WFTD: “Favor” –What makes God happy?

Happy 4th. I love it when God orchestrates things. He pulls things together in just the right time, place, and situation like this holiday weekend. It’s never a coincidence. It’s just Him being clever. Today is Independence Day—a celebration of freedom. And my WFTD, as I march through the Book of Isaiah, is favor. The context is freedom according to Isaiah 61:1,2:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, (2) to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor…

Exposition: Favor means that which is pleasing and acceptable. So, what pleases God?

Backstory:  Verse 1 gives us the answer:

• bring good news to the poor not derision

• bind broken hearts, not crush them

• broadcast and promote freedom, not fences and differences.

Similarly, this triad is supported in other places in Scripture like Micah 6:8:

God wants us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him. Micah 6:8

Application: Make God happy. Please Him. Be intentional about it. This is His year of favor. To be truthful, every year is. He has clearly revealed to us what lights His sparkler according to Isaiah and Micah. To please Him, you must please the least, the lost, and the locked up. So, ask yourself:

• Have I been good news to the poor—a help—or a hinderance to the least?

• Have I caused heart ache, hurt or harm to my neighbor, my brother or my fellow man who is from another place and speaks another tongue, yet want for their family what you want for your family?

• Have I liberated anyone from their darkness? We all have our dark place.

“Word-to-Grow-By (WTGB) is taking a break from the normal long-form Bible study format and will now, for a brief time, go to a shorter, word-focused format I call WFTD (Word for the Day). Think of it as “TikTok” for your devotional—short, sweet and simple (but no less trustworthy to the text). Each WFTD will have an exposition, a backstory, and an application. The goal is to get you out the door with an encouraging word with the goal of you growing in doing your own bible study.

The WFTD process is simple: Exposition, Backstory and Application. 

Exposition is uncovering what is exposed in the text. Ask yourself from your bible readings: (1) What does it mean? Ask yourself: What question is the text answering. In this case: What favors or pleases God.

Next, Backstory will give you the answer. It is the historical context. It contains what was going on when the text was written? Add to your backstory study the concept of verses as units—the grouping of surrounding verses taken together that give light to the right meaning of the verse. To disregard units is equivalent to bible study fraud.

Finally, Application—what am you to do from the “meaning” I uncover? It should be personalized and practical, doable. Jot down your answers, one short sentence for each. Keep it in a journal. Don’t worry about getting it right-right. The Holy Spirit will take care of that in due time. For now, it is the habit of “doing” your own bible study that matters, that will promote growth. Always remember, because Scripture is “God breathed” inspiration, begin each devotional study with prayer for His Holy Spirit’s assistance.

Trust the process. Remember: Feed a man a fish, he eats for that day. Teach a man how to fish and he eats every day.  Enjoy the pleasure of pleasing God. That’s freedom. Happy 4^th.