Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

Does it ever occur to us that God really wants to know how it is going in our lives from our perspective?  Does God really want to know how things are going in the details our daily lives?  Is He really concerned with what we think about what is going on around us and in us?  Is He concerned with how we feel?  Does he really want to hear it?

When we see friends on the street, in the grocery store or at church we automatically greet each other with “Hey, how’s it going?”  But do we really want to hear the litany of ills and disappointments, the perils of kids’ behaviors, the troubles with their finances, along with the gut honesty of their feelings?  I have to say, most times, probably not.  We are humans in a hurry just trying to survive our own lives of trouble and challenging circumstances.  Can I get an amen?  Don’t judge me.

But God was, is and always will be the One and Only who really wants us to sit down with Him and tell Him honestly how it is going in our lives from our lips to His ears.  “Say what’s on your heart.  Together let’s decide what’s right.”  These are Isaiah’s words given to him from God!

Are you feeling “wormy,” unloved and unacceptable?  Have others put you down with their snarcasm (snarky sarcasm) and made you feel stupid and insignificant? Then tell God!  Tell our God who cares and loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins by taking our place of punishment, who taught us how to love God and love others they way God loves us. 

Sit down and say what’s on your heart and God, the God of all who is in all and created all will tell us what is right and true.  God loves you.  God loves me.  God is on our side who love Him back.  He always has and always will.  His love is unchanging, relentless and unlimited.  Count on it, says Isaiah.

Isaiah 41, The Message

Do You Feel Like a Lowly Worm?

“Quiet down, far-flung ocean islands. Listen!
    Sit down and rest, everyone. Recover your strength.
Gather around me. Say what’s on your heart.
    Together let’s decide what’s right.

^2-3 “Who got things rolling here,
    got this champion from the east on the move?
Who recruited him for this job,
    then rounded up and corralled the nations
    so he could run roughshod over kings?
He’s off and running,
    pulverizing nations into dust,
    leaving only stubble and chaff in his wake.
He chases them and comes through unscathed,
    his feet scarcely touching the path.

⁴ “Who did this? Who made it happen?
    Who always gets things started?
I did. God. I’m first on the scene.
    I’m also the last to leave.

^5-7 “Far-flung ocean islands see it and panic.
    The ends of the earth are shaken.
    Fearfully they huddle together.
They try to help each other out,
    making up stories in the dark.
The godmakers in the workshops
    go into overtime production, crafting new models of no-gods,
Urging one another on—‘Good job!’ ‘Great design!’—
    pounding in nails at the base
    so that the things won’t tip over.

^8-10 “But you, Israel, are my servant.
    You’re Jacob, my first choice,
    descendants of my good friend Abraham.
I pulled you in from all over the world,
    called you in from every dark corner of the earth,
Telling you, ‘You’re my servant, serving on my side.
    I’ve picked you. I haven’t dropped you.’
Don’t panic. I’m with you.
    There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
    I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

^11-13 “Count on it: Everyone who had it in for you
    will end up out in the cold—
    real losers.
Those who worked against you
    will end up empty-handed—
    nothing to show for their lives.
When you go out looking for your old adversaries
    you won’t find them—
Not a trace of your old enemies,
    not even a memory.
That’s right. Because I, your God,
    have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go.
I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic.
    I’m right here to help you.’

^14-16 “Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob?
    Don’t be afraid.
Feel like a fragile insect, Israel?
    I’ll help you.
I, God, want to reassure you.
    The God who buys you back, The Holy of Israel.

I’m transforming you from worm to harrow,
    from insect to iron.
As a sharp-toothed harrow you’ll smooth out the mountains,
    turn those tough old hills into loamy soil.
You’ll open the rough ground to the weather,
    to the blasts of sun and wind and rain.
But you’ll be confident and exuberant,
    expansive in The Holy of Israel!

^17-20 “The poor and homeless are desperate for water,
    their tongues parched and no water to be found.
But I’m there to be found, I’m there for them,
    and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.
I’ll open up rivers for them on the barren hills,
    spout fountains in the valleys.
I’ll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond,
    the waterless waste into splashing creeks.
I’ll plant the red cedar in that treeless wasteland,
    also acacia, myrtle, and olive.
I’ll place the cypress in the desert,
    with plenty of oaks and pines.
Everyone will see this. No one can miss it—
    unavoidable, indisputable evidence
That I, God, personally did this.
    It’s created and signed by The Holy of Israel.

^21-24 “Set out your case for your gods,” says God.
    “Bring your evidence,” says the King of Jacob.
“Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments,
    assemble reasons.
Spread out the facts before us
    so that we can assess them ourselves.
Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means—
    or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future.
Can’t do that?
    How about doing something—anything!
Good or bad—whatever.
    Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?’
They say nothing, because they are nothing—
    sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods.

^25-29 “I, God, started someone out from the north and he’s come.
    He was called out of the east by name.
He’ll stomp the rulers into the mud
    the way a potter works the clay.
Let me ask you, Did anyone guess that this might happen?
    Did anyone tell us earlier so we might confirm it
    with ‘Yes, he’s right!’?
No one mentioned it, no one announced it,
    no one heard a peep out of you.
But I told Zion all about this beforehand.
    I gave Jerusalem a preacher of good news.
But around here there’s no one—
    no one who knows what’s going on.
    I ask, but no one can tell me the score.
Nothing here. It’s all smoke and hot air—
    sham gods, hollow gods, no-gods.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Our hope is restored, our minds are transformed, our broken hearts healed and our souls refreshed when we sit down and are completely honest with God.

Lord,

In sitting down with you this morning, to begin my day with you, you have down exactly what Isaiah has said you will do.  You have renewed my spirit as you cleansed my soul.  Help me know to love others like you love me.  Help me to go about this day with the confidence of You in me.  No more “wormy” feelings.  Only Hope.

In Jesus Name, Amen

This Isaiah passage has been quoted often—many times by my dad before he left this planet!  Isaiah 40 was one of his favorites. My dad heard it from his mom, my grandma.  I’ve read and quoted it many times along with other pastors who have preached Isaiah’s words from God as comfort in hard times of waiting.  Why?  Because Isaiah tells us the rewards of waiting, the very thing we try to avoid because we don’t like to wait!

Isaiah 40, The Message

Prepare for God’s Arrival

^1-2 “Comfort, oh comfort my people,”
    says your God.
“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem,
    but also make it very clear
That she has served her sentence,
    that her sin is taken care of—forgiven!
She’s been punished enough and more than enough,
    and now it’s over and done with.”

^3-5 Thunder in the desert!
    “Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
    a highway fit for our God.
Fill in the valleys,
    level off the hills,
Smooth out the ruts,
    clear out the rocks.
Then God’s bright glory will shine
    and everyone will see it.
    Yes. Just as God has said.”

