Little Beds and Blankets

This morning at Calvary Chapel Sydney we spoke of the danger of apathy and complacency in God's people.  Having the benefit of God's presence, provision, and forgiveness, we can come to a place where our hearts are hard and cease to walk in humility and repentance.  God sent the prophet Isaiah to warn God's people of coming judgment for their sins - though they were God's chosen people established in Jerusalem, had been given His Law, and His presence dwelt in their midst.  They refused to confess their sin and repent so God would chasten them without mercy so a faithful remnant would serve Him forever.

In the passage we studied, there was an apt description of the person who remains in their sin without repentance.  It was compared to day after day of bad news.  On top of that, rest and comfort diligently sought would be evasive.  The prophet said in Isaiah 28:20, "For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it."  There are few things more exhausting than trying to sleep in an uncomfortable bed when you are freezing.  We can be so tired but find it impossible to drift off into restful slumber!  In this parable, both the bed and covering are inadequate for the potential sleeper.  The truth was God's people had embraced idols which were worthless and were incapable of saving anyone.  Yet God's people were loathe to give them up.  Like a person tossing and turning on a small bed with an inadequate covering, rest and comfort for their souls was only a fantasy.

We can be a lot like the man in the story.  We stubbornly cling to what isn't working.  The other night my wife and I toughed it out through a chilly night with only a sheet and a thin blanket.  I kept waking up and wrapped myself tighter with the blanket, but I was still cold.  Instead of having the sense to rise from bed and grab the doona from the closet, I tried changing my position and kept waking up.  Needless to say, I did not have a very good night's sleep.  I told Laura the next day, "I think it's time to break out the doona.  I was pretty cold last night."  We have done so and I haven't awakened cold again!  We must be brought to the place where we realise our idols and our worldly affections are inadequate.  They look satisfactory, but even when we gain our desire they never satisfy.  Only those who recognise their idols are miserable comforters and repent will receive the peace, joy, and comfort Jesus Christ brings.