Breathing In Refreshment

“If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:19-20

The Hebrew word for “are willing” means just that. I love how Hebrew words can paint pictures and the first definition of this primitive root in the Strong’s Concordance is – to breathe after. It presents a picture of longing.

Think of that wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread. It causes us to be willing to follow our noses right into a bakery. And so it is with Christ. Everything about Him is beautiful. His Spiritual aroma should cause those seeking the best to breathe after Him. Jesus is the Bread of Life, and to refuse Him is to choose death.

Do you remember the Febreeze commercial in which blindfolded people sat in a room full of garbage, smelling only the pleasant cover odor? Their noses told them they were in a good place, but…they were in a room full of garbage. Judah was in a spiritual stench, but deception had them imagining their own fragrance was beautiful. God offered for them to breathe after His cleansing, and He is still offering that refreshment of repentance in Christ today.

“But thanks be to God,

who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession,

and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”

2 Corinthians 2:14

There’s a lot of garbage in the world that deception aims to cover as sweet smelling. If we will hear and obey the Lord, we can be vessels of His cleansing aroma. Having found refreshment in Christ, we can lead others there, too.

“Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”