^6-8 A voice says, “Shout!”
    I said, “What shall I shout?”

“These people are nothing but grass,
    their love fragile as wildflowers.
The grass withers, the wildflowers fade,
    if God so much as puffs on them.
    Aren’t these people just so much grass?
True, the grass withers and the wildflowers fade,
    but our God’s Word stands firm and forever.”

^9-11 Climb a high mountain, Zion.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
    Speak loud and clear. Don’t be timid!
Tell the cities of Judah,
    “Look! Your God!”
Look at him! God, the Master, comes in power,
    ready to go into action.
He is going to pay back his enemies
    and reward those who have loved him.
Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock,
    gathering the lambs in his arms,
Hugging them as he carries them,
    leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.

The Creator of All You Can See or Imagine

^12-17 Who has scooped up the ocean
    in his two hands,
    or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger,
Who has put all the earth’s dirt in one of his baskets,
    weighed each mountain and hill?
Who could ever have told God what to do
    or taught him his business?
What expert would he have gone to for advice,
    what school would he attend to learn justice?
What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows,
    showed him how things work?
Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket,
    a mere smudge on a window.
Watch him sweep up the islands
    like so much dust off the floor!
There aren’t enough trees in Lebanon
    nor enough animals in those vast forests
    to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship.
All the nations add up to simply nothing before him—
    less than nothing is more like it. A minus.

^18-20 So who even comes close to being like God?
    To whom or what can you compare him?
Some no-god idol? Ridiculous!
    It’s made in a workshop, cast in bronze,
Given a thin veneer of gold,
    and draped with silver filigree.
Or, perhaps someone will select a fine wood—
    olive wood, say—that won’t rot,
Then hire a woodcarver to make a no-god,
    giving special care to its base so it won’t tip over!

^21-24 Have you not been paying attention?
    Have you not been listening?
Haven’t you heard these stories all your life?
    Don’t you understand the foundation of all things?
God sits high above the round ball of earth.
    The people look like mere ants.
He stretches out the skies like a canvas—
    yes, like a tent canvas to live under.
He ignores what all the princes say and do.
    The rulers of the earth count for nothing.
Princes and rulers don’t amount to much.
    Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted,
They shrivel when God blows on them.
    Like flecks of chaff, they’re gone with the wind.

^25-26 “So—who is like me?
    Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
    Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
    counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
    and never overlooks a single one?

^27-31 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
    or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
    He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
    He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
    And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
    gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
    young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
    They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
    they walk and don’t lag behind.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Isaiah tells us the benefits of waiting on the Lord.  Let’s zero in on this waiting thing.  Waiting magnifies the power of God living in us and renews our strength with fresh resolve!

Because God never gets tired, we can run with Him as we do His work with Him and “never grow weary” as another translation expresses this truth.  This is so phenomenal!  When I am working closely with God, it seems He gives me multiple things to do because it generally involves people.  But God was in it and in control.  God gives me exactly what He knows fits me.  Friends, “the work” I was doing was so enjoyable and productive that it actually gave me more energy as I worked.  More than once, people come to me and say, “Susan, you’re doing too much, you must be exhausted!”  My response?  “When God is directing and doing it through you, energy begats more energy!”

“They will run and don’t get tired.”  Wow.  Granted we get tired IN the work but never tire OF the work God has given us to be and do.  Spiritual tiredness comes from doing life on your own.  Strength and energy beyond our abilities comes from following God’s will with His confidence placed in us to do what He says.    

“They walk and don’t lag behind.” This miracle is God’s strength and energy that never runs out on us because He never runs too far ahead of us.  God never stops working.  Ever.  He never runs out on us, either.

Can we agree?  There is no one like our God who knows us, teaches us, guides us, pulls us over the hurdles and runs right along beside us, behind us and in front of us—cheering us on!  How great is our God!  He is greater than we have words to describe—but Isaiah tries to do just that.

Lord,

You are God.  We are not.  We are fallible, mere mortals, changeable, always transforming as learn from mistakes and in need of our forgiveness often.  You love us, care for us, comfort us, pick us up and dust us off, then send us out again.  You are amazing and relentless.  You are always on our side.  You never leave us.  You are unchanging in your love, mercy, and grace.  I am grateful to be your child.  To you be all glory, honor, and praise! May others see you in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“I’ll worry about that tomorrow, for tomorrow is another day.”  In the movie “Gone With the Wind”, the main character, Scarlet O’Hara, oldest daughter to a plantation owner in the south during the Civil War, said this more than once.  So much was going on around her that her coping mechanism was to put off the worry of impending outcomes until a time when she could better deal with the devastation around her.   

When I am overcome with a situation, I have repeated this line in jest to Randy, who knows what I’m really thinking.  It is time to talk with God and see what HE wants us to be and do in challenging circumstances.  For me, it is not a process of procrastinating worry like Scarlet, it is much more than that. Given our story of Hezekiah, it should be a time to be still and chill, know God, ask Him what He wants, before moving forward in our next steps of the situation before us.

Hezekiah, feeling good after being healed miraculously, has made a huge blunder.  Full of pride, Hezekiah has just shown is future enemy every nook and cranny of the palace and grounds.  Way to go, Hezekiah.  Isaiah, the wise prophet of God, speaks God’s message to him and tells him what he has provided for the enemy…the way in with a display of the spoils they will take!  What is Hezekiah’s response?  In Scarlet O’Hara fashion, I can almost hear the same Scarlet tone of voice as Hezekiah delivers his response, “I’ll worry about that tomorrow, for tomorrow is another day.”  Okay, he didn’t say exactly that but he implied it when he thought, “Surely this won’t happen in my lifetime…”

Isaiah 39, The Message

There Will Be Nothing Left

Sometime later, King Merodach-baladan son of Baladan of Babylon sent messengers with greetings and a gift to Hezekiah. He had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was now well.

² Hezekiah received the messengers warmly. He took them on a tour of his royal precincts, proudly showing them all his treasures: silver, gold, spices, expensive oils, all his weapons—everything out on display. There was nothing in his house or kingdom that Hezekiah didn’t show them.

³ Later the prophet Isaiah showed up. He asked Hezekiah, “What were these men up to? What did they say? And where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from a long way off, from Babylon.”

⁴ “And what did they see in your palace?”

“Everything,” said Hezekiah. “I showed them the works, opened all the doors and impressed them with it all.”

^5-7 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Now listen to this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: I have to warn you, the time is coming when everything in this palace, along with everything your ancestors accumulated before you, will be hauled off to Babylon. God says that there will be nothing left. Nothing. And not only your things but your sons. Some of your sons will be taken into exile, ending up as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸ Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, “Good. If God says so, it’s good.” Within himself he was thinking, “But surely nothing bad will happen in my lifetime. I’ll enjoy peace and stability as long as I live.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Listen to God!  At this time, Babylon was not a great world power, and few people would have thought that Assyria would one day collapse and be replaced by Babylon. Of course, God knew, but Hezekiah did not seek his guidance. When God gives us warning about impending danger, seek His wisdom, hear His voice above all other voices and obey what He says!

