Psalms 8:1, and “Sunshine In My Soul”  (E.E. Hewitt-1887). I’ll use Psalm 31:1-3 for Temple Worship today.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Isaiah 39, ruminating on Hezekiah’s prayer in his sickness, and mulling the paradox. God knew what it would mean to extend Hezekiah’s life for fifteen years: Manasseh would be born three years into his extended reign, would take the throne at 12 years of age, and be the most vile and wicked ruler ever to hold the scepter of Judah (Genesis 49:10), or to sit in the throne of David (2 Kings 21:1; 33:1-25). Although Manasseh sincerely and thoroughly repented in his later years, when God destroyed Judah, He cited Manasseh’s sins as the reason (2 Kings 21:10-18).

There is some vanity in the attempt to sort out God’s Sovereign decisions. Nevertheless, I wonder that God sent Isaiah to advise Hezekiah that he would die, hear his deep and remorseful petition, and be moved by that to extend his life for 15 years, knowing what would follow.

I thought about what I would prefer: God to kill me before I blow it, or have mercy and give me a chance to make things right?

To summarize: did God make Hezekiah sick to humble his heart in preparation for the next test of temptations He knew would come? Did He defer to Hezekiah’s petition to extend his life, knowing the evil Manasseh would do, but also seeing his son’s repentance, and the rise of Josiah, the reformer king, who would please Him in all things? Was this one last act of His longsuffering, reaching out to Judah before He was compelled by His holiness, righteousness, and justice to remove from her the kingdom and give it to the Gentiles?

However, while I was sitting with my wife during her devotions, she asked a question about the message I preached at the Sunday morning service at Freedom’s Way Baptist Church in Castaic, CA. (20260208)

Along the still waters, I reflected further on her question and God’s answer.

I preached a message titled “The Divine Chain of Command,” using 1 Corinthians 11:1-3 as my text.*

God’s chain of command is GOD, the head of Christ, Christ the head of man, and man the head of woman” (1 Corinthians 11:3). This is God’s general orders for civilization. When we contemplate the relationship of GOD to Christ, we know that Jesus, Christ manifest in the flesh (2 John 7), was always obedient to the Father and that Jesus’ authority was entirely dependent upon that obedience. James 4:7 applied to Jesus as it applies to us. Jesus could fulfill His mission and the purpose of His life only by living in full submission to His Head.

Whatever we may observe in the dynamic relationship between GOD and Christ may be applicable, in principle, to the relationship between Christ and man. Insofar as man is obedient to Christ, his Head, he has authority and the power of God to complete his mission and purpose in life. The only way any man can be the man GOD ordained him to be is if he is subject to his Head, which is Christ.

No one argues with any of this until we come to the generic, general orders of GOD for the relationship between man and woman.

First, these are generic terms, man and woman. This is not a reference to the specific relational terms of husband and wife. God has ordained that the society of mankind is to be ordered according to His divinely appointed chain of command: God —> Christ —> Man —> Woman. The special relationship between husband and wife reflects this chain of command ordained for mankind in general and creates a distinct divine example of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Wives are instructed to be obedient to their own husbands (Titus 2:4-5), placing them under their husbands’ particular headship and command. Nonetheless, God generally placed men under Christ and women under men. This means that no man can fulfill his role as a man until he is subject to Christ, his Head. And this is also true of women. The authority and power of God move through this chain of command. Christ, man, and woman fulfill their divinely assigned roles only when each accepts their place in the Divine Chain of Command.

Satan knows this, and he does all in his power to break the divine chain of command. He wants to disrupt it. And he started with the woman. It’s important to understand that God also starts there (1 Peter 3:1-7). More on this later.

The question my wife asked is this: Where is the Holy Spirit in God’s chain of command?

My immediate response was one word: everywhere! Jesus repeatedly testified that His power was the work of the Spirit. Scripture testifies that God is a Spirit (John 4:24), and what Spirit would that be? Obviously, the Holy Spirit. Every man is obliged to repent and believe on Jesus Christ, and when he obeys the Gospel, the Spirit of Christ indwells him. When the Spirit, through Paul, instructs us concerning marriage (Ephesians 5:22-33), He begins by instructing all believers what must be done to maintain the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:19-21). The Holy Spirit may be said to move through the chain of command. In other words, unless we submit to God’s chain of command, we grieve the Spirit, and this breaks the flow of God’s power and authority from heaven into the earth.

In the valley, I was reminded of the critical importance that we heed the call of Jesus with my attention drawn to the fact that He said, “if any man,” and not “if any Christian.” This does not mean unbelievers have a path available to follow Jesus apart from receiving His salvation. Following Him requires turning into His path. It tells us, however, that the path to getting into the proper place in God’s chain of command involves following Jesus Christ, and here is the duty of every man: “If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). This is how to bring forward into our lives and through our lives into this world, the power and authority of the Almighty!

At the table, He anointed my. head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. As we walked together into the harvest, I heard the footsteps of goodness and mercy following!

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v75kvxy-shepherds-pasture.html

[*During Bible Study, I taught the Danger of Ignorant Leadership. You received a devotional on that subject on Sunday morning (20260208). One of the major areas of ignorance is God’s divine chain of command.]