His feet.
Dr. Billy Graham led a life that mattered to so many people and touched so many lives because he was willing to be:
1. humble
2. faithful.
“Daddy Bill” had a life lived with God’s hand upon him, and he was willing to stay in a dependent, humble posture which allowed God to use whatever means necessary to keep him there. Now THAT is a hard prayer to pray! God, keep us a people of humble and contrite spirits.
What Does it Mean to Me?
What does it take for you to remain dependent upon God? Do you hate God for it? Do you raise your fist in bitterness and anger? Or do you bend your knees, allowing your spirit to be poor and contrite in the face of a God who loves you so much that He died for you? (See John 3:16.)
Does it bother you or encourage you that God looks upon the poor and contrite of spirit? How would your spirit be described by God? Are you willing to ask God to look upon you and place His hand upon your life?
LIVE IT OUT:
Today, allow the hand of God to keep us in His presence as we open His Word and allow it to transform us. Begin today to learn what it means to walk humbly with God as we learn more about Him in His Word, so that we too can say, “The Bible says,” when those hard questions are posed.
I LOVED that interview. So worth watching. A man who walked humbly with his God and loved people more than platform.
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