Seek wise council and listen to their advice!  Certainly Hezekiah should not have shown his visitors all his wealth, but pride made him do it. After a time of severe suffering, sometimes we feel so good just to feel good that we get off guard and fail to watch and pray. The king was basking in fame and wealth and apparently neglecting his spiritual life. Hezekiah was safer as a sick man in bed than as a healthy man on the throne. Had he consulted first with Isaiah, the king would have avoided blundering as he did. 

“Pride goes before a fall”—every time.  (Proverbs 16:18) Oh Hezekiah…Oh Susan…

Even the greatest and most godly of the Lord’s servants can become proud and disobey God, so we must pray for Christian leaders that they will stay humble before their Master. But if any of His servants do sin, the Lord is willing to forgive when they sincerely repent and confess to Him (1 John 1:9). 

Don’t put off worry for tomorrow, for tomorrow might not be another day.  Do what you must do today.  Be still and pray.  Repent of pride, believe God and what He says, and then quickly obey.  There is no other way to peace in difficult circumstances.  God is greater than our circumstances.  Always.

Consider the lives of our beloved. There is a difference between totally ignoring the problem and being overwhelmed by the problem.  Apathy is as dangerous as going to war.  Our loved ones who are lost to the world are part of the spoils of war with the enemy.  How deep is our concern for them?  Are we putting off telling them about the salvation of God for another day? 

Oh Lord,

We are such a pride-filled people at times.  I repent of trying to do life by myself, thinking I am in charge.  I am laughing at myself right now at the thought of this way of living!  How ridiculous when You know what lies ahead and what circumstances we will face.  You are preparing us even now with strength, confidence that come from you alone, hope for eternity all wrapped in your forever love, mercy and grace. Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Help us to love like you love us.  I won’t worry about it tomorrow because I know You already have the solutions.

In Jesus Name, Amen

The hours spent in the waiting rooms of hospitals waiting on news of the condition of a loved one will never by replaced or restored to our lives.  Sometimes the wait is long and sometimes it is brief.  Either way, we do not like to wait.  But I have learned that something happens in the wait.  As we wait, we feel God draw nearer still to us who believe and call on His Name.  In the wait we learn more about God that we did before. What we thought we could never endure—we do endure by His power in us.  We feel His closeness in our hour of need as we pray for ourselves or our loved ones who are sick and at the mercy of caregivers of all kinds.  We pray for wisdom for those who help us.  We pray for God to draw near and rescue us.  Our prays are very specific and to the point—in the waiting room.

God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah is days on earth are numbered—specifically numbered!  “You’re not going to get well.”  Wow, the news is specific.  The message is short and to the point!  So, Hezekiah does what worked before when faced with the Assyrian threat to overcome his city; he prays specifically and passionately to God to spare him.  God does.  God gave him 15 more years.  God’s glory and power is seen through this act of mercy for Hezekiah.

I get it.  Randy was close to death many years ago during his ministry and seminary work.  We thought this might be the end.  But while Randy was being tested and prodded; I prayed.  I prayed alone in the corner as passionately as Hezekiah.  I prayed, “Lord, may your glory be seen through Randy’s healing and recovery from this fungus that is trying to take his life away here on earth.”  God answered that specific prayer and gave life back to him with months of healing and restoration so he could get back to what God called him to be and do in the Name of Jesus and for the Glory of God.  Yes, Lord, you did it for Hezekiah and you did it for us. 

We have been given many years more than we expected.  I do not know how many more days we have left on this earth, but I know God and that’s what matters most.  I know who I belong to and where I am going.  In the waiting rooms, he taught me to live each day as if it might be my last.  In the waiting rooms, I learned to praise Him in the details of our lives because He was involved in all of them!  I learned that God does not step away from our troubles but is already at work to draw near to us and help us through them.  God is always in the waiting room with us while problem-solving issues for the good of His children.  God is everywhere and God is here.  God is in control.  There is nothing that escapes God’s notice or attention.  Our crying out to God releases His power to work in and through us.  Yes, friends, the waiting room is a place of glory when God steps in and takes over the situation. 

Isaiah 38, The Message

Time Spent in Death’s Waiting Room

At that time, Hezekiah got sick. He was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and said, “God says, ‘Prepare your affairs and your family. This is it: You’re going to die. You’re not going to get well.’”

^2-3 Hezekiah turned away from Isaiah and, facing the wall, prayed to God: “God, please, I beg you: Remember how I’ve lived my life. I’ve lived faithfully in your presence, lived out of a heart that was totally yours. You’ve seen how I’ve lived, the good that I have done.” And Hezekiah wept as he prayed—painful tears.

^4-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and speak with Hezekiah. Give him this Message from me, God, the God of your ancestor David: ‘I’ve heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll add fifteen years to your life. And I’ll save both you and this city from the king of Assyria. I have my hand on this city.

^7-8 “‘And this is your confirming sign, confirming that I, God, will do exactly what I have promised. Watch for this: As the sun goes down and the shadow lengthens on the sundial of Ahaz, I’m going to reverse the shadow ten notches on the dial.’” And that’s what happened: The declining sun’s shadow reversed ten notches on the dial.

* * *

^9-15 This is what Hezekiah king of Judah wrote after he’d been sick and then recovered from his sickness:

In the very prime of life
    I have to leave.
Whatever time I have left
    is spent in death’s waiting room.
No more glimpses of God
    in the land of the living,
No more meetings with my neighbors,
    no more rubbing shoulders with friends.
This body I inhabit is taken down
    and packed away like a camper’s tent.
Like a weaver, I’ve rolled up the carpet of my life
    as God cuts me free of the loom
And at day’s end sweeps up the scraps and pieces.
    I cry for help until morning.
Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me,
    relentlessly finishing me off.
I squawk like a doomed hen,
    moan like a dove.
My eyes ache from looking up for help:
    “Master, I’m in trouble! Get me out of this!”
But what’s the use? God himself gave me the word.
    He’s done it to me.
I can’t sleep—
    I’m that upset, that troubled.

^16-19 O Master, these are the conditions in which people live,
    and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive—
    fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!
It seems it was good for me
    to go through all those troubles.
Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline.
    You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing.
But my sins you let go of,
    threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!
The dead don’t thank you,
    and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue.
Those buried six feet under
    don’t witness to your faithful ways.
It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you,
    just as I’m doing right now.
Parents give their children
    full reports on your faithful ways.

* * *

²⁰ God saves and will save me.
    As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes,
We’ll sing, oh we’ll sing, sing,
    for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God.

^21-22 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and put it on the boil so he may recover.”

