We hear the message of God, are impressed by the message of salvation through Jesus, but living the message every day is on another level of believing.  Putting all our trust in God for all of life, not just the part of life others see when they look at us in a church environment, is on a higher level of thinking. 

In the beginning as a new believer, we think we finally have it altogether.  We “fit” our new faith into the life we had before.  We think we finally have it made in the shade.  We have God and we still have our independence in the world.  So, why are we falling down and stumbling as an obstacle gets in our way?  Friends, this is the toddler form of believing. It is God, and only God, who has it altogether for us.  It is God who is patience with our toddler ways while we grow in our walk with him.  We stumble and fall with lessons of trust yet to learn.  God waits for us to look up to Him with complete trust from a sincere heart who is completely focused on Him.  As we leave our past behind, turn from the world we lived in before that distracted us, look up to Him; God builds our faith in Him.  God helps us to stand up and try this walk again—and again.

Be born again, believe and be saved—with ALL that is in us.  Our hope, faith and trust is begins with Jesus, the Cornerstone of this new life being built day by day.  It is Jesus, God’s Son, who opens the door to God’s power to grow us from toddler trust to a growing faith that gives abundant life now and for eternity.  We must leave the toddler ways and grow up, mature, take His hand and allow God to lead every part of our life so we can grow into all He created us to be and do.  This is the message of Isaiah to God’s People from God.  Listen to Him.

Isaiah 28, The Message

God Will Speak in Baby Talk

^1-4 Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim,
    shabby and washed out and seedy—
Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies
    of a proud and handsome past.
Watch closely: God has someone picked out,
    someone tough and strong to flatten them.
Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood,
    one-handed he’ll throw them to the ground.
Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head,
    will be knocked off with one blow.
It will disappear quicker than
    a piece of meat tossed to a dog.

^5-6 At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be
    the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people:
Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide,
    strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.

^7-8 These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink,
    weaving, falling-down drunks,
Besotted with wine and whiskey,
    can’t see straight, can’t talk sense.
Every table is covered with vomit.
    They live in vomit.

^9-10 “Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us?
    Who are you to lord it over us?
We’re not babies in diapers
    to be talked down to by such as you—
‘Da, da, da, da,
    blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
    that’s a good little boy.’”

^11-12 But that’s exactly how you will be addressed.
    God will speak to this people
In baby talk, one syllable at a time—
    and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.
He said before, “This is the time and place to rest,
    to give rest to the weary.
This is the place to lay down your burden.”
    But they won’t listen.

¹³ So God will start over with the simple basics
    and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—
“Da, da, da, da,
    blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
    that’s a good little boy.”
And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,
    get bruised and confused and lost.

^14-15 Now listen to God’s Message, you scoffers,
    you who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You say, “We’ve taken out good life insurance.
    We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases.
No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything.
    We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.”

The Meaning of the Stone

^16-17 But the Master, God, has something to say to this:

“Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,
    a solid granite foundation, squared and true.
And this is the meaning of the stone:
    a trusting life won’t topple.
I’ll make justice the measuring stick
    and righteousness the plumb line for the building.
A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,
    and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.

^18-22 “Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy
    wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Your careful precautions against death
    were a pack of illusions and lies.
When the disaster happens,
    you’ll be crushed by it.
Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it—
    disaster in the morning, disaster at night.”
Every report of disaster
    will send you cowering in terror.
There will be no place where you can rest,
    nothing to hide under.
God will rise to full stature,
    raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim
And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines.
    But this time it’s against you.
Hard to believe, but true.
    Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming.
Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff.
    Scoffing will just make it worse.
I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.

* * *

^23-26 Listen to me now.
    Give me your closest attention.
Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow?
    Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?
After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant?
    Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin,
Plant wheat and barley in the fields
    and raspberries along the borders?
They know exactly what to do and when to do it.
    Their God is their teacher.

^27-29 And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices,
    the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.
On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly.
    The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.
He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    who knows everything about when and how and where.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What we learn most are located in the last words of this passage.  As the farmer knows how to grow a crop that will feed his family, God knows everything, absolutely everything about the seed of salvation he plants in us to grow His family!  God knows exactly how to help us grow, when to give us what we need to grow with where to plant us so we will bear His fruit—the fruits of His Holy Spirit. 

Planting and growing by God begins with saying yes to Jesus, His Son.  “Yes, I believe.”  “Yes, you have all of me.”  “Yes, You are all I need.”  Growing goes on forever until Jesus comes back and takes us home.  This planting process is used by God for others toddling around in the world to see, know, trust and believe in the One and Only who plants the seed of salvation in them.  In other words, what grows in faith multiplies with trust in God!  And it all begins with Jesus.

Lord,

God of heaven and earth, heavenly Father, take my hand and lead me.  I trust in you, dear Jesus, for my salvation.  I rely on your Holy Spirit to grow and mature me each day of my walk with You.In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Yes and Amen!