Destiny and Fortune

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Scripture:

Is. 65:10     Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
        and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
        for my people who have sought me.
Is. 65:11     But you who forsake the LORD,
        who forget my holy mountain,
    who set a table for Fortune
        and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;

Observation:

God has always been reaching out to his people and providing a place for them where they can pasture and rest. This is God’s provision for those who seek after him. Unfortunately there are many of God’s people who have chosen to go their own way.  They do not want to know or be in relationship with their Creator. Life takes them to such places that they simply forget who he is, or where he is. Instead they look to the foreign gods. 

Fortune and Destiny are the names of the gods from the neighboring countries. The people of God had been showing hospitality to the god named Fortune, and poured wine and celebrated before the god named Destiny.  All of this done while forgetting the God who had promised them everything, as long as they lived for and served him.

Application:

While these were the names of foreign gods, Fortune and Destiny, I think that we may realize that these could be gods today as well. We seek after fortune and desire a personal destiny which is laced with pleasure. We have substituted the love of our Creator God for worldly destiny and fortune. The sad truth is that we have sold our souls for material gain.  This was true of the Israelites who were happy to worship the gods of their neighbors because they were visible. However, these trinkets carved by human hands had no ability to sustain the people and provide them rest.

Are we looking for rest today? I think most people are searching for something that provides them with deep satisfaction. These will not be found in destiny or fortune. All of these are fleeting.

Just this last week we were driving through the northern part of Idaho. There I read about a small community on a lake where at one time a gentleman had built the most expensive home in all of Idaho. It was in the early 1920’s and he had built it on the same floor-plan of one of Kaiser Wilhelm’s palaces. It was a stunning place and there they had many parties and events.  However, when the economy changed, within less than a decade, all was lost. He lost his wealth and his health. He died and left his widow penniless. In such a short period of time it was all gone.

When we show hospitality to fortune and dally with destiny we will discover a dead end. It is a place in which we will not be nourished, but instead, which will drain all that we have from us and leave us with nothing. Instead of turning to destiny and fortune we are to pasture in Sharon and lie down in Achor.  Here our needs will be supplied and the deep peace of our Lord will provide for us now and forever.

Leave the trinket gods alone.  Their appeal is only skin deep and their pleasure is short-lived. Destiny and fortune will soon be gone but the peace of the Lord endures forever.

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to relax in your pasture today.  Amen.

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