Hezekiah had said, “What is my cue that it’s all right to enter again the Sanctuary of God?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is in control.  Our work is to recognize God at work and give Him praise!

God controls what he has created, like putting the sun on hold, but gives humans free will to choose to love Him back.  Love that is forced, prodded, or demanded is not the love of God.  God is love.  To know God is to know love.  Love God.  Love each other like He loves us—unconditionally and forever.

God forgives and saves us from all our sins through Jesus Christ, His Son and his work in taking our place of punishment.  Forever gone—To be remembered no more!

There is no one like our God!  Absolutely no one!

Lord,

Thank you for the memories of recalling your glory made known in extending Randy’s life.  I praise you right now with tears of joy in my heart.  I praise you for all the lessons learned in the waiting rooms of this life, not only Randy, but for other loved ones as well.  Thank you for your strength and power as we wait for your return to take us home.  No more waiting there—only your glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

I must confess.  In spending the last month reading and studying this book of the prophet Isaiah, my eyes have been opened wider to the “clear and present danger” that is threating the world we live in from countries, states, cities, and towns to individual families’ ways of life.  What we think now and learned previously from the Word of God and His Holy Spirit living in us as “right and good” in the eyes of God is being threatened by worldview thinking that is the direct opposite of God’s thinking.  In our own nation, leaders who betray their wives openly are reelected, just one of many examples!

Our real and present enemy of God, Satan the fallen angel, has and is spreading his destructive thinking among all he can fool, all who have stopped attending church for strength, stopped reading the Word of God to learn of God, and have turned away from God with apathy from laziness.  We are easy prey.  The enemy’s thinking begins and ends with self—that life is all about me, all about what I need, want, expect and demand from others because I am the most important one to think about so I deserve all I can get from this world. 

This opposite of God thinking is a ramped-up cancer that is spreading like an uncontrolled wildfire of thought and behavior that will eventually end in death.  The enemy will cheer and think he has won—for now.  This cancer is getting closer and closer to all of us.  Not only is the cancer of sin affecting the world, it is now seeping into and spreading among our immediate family members who once knew and believed in God but now think they can run their lives better without Him.  What do we do?

Dear friends, you will see that the closer to home the virus gets the more concerned we become.  Worldview thinking has now escalated to the point that we who still believe that there is only one God, that Jesus lived, died and rose again to pay the punishment  we deserve for our sins, repent and now live for God as closely as possible are known and mocked as the “foolish” who are berated as unintelligent people. 

Fewer and fewer churches are sounding the warning of this cancer and are merely telling attenders how to be “nice” without telling us how to hear God, repent of our sins and follow in His ways—which include being kind but with power to avoid the cancerous living that is not of God!  There is a difference.  We seem to be becoming the “remnant” that is tested and tried by those who tell us we must not only love the sinner, which we do, but love and accept their turning against God into all forms of perverted sins of destructive behaviors.

God help us.  I have experienced how sin tears families apart.  My heart is broken.

Isaiah has the answer from God to Hezekiah…

Isaiah 37, The Message

The Only God There Is

^1-2 When King Hezekiah heard the report, he also tore his clothes and dressed in rough, penitential burlap gunnysacks, and went into the sanctuary of God. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them also dressed in penitential burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

^3-4 They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘This is a black day. We’re in crisis. We’re like pregnant women without even the strength to have a baby! Do you think your God heard what the Rabshekah said, sent by his master the king of Assyria to mock the living God? And do you think your God will do anything about it? Pray for us, Isaiah. Pray for those of us left here holding the fort!’”

^5-7 Then King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah. Isaiah said, “Tell your master this, ‘God’s Message: Don’t be upset by what you’ve heard, all those words the servants of the Assyrian king have used to mock me. I personally will take care of him. I’ll arrange it so that he’ll get a rumor of bad news back home and rush home to take care of it. And he’ll die there. Killed—a violent death.’”

* * *

⁸ The Rabshekah left and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. (He had gotten word that the king had left Lachish.)

^9-13 Just then the Assyrian king received an intelligence report on King Tirhakah of Ethiopia: “He is on his way to make war on you.”

On hearing that, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with instructions to deliver this message: “Don’t let your God, on whom you so naively lean, deceive you, promising that Jerusalem won’t fall to the king of Assyria. Use your head! Look around at what the kings of Assyria have done all over the world—one country after another devastated! And do you think you’re going to get off? Have any of the gods of any of these countries ever stepped in and saved them, even one of these nations my predecessors destroyed—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who lived in Telassar? Look around. Do you see anything left of the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, the king of Ivvah?”

¹⁴ Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.

^15-20 Then Hezekiah prayed to God: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. Listen, O God, and hear. Look, O God, and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God. It’s quite true, O God, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. They’ve thrown their gods into the trash and burned them—no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods! But now step in, O God, our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are God.”

* * *

^21-25 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this word to Hezekiah: “God’s Message, the God of Israel: Because you brought King Sennacherib of Assyria to me in prayer, here is my answer, God’s answer:

“‘She has no use for you, Sennacherib, nothing but contempt,
    this virgin daughter Zion.
She spits at you and turns on her heel,
    this daughter Jerusalem.

“‘Who do you think you’ve been mocking and reviling
    all these years?
Who do you think you’ve been jeering
    and treating with such utter contempt
All these years?
    The Holy of Israel!
You’ve used your servants to mock the Master.
    You’ve bragged, “With my fleet of chariots
I’ve gone to the highest mountain ranges,
    penetrated the far reaches of Lebanon,
Chopped down its giant cedars,
    its finest cypresses.
I conquered its highest peak,
    explored its deepest forest.
I dug wells
    and drank my fill.
I emptied the famous rivers of Egypt
    with one kick of my foot.”

^26-27 “‘Haven’t you gotten the news
    that I’ve been behind this all along?
This is a longstanding plan of mine
    and I’m just now making it happen,
using you to devastate strong cities,
    turning them into piles of rubble
and leaving their citizens helpless,
    bewildered, and confused,
drooping like unwatered plants,
    stunted like withered seedlings.

^28-29 “‘I know all about your pretentious poses,
    your self-important comings and goings,
    and, yes, the tantrums you throw against me.
Because of all your wild raging against me,
    your unbridled arrogance that I keep hearing of,
I’ll put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth.
I’ll show you who’s boss. I’ll turn you around
    and take you back to where you came from.

^30-32 “‘And this, Hezekiah, will be your confirming sign: This year’s crops will be slim pickings, and next year it won’t be much better. But in three years, farming will be back to normal, with regular sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting. What’s left of the people of Judah will put down roots and make a new start. The people left in Jerusalem will get moving again. Mount Zion survivors will take hold again. The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this.’

