Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord

2 Samuel 23:16
So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord.


This Scripture is when King David expressed his desire to drink water from enemy held territory and his servants, out of their own initiative, went through great risk to get the water for him. Far from being ungrateful and unthankful, David's action was motivated by His consideration of God.

When we do receive blessings, especially those which we really like, do we then keep it to ourselves for only our enjoyment? David showed how he poured the blessing back to the Lord. His love for God is greater than anything else. It is only through pouring our blessings for others to benefit that they can see God through us. Another danger is that keeping the blessing to ourselves can turn into lust.

To whom then will you liken Me

This chapter marks a turning point in the message of the Book of Isaiah. Up until now, there was much proclamation about judgment and disasters both to Israel and her neighbours. Then there was a brief description of the contemporary events with Hezekiah, Isaiah and Assyria. Starting from this chapter, God's positive promises are revealed. This chapter starts with the declaration that God has thoroughly forgiven Israel and Israel is to be comforted. Furthermore, God revealed His plan of salvation through the coming of Messiah.

The description of the saviour here is that He is clearly the Lord God. His majesty is described in context of His creation and nature. He measures the heavens with His hand. He was not taught knowledge, He has always been all-knowing. "All nations before Him are as nothing". He cannot be compared to anyone. No idol or image can be made that can represent him. He is all powerful, no power or authority on Earth can match Him.



Isaiah 40
God’s People Are Comforted

1 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert[a]
A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he[b] said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
9 O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters[c] in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
24 Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Praise Him According to His Excellent Greatness!

A short but definite call to Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord with all sorts of instruments. Praise the Lord for his greatness and mighty acts. It is quite clear who this magnificent God is. Besides creating the universe, He also blesses and protects His people. No wonder the people who really know him, like the psalmist, cannot stop praising Him.




Psalm 150
Let All Things Praise the Lord

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!

4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

Who Can Utter The Mighty Acts Of The LORD?

This psalm starts off with praising God for His mighty acts. It acknowledges God's salvation and favour for His people. The people acted in rebellious ways but God still saved them and redeemed them. God led them out of Egypt but they soon forgot and became idolatrous. Moses interceded and God did not destroy them all.

The account of the Israelites was a cyclical pattern of disobedience, repentance, favour from God and back to disobedience. Their rebellion and disobedience went to the point of utter abomination in God's eyes involving the sacrificing of their own sons and daughters to demons and pagan idols.

God gave His people away to be oppressed by their enemies. But because of their cries and God's covenant and His mercy, God relented and saved them.



Psalm 106
Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins

 1 Praise the LORD!
       
         Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
         For His mercy endures forever.
       
 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD?
         Who can declare all His praise?
 3 Blessed are those who keep justice,
         And he who does[a] righteousness at all times!
       
 4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people.
         Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
 5 That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
         That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
         That I may glory with Your inheritance.
       
 6 We have sinned with our fathers,
         We have committed iniquity,
         We have done wickedly.
 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
         They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
         But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.
       
 8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
         That He might make His mighty power known.
 9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
         So He led them through the depths,
         As through the wilderness.
 10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
         And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
 11 The waters covered their enemies;
         There was not one of them left.
 12 Then they believed His words;
         They sang His praise.
       
 13 They soon forgot His works;
         They did not wait for His counsel,
 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
         And tested God in the desert.
 15 And He gave them their request,
         But sent leanness into their soul.
       
 16 When they envied Moses in the camp,
         And Aaron the saint of the LORD,
 17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
         And covered the faction of Abiram.
 18 A fire was kindled in their company;
         The flame burned up the wicked.
       
 19 They made a calf in Horeb,
         And worshiped the molded image.
 20 Thus they changed their glory
         Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
 21 They forgot God their Savior,
         Who had done great things in Egypt,
 22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
         Awesome things by the Red Sea.
 23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
         Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach,
         To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
       
 24 Then they despised the pleasant land;
         They did not believe His word,
 25 But complained in their tents,
         And did not heed the voice of the LORD.
 26 Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them,
         To overthrow them in the wilderness,
 27 To overthrow their descendants among the nations,
         And to scatter them in the lands.
       
 28 They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
         And ate sacrifices made to the dead.
 29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
         And the plague broke out among them.
 30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
         And the plague was stopped.
 31 And that was accounted to him for righteousness
         To all generations forevermore.
       
 32 They angered Him also at the waters of strife,[b]
         So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
 33 Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
         So that he spoke rashly with his lips.
       
 34 They did not destroy the peoples,
         Concerning whom the LORD had commanded them,
 35 But they mingled with the Gentiles
         And learned their works;
 36 They served their idols,
         Which became a snare to them.
 37 They even sacrificed their sons
         And their daughters to demons,
 38 And shed innocent blood,
         The blood of their sons and daughters,
         Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
         And the land was polluted with blood.
 39 Thus they were defiled by their own works,
         And played the harlot by their own deeds.
       
 40 Therefore the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people,
         So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
 41 And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
         And those who hated them ruled over them.
 42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
         And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
 43 Many times He delivered them;
         But they rebelled in their counsel,
         And were brought low for their iniquity.
       
 44 Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
         When He heard their cry;
 45 And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
         And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
 46 He also made them to be pitied

       
 47 Save us, O LORD our God,
         And gather us from among the Gentiles,
         To give thanks to Your holy name,
         To triumph in Your praise.
       
 48 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel
         From everlasting to everlasting!
         And let all the people say, “Amen!”
       
         Praise the LORD!