* * *

^33-35 “Finally, this is God’s verdict on the king of Assyria:

“‘Don’t worry, he won’t enter this city,
    won’t let loose a single arrow,
Won’t brandish so much as one shield,
    let alone build a siege ramp against it.
He’ll go back the same way he came.
    He won’t set a foot in this city.
        God’s Decree.

I’ve got my hand on this city
    to save it,
Save it for my very own sake,
    but also for the sake of my David dynasty.’”

^36-38 Then the Angel of God arrived and struck the Assyrian camp—185,000 Assyrians died. By the time the sun came up, they were all dead—an army of corpses! Sennacherib, king of Assyria, got out of there fast, back home to Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the sanctuary of his god Nisroch, he was murdered by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer. They escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon became the next king.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is and always will be in control.  Trust God.  Trust in His Plan.

PRAY.  Come to God in humbled prayer asking God what HE wants and what we should be then do to glorify Him.  God loves to help those who call on Him and ask for wisdom and help.  He will give us all we need.  Hezekiah’s prayer is saturated with biblical theology and is similar to the prayer of the church in Acts 4:24–31. He affirmed his faith in the one true and living God, and he worshiped Him. Jehovah is the “LORD of hosts” (Ps. 46:7, 11). He is the Lord who “made the heavens” (Ps. 96:5) and knows what is going on in His creation. His eyes can see our plight, and His ears can hear our plea (see Ps. 115). King Hezekiah did not want deliverance merely for his people’s sake but that God alone might be glorified.

GOD RESPONDS TO PRAYER.  God’s response to this prayer was to send King Hezekiah another threefold message of assurance: (1) Jerusalem would not be taken, (2) the Assyrians would depart, and (3) the Jews would not starve.

Read the Book—God wins.  We win who stay with God.  Is it that simple?  Mm, yes.

After Sennacherib left Judah a defeated man, he returned to his capital city of Nineveh. Twenty years later, as a result of a power struggle among his sons, Sennacherib was assassinated by two of his sons in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, and it happened in the temple of his god! The Assyrian chief of staff had ridiculed the gods of the nations, but Sennacherib’s own god could not protect him. 

Lord,

You encourage us by how you have worked in the past so we may see you at work today!  To you be the glory!  May we never forget that we pray. You work. You are always at work on our behalf because of your great love for us.  Help us to hear your voice above all other voices and follow you, on your path, in your ways.  You are the One and Only God.  I believe.  I will trust in what you say. Thank you for helping me navigate this world of lies so I can see and trust in You alone.

In Jesus Name, Amen

When it comes to war, the words, “imminent threat with clear and present danger” are words not to be taken lightly.  Our country created a law that halts other laws when danger to the citizens of the United States is made evident.  Clear and present danger was a doctrine adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States to determine under what circumstances limits can be placed on First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, or assembly. The test was replaced in 1969 with Brandenburg v. Ohio‘s “imminent lawless action” test.  Imminent danger means something is about to happen that will take all freedoms from everyone by an act of an outsider or insider who provokes war.

Isaiah warns God’s People that they are in imminent danger of losing all freedoms in all ways.  This is the first time Isaiah clearly predicts Judah’s captivity in Babylon. With God’s leading, Isaiah teaches us some valuable lessons about faith, prayer, and the dangers of pride. Though the setting today may be different, the problems and temptations are still the same; for Hezekiah’s history is our history, and Hezekiah’s God is our God.

Isaiah 36, The Message

It’s Their Fate That’s at Stake

^1-3 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria made war on all the fortress cities of Judah and took them. Then the king of Assyria sent his general, the “Rabshekah,” accompanied by a huge army, from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. The general stopped at the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Three men went out to meet him: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, in charge of the palace; Shebna the secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the official historian.

^4-7 The Rabshekah said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that the Great King, the king of Assyria, says this: ‘What kind of backing do you think you have against me? You’re bluffing and I’m calling your bluff. Your words are no match for my weapons. What kind of backup do you have now that you’ve rebelled against me? Egypt? Don’t make me laugh. Egypt is a rubber crutch. Lean on Egypt and you’ll end up flat on your face. That’s all Pharaoh king of Egypt is to anyone who leans on him. And if you try to tell me, “We’re leaning on our God,” isn’t it a bit late? Hasn’t Hezekiah just gotten rid of all the places of worship, telling you, “You’ve got to worship at this altar”?

^8-9 “‘Be reasonable. Face the facts: My master the king of Assyria will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them. You can’t do it, can you? So how do you think, depending on flimsy Egypt’s chariots and riders, you can stand up against even the lowest-ranking captain in my master’s army?

¹⁰ “‘And besides, do you think I came all this way to destroy this land without first getting God’s blessing? It was your God who told me, Make war on this land. Destroy it.’”

¹¹ Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah answered the Rabshekah, “Please talk to us in Aramaic. We understand Aramaic. Don’t talk to us in Hebrew within earshot of all the people gathered around.”

¹² But the Rabshekah replied, “Do you think my master has sent me to give this message to your master and you but not also to the people clustered here? It’s their fate that’s at stake. They’re the ones who are going to end up eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine.”

^13-15 Then the Rabshekah stood up and called out loudly in Hebrew, the common language, “Listen to the message of the Great King, the king of Assyria! Don’t listen to Hezekiah’s lies. He can’t save you. And don’t pay any attention to Hezekiah’s pious sermons telling you to lean on God, telling you ‘God will save us, depend on it. God won’t let this city fall to the king of Assyria.’

^16-20 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Listen to the king of Assyria’s offer: ‘Make peace with me. Come and join me. Everyone will end up with a good life, with plenty of land and water, and eventually something far better. I’ll turn you loose in wide open spaces, with more than enough fertile and productive land for everyone.’ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you with his lies, ‘God will save us.’ Has that ever happened? Has any god in history ever gotten the best of the king of Assyria? Look around you. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? The gods of Sepharvaim? Did the gods do anything for Samaria? Name one god that has ever saved its countries from me. So what makes you think that God could save Jerusalem from me?’”

²¹ The three men were silent. They said nothing, for the king had already commanded, “Don’t answer him.”

²² Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, tearing their clothes in defeat and despair, went back and reported what the Rabshekah had said to Hezekiah.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Hezekiah was arrogant.  He felt he didn’t need God or his leading.  God’s great purpose in the life of faith is to build godly character. Hezekiah and his people needed to learn that faith is living without scheming.  Life is God.  Living for God leads to doing life right in the eyes of God.

Who we listen to is so important to discern right from wrong, life from death.  The speech by the Assyrian chief of staff is one of the most insolent and blasphemous found anywhere in Scripture, for he reproached the God of Israel. He emphasized the greatness of the king of Assyria because he knew the common people were listening and he wanted to frighten them. His speech is a masterful piece of psychological warfare in which he discredited everything that the Jews held dear.  What do we hold most dear?

The Assyrian chief of staff’s coup de grace was that everything Assyria had done was according to the will of the Lord. How could Judah fight against its own God? In one sense, this statement was true, for God is in charge of the nations of the world. But no nation can do what it pleases and use God for the excuse, as Sennacherib and his army would soon find out.

Insolence is best answered with silence. Jerusalem’s deliverance did not depend on negotiating with the enemy but on trusting the Lord.  How deep and wide is our trust in God even when most nations around us do not?

Before the invasion, when Hezekiah had been deathly ill, Isaiah had assured him of deliverance. God’s promises are sure, but God’s people must claim them by faith before God can work. So, the king sent word to Isaiah, asking him to pray, and the king himself called out to the Lord for help. In the building up of our faith, the Word of God and faith go together (See Romans 10:17).

Hezekiah and his officers humbled themselves before the Lord and sought his face. As the king went into the temple, perhaps he recalled the promise God had given to Solomon after he had dedicated the temple: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Personally speaking, our response is to pray…

Lord, we, as believers in Jesus Christ, Son of God, call on You in the Name of Jesus.  We humbly come before you, seeking your face, your wisdom, your will and your strategic plan to accomplish what you want.  We repent and turn from sin that holds us in bondage.  Set us free to worship you, love you and love each other the way you rlove us.  We have faith and trust in you as we rely on your promise to hear us from heaven, forgive us our sins and heal us and our land.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!

No one loves like God loves.  We love because God first loved us.  To know real love is to know God. All other love is manmade, manipulated, conditional and reversable.  God’s love is unchanging, unconditional, relentless, and irreversible.  God rescues those loved by mankind alone and heals all hearts broken by selfish love and makes us whole again. 

Where hate becomes a dessert of dry sarcasm, hurt, gossip, mocking and manipulating, God rescues with the refreshing streams of grace, flowing into pools of mercy that pour into oceans of never-ending love. 

Where there is nothing growing but foolish, barren worldview thinking that leads to death, God rescues with life.  God gives life that grows and flowers beautifully.  God gives life that reproduces more life. God’s rescue is never-ending and forever for those who seek His rescue and believe in His Son who provides the Rescue.

When we could not sing because sin at a choke-hold on us, God rescued us with His Hand that removed it all.  “The voiceless now break into song” because our Deliverer, Savior and now Lord rescued us.

Isaiah 35, The Message

The Voiceless Break into Song

^1-2 Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
    the badlands will celebrate and flower—
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
    a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
    Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God’s resplendent glory, fully on display.
    God awesome, God majestic.

^3-4 Energize the limp hands,
    strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
    “Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
    on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
    He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”

^5-7 Blind eyes will be opened,
    deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
    the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
    streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
    thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
    and barren grasslands flourish richly.

^8-10 There will be a highway
    called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
    is permitted on this road.

It’s for God’s people exclusively—
    impossible to get lost on this road.
    Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
    no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
    Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
    will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
    unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
    as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“God is on His way!,” Isaiah seems to shout.  God’s Rescue is His Son, Jesus who died to save us and lives today to help us remain rescued. 

Isaiah’s prophesy is beautifully encouraging!  The wilderness will not remain a wilderness because the Lord will transform the earth into a garden of Eden. All of nature eagerly looks for the coming of the Lord because nature knows that it will be set free from the curse of sin and share the glory of the kingdom.  God is on His way!

Isaiah used the promise of the coming kingdom to strengthen those in his day who were weak and afraid. The kingdom will have no blind or deaf, lame or dumb because all will be made whole to enjoy a glorious new world.  God is on His Way!

One of Isaiah’s favorite themes is The Highway. During the Assyrian invasion, highways were not safe, but during the kingdom age travel will be safe. The kingdom will have one special highway: “The Highway of Holiness.” Ancient cities often had special roads that only kings and priests could use, but when Messiah reigns, all of His people will be invited to use this highway. Isaiah pictures God’s redeemed, ransomed, and rejoicing Jewish families going up to the yearly festivals in Jerusalem, to praise their Lord. 

God is on His Way, are we on the right highway with Him?

The members of the faithful remnant were trusting God’s promises and praying for God’s help, and God answered their prayers. Centuries ago, God had kept His promises to His people and delivered them, so He will surely keep His promises in the future and establish His glorious kingdom for His chosen people.  God rescues us now!

Believe and be rescued and saved for life!

Lord,

May we the rescued praise you for all you have done, are doing and will do on our behalf. Thank you for loving us unconditionally the way you do.  Help us, the rescued, point the Way to Truth that leads to Life everlasting.  Lead us on the Highway to Holiness.  I am forever grateful for your rescue of me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

God is and forever will be in control.  Evil is and will forever be repaid with evil by God who loves and leads His People back to Him, to His best life for them, to His love, care, protection, and provisions all because God is forever faithful to us.  His love knows no bounds or limitations.  God created all so God can pump the breaks on his creation until evil is vanquished once and for all.  Read His Word, His Book, and you will see that God wins now and later.  His Son, Jesus, made it all possible for us to be victorious with Him.  That means those who cling to Him, believe, and follow in His ways will also win.

Evil isn’t winning now, although it seems like it at times.  It seems that evil has the upper hand, more control that he should have with power to make things happen in the lives of those he as lied to and has control of in this world.  But it is only temporary.  We are tested in our faith by the Tempter called Satan—the fallen angel.  The Tempter is working overtime these days to draw all of us away from God with one goal—to destroy us.  Since his powers are very limited, however, he keeps chipping away at what he thinks he can destroy—all that belongs to God.

“READ the book!” shouts Isaiah.  Isaiah prophesies of a time when there will be nothing to be seen at the final demise of evil and all that has been done by evil in the world. The Destroyer will be destroyed once and for all to see.  The Liar will no longer be allowed to do his deeds among God’s people.  Death will not be the victor.  Life and more life will come and take control—forever.  Read the Book!  Believers win in the end.  Our daily battles with evil are mere skirmishes because the war has already been won!  The Tempter is not convinced and never will be until the final battle is fought and won.  That is something to long for and look forward to—a time where evil is banned for eternity!

Isaiah 34, The Message

The Fires Burning Day and Night

Draw in close now, nations. Listen carefully,
    you people. Pay attention!
Earth, you, too, and everything in you.
    World, and all that comes from you.

^2-4 And here’s why: God is angry,
    good and angry with all the nations,
So blazingly angry at their arms and armies
    that he’s going to rid earth of them, wipe them out.
The corpses, thrown in a heap,
    will stink like the town dump in midsummer,
Their blood flowing off the mountains
    like creeks in spring runoff.
Stars will fall out of the sky
    like overripe, rotting fruit in the orchard,
And the sky itself will be folded up like a blanket
    and put away in a closet.
All that army of stars, shriveled to nothing,
    like leaves and fruit in autumn, dropping and rotting!

^5-7 “Once I’ve finished with earth and sky,
    I’ll start in on Edom.
I’ll come down hard on Edom,
    a people I’ve slated for total termination.”
God has a sword, thirsty for blood and more blood,
    a sword hungry for well-fed flesh,
Lamb and goat blood,
    the suet-rich kidneys of rams.
Yes, God has scheduled a sacrifice in Bozrah, the capital,
    the whole country of Edom a slaughterhouse.
A wholesale slaughter, wild animals
    and farm animals alike slaughtered.
The whole country soaked with blood,
    all the ground greasy with fat.

^8-15 It’s God’s scheduled time for vengeance,
    the year all Zion’s accounts are settled.
Edom’s streams will flow sluggish, thick with pollution,
    the soil sterile, poisoned with waste,
The whole country
    a smoking, stinking garbage dump—
The fires burning day and night,
    the skies black with endless smoke.
Generation after generation of wasteland—
    no more travelers through this country!
Vultures and skunks will police the streets;
    owls and crows will feel at home there.
God will reverse creation. Chaos!
    He will cancel fertility. Emptiness!
Leaders will have no one to lead.
    They’ll name it No Kingdom There,
A country where all kings
    and princes are unemployed.
Thistles will take over, covering the castles,
    fortresses conquered by weeds and thornbushes.
Wild dogs will prowl the ruins,
    ostriches have the run of the place.
Wildcats and hyenas will hunt together,
    demons and devils dance through the night.
The night-demon Lilith, evil and rapacious,
    will establish permanent quarters.
Scavenging carrion birds will breed and brood,
    infestations of ominous evil.

^16-17 Get and read God’s book:
    None of this is going away,
    this breeding, brooding evil.
God has personally commanded it all.
    His Spirit set it in motion.
God has assigned them their place,
    decreed their fate in detail.
This is permanent—
    generation after generation, the same old thing.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When tempted and tried, shout out, “Not today, Satan!”  “In Jesus Name, not today!”

Do this all day long and into the night and see what happens.  We are calling on the full, limitless power that raised Jesus from death to life, to defeat our enemy.  It works every time.  Believe me, I’ve done it!  Be the victor with Jesus.  There are no regrets when we do.

Lord,

Thank you for reminding us of the power we have from you to fight our real and ever-present danger who lies, cheats, tests and tempts us and tries to steal our attention from You with goals to defeat and destroy our faith.  I trust in you, dear Jesus, for you have already defeated him.  Help me in the daily battle to avoid all evil’s schemes.  

And to you be all glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Why is God waiting? Because God “is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). How much longer God will wait, nobody knows; so it would be a great idea for lost sinners to repent today and trust the Savior. 

As humans we are plagued with guilt in every part of our lives.  If you are not, then you have probably grown emotional callouses that don’t feel much of anything anymore.  Either way, it is a mournful place to live.  Hope is non-existent in our guilt filled lives.  Guilty lives are lived on our own where everything depends on us.  The extent of our guilt is troubling.  Our guilt causes us to respond to others in ways that are ugly and unkind.  Our guilt drives us to fear, sarcasm and ultimately angry living.  “Do unto others BEFORE they do it to you” is the guilty ones’ mantra for life, it seems. 

Then self-loathing sets in when trying to do life on your own.  Years ago, someone very close to me, who was trying to do all the right things in life by herself, said, “I feel so guilty, I feel guilty for feeling guilty.”  Read that again.  She is right.  Guilty follows us around and consumes us—if there is no Hope in our lives. 

Isaiah tells us we have two and only two choices to make in life about who will lead us.  Isaiah describes the outcomes of living for each choice.  One choice will take over our battles, rescue, save us, give hope, extend love, mercy and grace, restore all that is broken and damaged in war, and right all wrongs made by the other choice.  The other choice is called “Destroyer”.  Destroyer is the name aptly given to the other choice, the evil one thrown out of heaven for trying to be God and take over. 

Destroyer does exactly what his name implies.  He destroys our lives with empty promises and profound lies that feed our egos of self.  Destroyer feeds our feelings of guilt with “you deserve better”.  “So, don’t feel ashamed for wanting life your way.”  Spiritual and emotional callouses form.  Guilt piles up.  Hope disappears.  Life goes sour and leaves a bitter taste in our mouths until death comes and stays. The very ground under the feet of those entranced in the Destroyer’s spell mourns and grieves for even God’s creation knows their fate.

Isaiah then tells of the benefits and outcomes of the other choice called Hope.  God’s Hope is Jesus.  Hope rescues.  Hope received and believed relieves all guilt from our being and sets us free to raise our standard of living.  Hope is ultimately and always in control.  What is this new standard of living?  Wait for it, Isaiah has the answer…    

Isaiah 33, The Message

The Ground Under Our Feet Mourns

33 Doom to you, Destroyer,
    not yet destroyed;
And doom to you, Betrayer,
    not yet betrayed.
When you finish destroying,
    your turn will come—destroyed!
When you quit betraying,
    your turn will come—betrayed!

^2-4 God, treat us kindly. You’re our only hope.
    First thing in the morning, be there for us!
    When things go bad, help us out!
You spoke in thunder and everyone ran.
    You showed up and nations scattered.
Your people, for a change, got in on the loot,
    picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.

^5-6 God is supremely esteemed. His center holds.
    Zion brims over with all that is just and right.
God keeps your days stable and secure—
    salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus,
    and best of all, Zion’s treasure, Fear-of-God.

^7-9 But look! Listen!
    Tough men weep openly.
    Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.
The roads are empty—
    not a soul out on the streets.
The peace treaty is broken,
    its conditions violated,
    its signers reviled.
The very ground under our feet mourns,
    the Lebanon mountains hang their heads,
Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully,
    and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.

^10-12 “Now I’m stepping in,” God says.
    “From now on, I’m taking over.
    The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am.
There’s nothing to you.
    Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies;
    full of hot air, you self-destruct.
You’re good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel.
    Earth to earth—and the sooner the better.

^13-14 “If you’re far away,
    get the reports on what I’ve done,
And if you’re in the neighborhood,
    pay attention to my record.
The sinners in Zion are rightly terrified;
    the godless are at their wit’s end:
‘Who among us can survive this firestorm?
    Who of us can get out of this purge with our lives?’”

^15-16 The answer’s simple:
    Live right,
    speak the truth,
    despise exploitation,
    refuse bribes,
    reject violence,
    avoid evil amusements.
This is how you raise your standard of living!
    A safe and stable way to live.
    A nourishing, satisfying way to live.

God Makes All the Decisions Here

^17-19 Oh, you’ll see the king—a beautiful sight!
    And you’ll take in the wide vistas of land.
In your mind you’ll go over the old terrors:
    “What happened to that Assyrian inspector who condemned and confiscated?
And the one who gouged us of taxes?
    And that cheating moneychanger?”
Gone! Out of sight forever! Their insolence
    nothing now but a fading stain on the carpet!
No more putting up with a language you can’t understand,
    no more sounds of gibberish in your ears.

^20-22 Just take a look at Zion, will you?
    Centering our worship in festival feasts!
Feast your eyes on Jerusalem,
    a quiet and permanent place to live.
No more pulling up stakes and moving on,
    no more patched-together lean-tos.
Instead, God! God majestic, God himself the place
    in a country of broad rivers and streams,
But rivers blocked to invading ships,
    off-limits to predatory pirates.
For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king.
    God runs this place and he’ll keep us safe.

²³ Ha! Your sails are in shreds,
    your mast wobbling,
    your hold leaking.
The plunder is free for the taking, free for all—
    for weak and strong, insiders and outsiders.

²⁴ No one in Zion will say, “I’m sick.”
    Best of all, they’ll all live guilt-free.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The God of Hope steps in and takes over.  The godless are terrified. 

How do we survive?  Come to God through Jesus, His Son.  Then…

“The answer’s simple:
    Live right,
    speak the truth,
    despise exploitation,
    refuse bribes,
    reject violence,
    avoid evil amusements.
This is how you raise your standard of living!
    A safe and stable way to live.
    A nourishing, satisfying way to live.”

“Best of all, we live guilt-free!”

Lord,

You’ve surely clarified right living through Isaiah then and now.  Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole, free to love like you love us, guilt free from past sins, all because of Jesus, our Hope and Deliverer.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, God our Father.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, who lives in me to remind me I am your child, guilt free of repented sins, with help to continue to live in ways that please you.  Help me to pass on your Hope to others living in a stormy sea of guilt.

In Jesus Name, Amen

We rely on what we are told.  Right?!  Our parents’ words are the first we trust.  If our parents took us to church, we also learned to trust God.  Teachers of reading and writing were the next trustworthy adults in our lives.  In higher education, we were introduced to all kinds of opinions about the world in which we live and how to live well in it.  Now we have choices.  Later, we then have bosses in the vocation we chose to tell us how to behave, what to do and how to do it.  Coupled with all that we have the media that demands our attention left and right.  Yes, we can turn the tv off, but we cannot escape the worldview thinking expressed and passed on by everyone we meet and relate to with each new day.  Who is right? What is right? Where is peace?

Humans today think they are coming up with new ways of perverted sin—but sin in all kinds of forms have been ugly with resulting death since Adam and Eve and will continue until Jesus comes back for the final sweep of justice.  “A king will rule in the right way, and his leaders will carry out justice,” Isaiah shouts from God.  God will make all things right and good, safe and quiet, full of peace.  God has a Plan.

With justice comes peace, says God to His People.  “No more will fools become celebrities, nor crooks be rewarded with fame.”  Imagine no more political ads that slander each other without telling what each candidate stands for with what they will do to bring justice in all areas of their elected jurisdictions!  Imagine no more commercials, billboards, texts, or emails using fear with “bait and switch” to motivate us to part with our hard-earned wages that provide for our daily needs.  Imagine no more lies that dissolve all trust.  Imagine no more exploitation of the poor to lift the rich up in the eyes of the world. 

Now, imagine getting along with each other all because of the love of Jesus in us.  Imagine asking for God’s wisdom then trusting what He says and doing it!

Isaiah 32, The Message

Safe Houses, Quiet Gardens

^1-8 But look! A king will rule in the right way,
    and his leaders will carry out justice.
Each one will stand as a shelter from high winds,
    provide safe cover in stormy weather.
Each will be cool running water in parched land,
    a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the desert.
Anyone who looks will see,
    anyone who listens will hear.
The impulsive will make sound decisions,
    the tongue-tied will speak with eloquence.
No more will fools become celebrities,
    nor crooks be rewarded with fame.
For fools are fools and that’s that,
    thinking up new ways to do mischief.
They leave a wake of wrecked lives
    and lies about God,
Turning their backs on the homeless hungry,
    ignoring those dying of thirst in the streets.
And the crooks? Underhanded sneaks they are,
    inventive in sin and scandal,
Exploiting the poor with scams and lies,
    unmoved by the victimized poor.
But those who are noble make noble plans,
    and stand for what is noble.

* * *

^9-14 Take your stand, idle women!
    Listen to me!
Indulgent, idle women,
    listen closely to what I have to say.
In just a little over a year from now,
    you’ll be shaken out of your lazy lives.
The grape harvest will fail,
    and there’ll be no fruit on the trees.
Oh tremble, you idle women.
    Get serious, you pampered dolls!
Strip down and discard your silk fineries.
    Put on funeral clothes.
Shed honest tears for the lost harvest,
    the failed vintage.
Weep for my people’s gardens and farms
    that grow nothing but thistles and thornbushes.
Cry tears, real tears, for the happy homes no longer happy,
    the merry city no longer merry.
The royal palace is deserted,
    the bustling city quiet as a morgue,
The emptied parks and playgrounds
    taken over by wild animals,
    delighted with their new home.

^15-20 Yes, weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured
    down on us from above
And the badlands desert grows crops
    and the fertile fields become forests.
Justice will move into the badlands desert.
    Right will build a home in the fertile field.
And where there’s Right, there’ll be Peace
    and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust.
My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood—
    in safe houses, in quiet gardens.
The forest of your pride will be clear-cut,
    the city showing off your power leveled.
But you will enjoy a fortunate life,
    planting well-watered fields and gardens,
    with your farm animals grazing freely.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“The King” Isaiah is talking about is of course, Jesus!  Our response will be to bow down to Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords!  We must confess our faith in Him and say with assurance that He is “our King.” In contrast to the evil rulers of Isaiah’s day the Messiah will reign in righteousness and justice. In addition, the King will be like a rock of refuge for the people and like a refreshing river in the desert.  Yes, Jesus is OUR King!

In the kingdom of God, there will be no deception. Not only will liars and cheaters’ character and motives be exposed and judged, but so will their ungodly methods. No longer will the poor and helpless be cheated by these liars. Our response?  Praise and thanksgiving the One and Only who makes all things right and good!

And where there’s Right, there’ll be Peace—

“Righteousness” is the key word in verse 17, for true peace only comes through a right relationship with God. When sinners trust Christ and receive the gift of righteousness, then they can have peace in their hearts and peace with one another.

What do you choose, how will you respond?  Pray, listen, then choose wisely.

Lord,

You are the One and Only who is holy and makes us right with You.  Come into our hearts, minds and souls and cleanse us, washing away all that offends you.  Then transform us daily to be all you created us to be before we do what you say.  Thank you, Lord, for making us right with You.  Thank you for the peace that dwells in us in all circumstances when we put all our trust in you.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen