Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

How easily impressed we are by the newest version of IPhone that is introduced for the “first time” each year!  How easily we are distracted by the newer and better appliance that “will change our lives.”  How tempted we are by the newest vehicle on the market that will make our lives better.  In the world of politics, we are told that this new, impressive candidate is “different” than all the rest so we must turn to him or her so life will go better for us.  We are barraged with information about an even “better diet” with  new forms of exercise so our bodies will be stronger, more beautiful, and of course, healthier.  We are harassed by fear through ads that tell us how important it is to choose the best health care plan that will save us money.  And last, but not least, we must at all costs plan for our death with the best burial plan on the market to date! 

I’m in Isaiah camp of thinking!  He reminds the people impressed by military mathematics that their minds are dwelling with dependence on merely the world and its thinking.  “And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance, not so much as a prayer to God.” 

God knows what He is doing.  God does what He says He will do.  God protects us and intervenes in the work of the wrongdoers.  God provides for all our needs.  He is God and no one else is God.  God is God and we are not.  We then should be more than impressed and dependent on the One who created us in His own image and who truly has our best interests at heart for each one of us than anyone else on the planet!

Want to be even more impressed?  Here are 18 reasons to be impressed by the One and Only who created us! 

“You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.  Psalm 139:1-18

We are on his mind continually…how impressive is that? 

Is God on our minds continually?

Isaiah 31, The Message

Impressed by Military Mathematics

^1-3 Doom to those who go off to Egypt
    thinking that horses can help them,
Impressed by military mathematics,
    awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders—
And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance,
    not so much as a prayer to God.
Still, he must be reckoned with,
    a most wise God who knows what he’s doing.
He can call down catastrophe.
    He’s a God who does what he says.
He intervenes in the work of those who do wrong,
    stands up against interfering evildoers.
Egyptians are mortal, not God,
    and their horses are flesh, not Spirit.
When God gives the signal, helpers and helped alike
    will fall in a heap and share the same dirt grave.

* * *

^4-5 This is what God told me:

“Like a lion, king of the beasts,
    that gnaws and chews and worries its prey,
Not fazed in the least by a bunch of shepherds
    who arrive to chase it off,
So God-of-the-Angel-Armies comes down
    to fight on Mount Zion, to make war from its heights.
And like a huge eagle hovering in the sky,
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies protects Jerusalem.
I’ll protect and rescue it.
    Yes, I’ll hover and deliver.”

^6-7 Repent, return, dear Israel, to the One you so cruelly abandoned. On the day you return, you’ll throw away—every last one of you—the no-gods your sinful hands made from metal and wood.

^8-9 “Assyrians will fall dead,
    killed by a sword-thrust but not by a soldier,
    laid low by a sword not swung by a mortal.
Assyrians will run from that sword, run for their lives,
    and their prize young men made slaves.
Terrorized, that rock-solid people will fall to pieces,
    their leaders scatter hysterically.”
God’s Decree on Assyria.
    His fire blazes in Zion,
    his furnace burns hot in Jerusalem.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Many in this world, especially at Christmas and Easter, will be impressed by the story of Jesus in the seasons that come and go.  What remains is being merely impressed without forming a relationship with the One and Only who loves us most and loves us best, who forgives all that we have done that was offensive to Him, and then transforms us to all that we were created to be and do.  Jesus wants us to talk and walk with Him in the “light of His glory and grace.”  Jesus is the Way to God.  Jesus speaks the Truth about God because Jesus is God in the flesh come to earth to die for our sins.  Jesus is Life from God the Father who is the Giver of Life now and forever.

Be more than impressed.  Believe and be saved and forever be under the wing of His loving protection.  Be a child of the King who thinks of you and me daily and longs to be with us always.  Got problems?  Ask Him for wisdom to solve them.  He loves doing that!  In fact, the answer was there before we asked.  Now, that’s impressive!

Lord,

Help us in this world of everyone telling us what is best for us.  Give us wisdom to choose you and your best life.  Life is for living without fear.  Love drives out fear and You are Love.  So, I choose you.  I choose what you want for me over what I want.  You are God.  I am not.  Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole.  Thank you for intervening in my life when I needed you most.  Thank you for your protection and all  that you have provided. Thank you for helping realize the depth of your love for me and teaching me to love others like you love.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Let’s sneak out without the counselors knowing tonight.”  We had a plan at church camp to be rebellious and not do what we were asked to do—sleep.  We wanted to party with each other without the grownups hanging around to tell us what was sensible and right.  So, we did it, carefully and quietly.  One by one we went out the back door of the dorm in the darkness of night.  We only had the light of the moon to show us where to walk at night.  We successfully left the building!  We giggled and celebrated in the dark at the same time we shushed each other so others would not hear us.

Once we had our bearings in the darkness, as a group we crept over to the kitchen building to hide in the shadows.  Once we were there, all together, we congratulated each other again in the success of our plan.  But then it occurred to us—now what?  We are losing sleep over sneaking out.  We are crouching down in the dirt in the shadows of darkness for what reason?  What seemed exciting at first in our rebellious plan to sneak out into the night now seemed stupid and foolish.  We did think of something even more foolhardy to do but that is for another time.  By the way, the head counselor knew all along and watched over us until we came back to our senses and came back to bed.

Rebellion against wisdom rarely gets us to where we really want or need to be.  It only leads to trouble and more inconveniences in our lives.  We are only successful in life if we turn back to God, change our hearts, learn from our rebellious mistakes, lean on His wisdom, insight and understanding while choosing to walk humbly in His ways.  This is success that leads to glory and more glory.   

Who or what are you rebelling against today?   

Isn’t it time to come back to the Light from wandering around in the dark? 

Isaiah 30, The Message

All Show, No Substance

^1-5 “Doom, rebel children!”
    God’s Decree.
“You make plans, but not mine.
    You make deals, but not in my Spirit.
You pile sin on sin,
    one sin on top of another,
Going off to Egypt
    without so much as asking me,
Running off to Pharaoh for protection,
    expecting to hide out in Egypt.
Well, some protection Pharaoh will be!
    Some hideout, Egypt!
They look big and important, true,
    with officials strategically established in
Zoan in the north and Hanes in the south,
    but there’s nothing to them.
Anyone stupid enough to trust them
    will end up looking stupid—
All show, no substance,
    an embarrassing farce.”

^6-7 And this note on the animals of the Negev
    encountered on the road to Egypt:
A most dangerous, treacherous route,
    menaced by lions and deadly snakes.
And you’re going to lug all your stuff down there,
    your donkeys and camels loaded down with bribes,
Thinking you can buy protection
    from that hollow farce of a nation?
Egypt is all show, no substance.
    My name for her is Toothless Dragon.

This Is a Rebel Generation

^8-11 So, go now and write all this down.
    Put it in a book
So that the record will be there
    to instruct the coming generations,
Because this is a rebel generation,
    a people who lie,
A people unwilling to listen
    to anything God tells them.
They tell their spiritual leaders,
    “Don’t bother us with irrelevancies.”
They tell their preachers,
    “Don’t waste our time on impracticalities.
Tell us what makes us feel better.
    Don’t bore us with obsolete religion.
That stuff means nothing to us.
    Quit hounding us with The Holy of Israel.”

^12-14 Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this:
    “Because you scorn this Message,
Preferring to live by injustice
    and shape your lives on lies,
This perverse way of life
    will be like a towering, badly built wall
That slowly, slowly tilts and shifts,
    and then one day, without warning, collapses—
Smashed to bits like a piece of pottery,
    smashed beyond recognition or repair,
Useless, a pile of debris
    to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”

God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right

^15-17 God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,
    has this solemn counsel:
“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
    and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down
    in complete dependence on me—
The very thing
    you’ve been unwilling to do.
You’ve said, ‘No way! We’ll rush off on horseback!’
    You’ll rush off, all right! Just not far enough!
You’ve said, ‘We’ll ride off on fast horses!’
    Do you think your pursuers ride old nags?
Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker.
    Before a mere five you’ll all run off.
There’ll be nothing left of you—
    a flagpole on a hill with no flag,
    a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off.”

¹⁸But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.
    He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
    Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

^19-22 Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he’ll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he’ll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: “This is the right road. Walk down this road.” You’ll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You’ll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, “Good riddance!”

^23-26 God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills. Better yet, on the Day God heals his people of the wounds and bruises from the time of punishment, moonlight will flare into sunlight, and sunlight, like a whole week of sunshine at once, will flood the land.

* * *

^27-28 Look, God’s on his way,
    and from a long way off!
Smoking with anger,
    immense as he comes into view,
Words steaming from his mouth,
    searing, indicting words!
A torrent of words, a flash flood of words
    sweeping everyone into the vortex of his words.
He’ll shake down the nations in a sieve of destruction,
    herd them into a dead end.

^29-33 But you will sing,
    sing through an all-night holy feast!
Your hearts will burst with song,
    make music like the sound of flutes on parade,
En route to the mountain of God,
    on the way to the Rock of Israel.
God will sound out in grandiose thunder,
    display his hammering arm,
Furiously angry, showering sparks—
    cloudburst, storm, hail!
Oh yes, at God’s thunder
    Assyria will cower under the clubbing.
Every blow God lands on them with his club
    is in time to the music of drums and pipes,
God in all-out, two-fisted battle,
    fighting against them.
Topheth’s fierce fires are well prepared,
    ready for the Assyrian king.
The Topheth furnace is deep and wide,
    well stoked with hot-burning wood.
God’s breath, like a river of burning pitch,
    starts the fire.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The rulers of Jerusalem did not seek the will of God.  The leaders did not want to hear God’s truth; they wanted pleasant words from the false prophets, sermons that would not disturb their comfortable way of life. The situation does not seem much different today. God’s message is ignored and His messengers are mocked.

Rebellion against God leads nowhere.   So God’s waits for us…

From rebellion to restoration: “The LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you”, Isaiah told the people. God’s grace is His favor toward those who do not deserve it, and it is only because of His grace that we have any blessings at all. Isaiah described that future day when Israel would be restored to her land to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom. The people would be like liberated prisoners of war.

Repent and be restored to all that is God.  Abiding with God leads to adventures with Him far above our wildest imaginations.  HIS plan is always much greater than any of the plans we will dream of in this life.

Lord,

In the Name of Jesus, we come to you to be cleansed and made holy.  Renew our Spirits, refresh our souls, restore the joy of your salvation in us.  Transform our lives to be and more and more like you—in the image we were created.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Teenagers—gotta love ‘em!  As our parents loved us through the taunting teen years, we also love our kids and grandkids through these often exasperating years of growing and maturing.  Some grow up.  Some get older chronologically but stay the same with the same attitudes of “knowing it all” without caring for learning more.  We try to tell those in the teen years that we are on their side with how much we love and care for them—even as they mock every word we say and every action we take.  We tell them, “There is nothing you can do that will make us stop loving you” and sometimes they/we take that on as a challenge.  Those with teen faith tell us who believe in God that we are fools to trust in Someone we cannot see or touch.  Teen years.  Somehow most do grow up and make it to be contributing adults to society as believers.

Yesterday we talked of Toddler Faith that is a very immature faith, a faith that solely depends of others to help them through life.  It seems the next stage of faith can be like the behaviors of those in the teen years of maturing and growing.  How exasperated do we make God in our behaviors through our “teenage faith” years?  I cringe at the thought and repent once more! 

Isaiah is describing the people of the world in his day as those stuck in the teen years of turning from God with blinded eyes and deaf ears. (So much like teens, right?)  So, I think we can all relate to this passage, see ourselves and well, repent of not listening and learning as we should.  Life is not all about us.  Life comes for the Source of all Life.  Eternal Life is a gift for all who believe—even when mocked and made a fool by worldview thinking that comes from God’s enemy.  The real fools are those who do not believe and turn from the Father, God, who created them. 

The Good News is that God knew we would go through the “teenage phase of growing faith” after the Toddler years.  He provided help and a plan.  That Plan was Jesus who took our place for the punishment we should have had for our foolish behaviors of sin.  Test your faith but do not test God, the Father.  Grow up, mature, leave the fools and foolishness of the world behind.  Abide in Jesus and He will abide in you.  Listen to the Holy Spirit who was given as a gift to guide us into wisdom, insight and understanding of who God is and what He does in and for us. 

Isaiah 29, The Message

Blind Yourselves So That You See Nothing

^1-4 Doom, Ariel, Ariel,
    the city where David set camp!
Let the years add up,
    let the festivals run their cycles,
But I’m not letting up on Jerusalem.
    The moaning and groaning will continue.
    Jerusalem to me is an Ariel.
Like David, I’ll set up camp against you.
    I’ll set siege, build towers,
    bring in siege engines, build siege ramps.
Driven into the ground, you’ll speak,
    you’ll mumble words from the dirt—
Your voice from the ground, like the muttering of a ghost.
    Your speech will whisper from the dust.

^5-8 But it will be your enemies who are beaten to dust,
    the mob of tyrants who will be blown away like chaff.
Because, surprise, as if out of nowhere,
    a visit from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
With thunderclaps, earthquakes, and earsplitting noise,
    backed up by hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning strikes,
And the mob of enemies at war with Ariel,
    all who trouble and hassle and torment her,
    will turn out to be a bad dream, a nightmare.
Like a hungry man dreaming he’s eating steak
    and wakes up hungry as ever,
Like a thirsty woman dreaming she’s drinking iced tea
    and wakes up thirsty as ever,
So that mob of nations at war against Mount Zion
    will wake up and find they haven’t shot an arrow,
    haven’t killed a single soul.

^9-10 Drug yourselves so you feel nothing.
    Blind yourselves so you see nothing.
Get drunk, but not on wine.
    Black out, but not from whiskey.
For God has rocked you into a deep, deep sleep,
    put the discerning prophets to sleep,
    put the farsighted seers to sleep.

You Have Everything Backward

^11-12 What you’ve been shown here is somewhat like a letter in a sealed envelope. If you give it to someone who can read and tell her, “Read this,” she’ll say, “I can’t. The envelope is sealed.” And if you give it to someone who can’t read and tell him, “Read this,” he’ll say, “I can’t read.”

* * *

^13-14 The Master said:

“These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
    but their hearts aren’t in it.
Because they act like they’re worshiping me
    but don’t mean it,
I’m going to step in and shock them awake,
    astonish them, stand them on their ears.
The wise ones who had it all figured out
    will be exposed as fools.
The smart people who thought they knew everything
    will turn out to know nothing.”

^15-16 Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track.
    You shut God out and work behind the scenes,
Plotting the future as if you knew everything,
    acting mysterious, never showing your hand.
You have everything backward!
    You treat the potter as a lump of clay.
Does a book say to its author,
    “He didn’t write a word of me”?
Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it,
    “She had nothing to do with this”?

^17-21 And then before you know it,
    and without you having anything to do with it,
Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens,
    and Mount Carmel reforested.
At that time the deaf will hear
    word-for-word what’s been written.
After a lifetime in the dark,
    the blind will see.
The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God,
    the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel.
For there’ll be no more gangs on the street.
    Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species.
Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean
    will never be heard of again:
Gone the people who corrupted the courts,
    gone the people who cheated the poor,
    gone the people who victimized the innocent.

^22-24 And finally this, God’s Message for the family of Jacob,
    the same God who redeemed Abraham:
“No longer will Jacob hang his head in shame,
    no longer grow gaunt and pale with waiting.
For he’s going to see his children,
    my personal gift to him—lots of children.
And these children will honor me
    by living holy lives.
In holy worship they’ll honor the Holy One of Jacob
    and stand in holy awe of the God of Israel.
Those who got off-track will get back on-track,
    and complainers and whiners will learn gratitude.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Grow with what you know…

“So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds^[a] and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.”  Hebrews 6:1-3, NLT

The people of Jerusalem were ignorant of what was going on. Their hearts were far from God. They were going through the outward forms of worship and faithfully keeping the annual festivals, but this was not a true worship of God. Going to the temple was popular, but most of the people did not take their worship seriously. Therefore, God sent a spiritual blindness and stupor on His people so that they could not understand their own law. Such blindness persists today. If people will not accept the truth, then they must become more and more blind and accept lies. (See John 9:39–41; 2 Thess. 2:1–12.)  They are stuck in the teen years of stagnating faith.

“Backward Thinking”…

This “woe” exposed the devious political tactics of the rulers of Judah, who thought that God would not hold them accountable for what they were doing. They were trying to turn things upside down, like the clay telling the Potter what to do. If only people would seek the counsel of the Lord instead of depending on their own wisdom and fragile human promises!

Isaiah asked the people to look ahead and consider what God had planned for them. In their political strategy, they had turned things upside down, but God would one day turn everything around by establishing His glorious kingdom on earth. The devastated land would become a paradise, the disabled would be healed, and the outcasts would be enriched and rejoice in the Lord.

Grow up and believe in the One who loves us most!  Listen, learn and grow in His grace.

Lord,

Thank you for consistently challenging me to grow up!  I repent of thinking I can do life without your help.  That is foolish!  I repent of not listening to your Spirit speak words of wisdom to me when I need it most.  Thank you for your patience with me as I grow in your love. Thank you for loving me like you do. Help me to love others like you love me, always pointing the Way to you, the Truth, who gives Life eternal.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.

We hear the message of God, are impressed by the message of salvation through Jesus, but living the message every day is on another level of believing.  Putting all our trust in God for all of life, not just the part of life others see when they look at us in a church environment, is on a higher level of thinking. 

In the beginning as a new believer, we think we finally have it altogether.  We “fit” our new faith into the life we had before.  We think we finally have it made in the shade.  We have God and we still have our independence in the world.  So, why are we falling down and stumbling as an obstacle gets in our way?  Friends, this is the toddler form of believing. It is God, and only God, who has it altogether for us.  It is God who is patience with our toddler ways while we grow in our walk with him.  We stumble and fall with lessons of trust yet to learn.  God waits for us to look up to Him with complete trust from a sincere heart who is completely focused on Him.  As we leave our past behind, turn from the world we lived in before that distracted us, look up to Him; God builds our faith in Him.  God helps us to stand up and try this walk again—and again.

Be born again, believe and be saved—with ALL that is in us.  Our hope, faith and trust is begins with Jesus, the Cornerstone of this new life being built day by day.  It is Jesus, God’s Son, who opens the door to God’s power to grow us from toddler trust to a growing faith that gives abundant life now and for eternity.  We must leave the toddler ways and grow up, mature, take His hand and allow God to lead every part of our life so we can grow into all He created us to be and do.  This is the message of Isaiah to God’s People from God.  Listen to Him.

Isaiah 28, The Message

God Will Speak in Baby Talk

^1-4 Doom to the pretentious drunks of Ephraim,
    shabby and washed out and seedy—
Tipsy, sloppy-fat, beer-bellied parodies
    of a proud and handsome past.
Watch closely: God has someone picked out,
    someone tough and strong to flatten them.
Like a hailstorm, like a hurricane, like a flash flood,
    one-handed he’ll throw them to the ground.
Samaria, the party hat on Israel’s head,
    will be knocked off with one blow.
It will disappear quicker than
    a piece of meat tossed to a dog.

^5-6 At that time, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will be
    the beautiful crown on the head of what’s left of his people:
Energy and insights of justice to those who guide and decide,
    strength and prowess to those who guard and protect.

^7-8 These also, the priest and prophet, stagger from drink,
    weaving, falling-down drunks,
Besotted with wine and whiskey,
    can’t see straight, can’t talk sense.
Every table is covered with vomit.
    They live in vomit.

^9-10 “Is that so? And who do you think you are to teach us?
    Who are you to lord it over us?
We’re not babies in diapers
    to be talked down to by such as you—
‘Da, da, da, da,
    blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
    that’s a good little boy.’”

^11-12 But that’s exactly how you will be addressed.
    God will speak to this people
In baby talk, one syllable at a time—
    and he’ll do it through foreign oppressors.
He said before, “This is the time and place to rest,
    to give rest to the weary.
This is the place to lay down your burden.”
    But they won’t listen.

¹³ So God will start over with the simple basics
    and address them in baby talk, one syllable at a time—
“Da, da, da, da,
    blah, blah, blah, blah.
That’s a good little girl,
    that’s a good little boy.”
And like toddlers, they will get up and fall down,
    get bruised and confused and lost.

^14-15 Now listen to God’s Message, you scoffers,
    you who rule this people in Jerusalem.
You say, “We’ve taken out good life insurance.
    We’ve hedged all our bets, covered all our bases.
No disaster can touch us. We’ve thought of everything.
    We’re advised by the experts. We’re set.”

The Meaning of the Stone

^16-17 But the Master, God, has something to say to this:

“Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,
    a solid granite foundation, squared and true.
And this is the meaning of the stone:
    a trusting life won’t topple.
I’ll make justice the measuring stick
    and righteousness the plumb line for the building.
A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,
    and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.

^18-22 “Then you’ll see that your precious life insurance policy
    wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Your careful precautions against death
    were a pack of illusions and lies.
When the disaster happens,
    you’ll be crushed by it.
Every time disaster comes, you’ll be in on it—
    disaster in the morning, disaster at night.”
Every report of disaster
    will send you cowering in terror.
There will be no place where you can rest,
    nothing to hide under.
God will rise to full stature,
    raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim
And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines.
    But this time it’s against you.
Hard to believe, but true.
    Not what you’d expect, but it’s coming.
Sober up, friends, and don’t scoff.
    Scoffing will just make it worse.
I’ve heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.

* * *

^23-26 Listen to me now.
    Give me your closest attention.
Do farmers plow and plow and do nothing but plow?
    Or harrow and harrow and do nothing but harrow?
After they’ve prepared the ground, don’t they plant?
    Don’t they scatter dill and spread cumin,
Plant wheat and barley in the fields
    and raspberries along the borders?
They know exactly what to do and when to do it.
    Their God is their teacher.

^27-29 And at the harvest, the delicate herbs and spices,
    the dill and cumin, are treated delicately.
On the other hand, wheat is threshed and milled, but still not endlessly.
    The farmer knows how to treat each kind of grain.
He’s learned it all from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    who knows everything about when and how and where.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What we learn most are located in the last words of this passage.  As the farmer knows how to grow a crop that will feed his family, God knows everything, absolutely everything about the seed of salvation he plants in us to grow His family!  God knows exactly how to help us grow, when to give us what we need to grow with where to plant us so we will bear His fruit—the fruits of His Holy Spirit. 

Planting and growing by God begins with saying yes to Jesus, His Son.  “Yes, I believe.”  “Yes, you have all of me.”  “Yes, You are all I need.”  Growing goes on forever until Jesus comes back and takes us home.  This planting process is used by God for others toddling around in the world to see, know, trust and believe in the One and Only who plants the seed of salvation in them.  In other words, what grows in faith multiplies with trust in God!  And it all begins with Jesus.

Lord,

God of heaven and earth, heavenly Father, take my hand and lead me.  I trust in you, dear Jesus, for my salvation.  I rely on your Holy Spirit to grow and mature me each day of my walk with You.In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Yes and Amen!

While in prayer this morning, before reading this passage, a thought came to me.  There is only One we can apply the words “never and always” to when talking to Him or about Him.  Humans do not fit this narrative of description but we try.  We are, well human. Let me explain. We really cannot “always” rely on ourselves to be or do anything. 

Using the word “never” cannot apply to humans either.  For example, “We never sin.”  Nope, we do. When talking to our loved ones, the word never sometimes slips out of our mouths in frustration,  “You never take out the trash when I ask you.”  Nope, sometimes they do (and we didn’t notice).  “You never tell me you love me.”  That isn’t true either if we are merely looking for the words and not the behaviors of love. Could we express our love more, yes, but does the word never fit the situation?  I doubt it.

We humans do not fall in the “always” category either.  “I will always stay with you, you can count on me.”  That just isn’t true, humans can’t possibly fulfill that statement no matter how deep your commitment is to another person.  There are too many instances and roadblocks that happen in life to prove this wrong.  We cannot physically or even mentally and emotionally be always attentive—we are human!

Only God is “always” and “never.”  God is ALWAYS with us.  God NEVER changes in His love and faithfulness to us.  “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:16-17, NLT 

God’s love never changes.  There is nothing we can do that will change His love for us.

God always wants His best for us.  God always provides where He guides us.  God is always with us who believe and call on Him in the Name of Jesus, His Son.  God always hears every prayer we pray with sincere hearts.

God always hears our praises.  God always sees our hearts.  God is the giver of Life.  God will always fight our battles with the one who seeks to destroy us.  Isaiah speaks of this truth.

Isaiah 27, The Message

Selected Grain by Grain

At that time God will unsheathe his sword,
    his merciless, massive, mighty sword.
He’ll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees,
    the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight.
He’ll kill that old dragon
    that lives in the sea.

^2-5 “At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear.
    There’s something to sing about!
I, God, tend it.
    I keep it well-watered.
I keep careful watch over it
    so that no one can damage it.
I’m not angry. I care.
    Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes,
I’ll just pull them out
    and burn them up.

Let that vine cling to me for safety,
    let it find a good and whole life with me,
    let it hold on for a good and whole life.”

⁶ The days are coming when Jacob
    shall put down roots,
Israel blossom and grow fresh branches,
    and fill the world with its fruit.

^-11 Has God knocked them to the ground
    as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no.
Were they killed
    as their killers were killed? Again, no.
He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence.
    He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.

But the good news is that through this experience
    Jacob’s guilt was taken away.
    The evidence that his sin is removed will be this:
He will tear down the alien altars,
    take them apart stone by stone,
And then crush the stones into gravel
    and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.
For there’s nothing left of that pretentious grandeur.
    Nobody lives there anymore. It’s unlivable.
But animals do just fine,
    browsing and bedding down.
And it’s not a bad place to get firewood.
    Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful.
It’s the remains of a people with no sense of God.
    So, the God who made them
Will have nothing to do with them.
    He who formed them will turn his back on them.

^12-13 At that time God will thresh
    from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt,
And you, people of Israel,
    will be selected grain by grain.
At that same time a great trumpet will be blown,
    calling home the exiles from Assyria,
Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt
    to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Come and worship God!  Come in gratitude to our God who is always with us and never changes in His love for us! 

God ALWAYS keeps His promises to His Chosen!  Satan held these nations in bondage through their superstitious religions, but the remnant—God’s People did not need to fear the false gods of the Gentiles. God’s people today are set free from bondage to Satan and the false gods which he seduces people to worship (See Colossians 2:13–15), and we can rejoice in our Lord’s great victory!

“Let that vine cling to me for safety, let it find a good and whole life with me,
    let it hold on for a good and whole life.”

Jesus, Son of God, said the same, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5

Jesus, the One and Only, is always The Way to Truth that gives eternal Life with God.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  John 15:9-12

God always has the last word.  God never changes.

Lord,

Thank you for being our constant in life, our Savior and Lord, our Protector and Provider ALWAYS!  Thank you for never changing in your love for us.  Thank you for never changing your promises to us in an everchanging world of distracted and confused humans.  Open our eyes to see You.  Open our ears to hear your voice above all other voices and run to You.  Help us to love each other like you love us!

In Jesus Name, Amen

There is no one like our God to pump life back into our being after being tested and tried through difficult circumstances that can bring us to the edge of death.  God’s life-giving power brings the pink back into our pale cheeks, the sparkle back into our eyes, the spring in our step and the smile back to our faces!  When victory in Jesus is seen and felt on the other side of troubles, we experience life abundant that is beyond our wildest dreams.  We rise up and move forward once more, never giving up on God who is the creator of Life. 

Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus who rose from the dead!  Our faith is made stronger.  Our trust in God builds in us giving us confidence to keep moving on His path that leads to level ground thinking and behaving.  And oh, how our love for God grows deeper as we live this abundant life, larger than life, more life all because Jesus who saved us from death.  Jesus rose from the grave so we could run out of that grave with him and live—really live. 

There is no hope, help or meaning in death for the unbeliever.  Death is the opposite of life.  So dear friends, run from all that leads to death, the smell of death, the habits of the dead, the walking dead that we see each day and LIVE!  Believe is Jesus who is LIFE.  Jesus in us is the secret to LIFE! 

LIFE is the heart cry of Isaiah to a people who thought death might be the only option for them.  But then God stepped in and saved the remnant who believed.  Isiah writes a prose of praise for this new life that will come for the never giving up on God remnant. 

Let us join Isaiah in being grateful to God for all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives as we live abundant lives because of His love, mercy and grace.

Isaiah 26, The Message

Stretch the Borders of Life

^1-6 At that time, this song
    will be sung in the country of Judah:
We have a strong city, Salvation City,
    built and fortified with salvation.
Throw wide the gates
    so good and true people can enter.
People with their minds set on you,
    you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
    because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
    because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
Those who lived high and mighty
    he knocked off their high horse.
He used the city built on the hill
    as fill for the marshes.
All the exploited and outcast peoples
    build their lives on the reclaimed land.

^7-10 The path of right-living people is level.
    The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
We’re in no hurry, God. We’re content to linger
    in the path sign-posted with your decisions.
Who you are and what you’ve done
    are all we’ll ever want.
Through the night my soul longs for you.
    Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.
When your decisions are on public display,
    everyone learns how to live right.
If the wicked are shown grace,
    they don’t seem to get it.
In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living,
    blind to the splendor of God.

^11-15 You hold your hand up high, God,
    but they don’t see it.
Open their eyes to what you do,
    to see your zealous love for your people.
Shame them. Light a fire under them.
    Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
God, order a peaceful and whole life for us
    because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
O God, our God, we’ve had other masters rule us,
    but you’re the only Master we’ve ever known.
The dead don’t talk,
    ghosts don’t walk,
Because you’ve said, “Enough—that’s all for you,”
    and wiped them off the books.
But the living you make larger than life.
    The more life you give, the more glory you display,
    and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!

^16-18 O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,
    when your discipline was so heavy
    they could barely whisper a prayer.
Like a woman having a baby,
    writhing in distress, screaming her pain
    as the baby is being born,
That’s how we were because of you, O God.
    We were pregnant full-term.
We writhed in labor but bore no baby.
    We gave birth to wind.
Nothing came of our labor.
    We produced nothing living.
    We couldn’t save the world.

¹⁹ But friends, your dead will live,
    your corpses will get to their feet.
All you dead and buried,
    wake up! Sing!
Your dew is morning dew
    catching the first rays of sun,
The earth bursting with life,
    giving birth to the dead.

^20-21 Come, my people, go home
    and shut yourselves in.
Go into seclusion for a while
    until the punishing wrath is past,
Because God is sure to come from his place
    to punish the wrong of the people on earth.
Earth itself will point out the bloodstains;
    it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Warren Wiersbe said it best, “Israel sings once more, but this time the emphasis is on righteousness and peace. We cannot experience true peace apart from righteousness (being made right with God in our relationship with Him), and we can have no righteousness apart from God’s salvation in Jesus Christ (See Romans 3:21–31). It is at Calvary that “righteousness and peace have kissed” each other (Psalm 85:10).

Jesus came to earth as the only Way to Truth about God who gives LIFE!  Jesus is the true King of Righteousness and King of Peace! 

“But the living you make larger than life. The more life you give, the more glory you display, and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!”  Isaiah 26

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”  John 3:16-18, The Message

Believe and be saved—for Life!

Lord,

Thank you for the words of Isaiah to remind us of the life abundant we have with You!  Life with you gives victory over death.  Our final destination is life forever with you! Thank you for all you have done, are doing and will do in and through my life.  More and more life because of your amazing love!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Oh God, You are my God
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

Oh God, You are my God
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And Step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days…

We are at our best when we stop all our thinking and over thinking, stop all we are doing and plan to do and just praise God.  We were created to praise our God.  Pure praise to God is a process of emptying our hearts and minds of self while God fills us with Hope.  Our Hope is Jesus.

Yes, Lord God, like Isaiah, I will celebrate you right now in this place.  I will praise you with all that is in me!  Step by step you lead me and I will follow you all of my days!

Isaiah 25, The Message

God’s Hand Rests on This Mountain

^1-5 God, you are my God.
    I celebrate you. I praise you.
You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders,
    well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.
Here you’ve reduced the city to rubble,
    the strong city to a pile of stones.
The enemy Big City is a non-city,
    never to be a city again.
Superpowers will see it and honor you,
    brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.
They’ll see that you take care of the poor,
    that you take care of poor people in trouble,
Provide a warm, dry place in bad weather,
    provide a cool place when it’s hot.
Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard
    and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.
But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun,
    shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.

^6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
    will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
    a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
    the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
    Yes, he’ll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
    He’ll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
    Yes! God says so!

^9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
    “Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
    This God, the one we waited for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
    God’s hand rests on this mountain!”

^10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like trash,
    waste shoveled into a cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
    like swimmers trying to stay afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
    Their pride will pull them under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
    those mighty walls reduced to dust.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This chapter is a song of praise to the Lord from the believing remnant that he preserved during the day of the Lord. Prophetic songs of hindsight are useful to us in reminding us what we will eventually see when we look back on all that God has done in our lives that we are unable to see clearly moment by moment. 

We look back with gratitude for all God has done in our lives.  We look up with praise to God for all He is doing right now.  We look forward with Hope.  And in all things, we sing and celebrate God who was, is and always will be our God.

“I made you, and I will care for you.”  Isaiah 46:4

Lord,

I praise you for all you have done through out my life to teach me, bring me out of trouble, set feet on solid ground, love me unconditionally so much that you died and rose again so my sins could be paid for in full.  Who is like you, Lord?  No one.  No one is like you!  To you be all glory for all that is good, right and pleasing to you.

I praise you for how you are working in my life right now in a new season of my life.  I praise you for providing for our needs and protecting us from all that evil would like to do to us. 

I praise you for the Hope in Jesus, now and forever.  I praise you for the room you are preparing not only for me but all who believe in you and live life in your ways.

I believe.  I always have and always will.  You are God.  I am yours.

In Jesus Name, Amen

We had a wonderful opportunity this past summer to make a long journey by car to see dear family members we hadn’t seen in years.  Facebook helps us keep in touch but it does not compare with being able to sit with family, share meals, and hear their stories of how life is with them.  Families who love and encourage each other in these settings are the best!  We left Wyoming with good memories of being together.  Our relationships were not only restored but deepened in our love for them.  What a blessing from God! 

When we love God back, realizing His relentless, unconditional love for us, God’s love takes on new meaning in our love for each other.  God’s love in us begins to grow His character traits in us!  Our love for each other becomes more unconditional, less judgmental, sweeter, gentle, patience and more kind.  We begin to think the best, not the worst of others and our circumstances.  We begin to know that there is nothing people we love like God loves us can do in life that would keep us from loving them.  THIS is how God loves us!

When God tells Isaiah to tell the people who is in control, who will love and protect them always, who is faithful to help when we need it most, with who is fighting our battles and restoring the land where we live, THIS is the love of God expressed to those who love Him back with desires to follow His ways.  Those who love, sing and rejoice.  Those who do not will pay the price of their unloving, destructive and abusive ways.  Some call it karma.  God calls it justice.  And only God is the Judge.

In our lives, there will always be “danger ahead” but God arrives before we get there with a Plan to restore peace.  Always. Great is His faithfulness!

Isaiah 24, The Message

The Landscape Will Be a Moonscape

24 ^1-3 Danger ahead! God’s about to ravish the earth
    and leave it in ruins,
Rip everything out by the roots
    and send everyone scurrying:
        priests and laypeople alike,
        owners and workers alike,
        celebrities and nobodies alike,
        buyers and sellers alike,
        bankers and beggars alike,
        the haves and have-nots alike.
The landscape will be a moonscape,
    totally wasted.
And why? Because God says so.
    He’s issued the orders.

⁴ The earth turns gaunt and gray,
    the world silent and sad,
    sky and land lifeless, colorless.

Earth Polluted by Its Very Own People

^5-13 Earth is polluted by its very own people,
    who have broken its laws,
Disrupted its order,
    violated the sacred and eternal covenant.
Therefore a curse, like a cancer,
    ravages the earth.
Its people pay the price of their sacrilege.
    They dwindle away, dying out one by one.
No more wine, no more vineyards,
    no more songs or singers.
The laughter of castanets is gone,
    the shouts of celebrants, gone,
    the laughter of fiddles, gone.
No more parties with toasts of champagne.
    Serious drinkers gag on their drinks.
The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns.
    Every house is boarded up, condemned.
People riot in the streets for wine,
    but the good times are gone forever—
    no more joy for this old world.
The city is dead and deserted,
    bulldozed into piles of rubble.
That’s the way it will be on this earth.
    This is the fate of all nations:
An olive tree shaken clean of its olives,
    a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.

^14-16 But there are some who will break into glad song.
    Out of the west they’ll shout of God’s majesty.
Yes, from the east God’s glory will ascend.
    Every island of the sea
Will broadcast God’s fame,
    the fame of the God of Israel.
From the four winds and the seven seas we hear the singing:
    “All praise to the Righteous One!”

^16-20 But I said, “That’s all well and good for somebody,
    but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom.”
All of them at one another’s throats,
    yes, all of them at one another’s throats.
Terror and pits and booby traps
    are everywhere, whoever you are.
If you run from the terror,
    you’ll fall into the pit.
If you climb out of the pit,
    you’ll get caught in the trap.
Chaos pours out of the skies.
    The foundations of earth are crumbling.
Earth is smashed to pieces,
    earth is ripped to shreds,
    earth is wobbling out of control,
Earth staggers like a drunk,
    sways like a shack in a high wind.
Its piled-up sins are too much for it.
    It collapses and won’t get up again.

^21-23 That’s when God will call on the carpet
    rebel powers in the skies and
Rebel kings on earth.
    They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail,
Corralled and locked up in a jail,
    and then sentenced and put to hard labor.
Shamefaced moon will cower, humiliated,
    red-faced sun will skulk, disgraced,
Because God-of-the-Angel-Armies will take over,
    ruling from Mount Zion and Jerusalem,
Splendid and glorious
    before all his leaders.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Chapters 24-27 describe a global judgment that will end with the destruction of God’s enemies and the restoration of God’s people Israel in their land. Nobody on earth will escape, for “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Position, power, and wealth are no protection against the wrath of God. The Lord merely speaks the word and people who are proud of their wealth and position will find themselves poor and without power. These judgments will also be part of the spiritual battle that has been waging for centuries between the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and the armies of the devil.  This passage parallels Revelation 20:1-3.

We are stewards of what God has given to us to manage!  Why does God punish the inhabitants of the world? Because they have defiled the world by their sins. When Adam sinned, God cursed the ground as a part of the punishment), and God warned the people of Israel that their sins polluted the Promised Land. Today we see human greed polluting land, water, and atmosphere, as well as exploiting the earth of its God-given treasures. Sin has consequences in nature as well as in human character and conscience.

Love God.  Love Each Other.  May the restoration of our souls to God lead to restored relationships with each other.

FUN FACT: The only singing during this harvest will be done by the believing remnant who trust God and are delivered. The doctrine of “the remnant” is an important part of Isaiah’s message; Isaiah’s eldest son was named “a remnant will return.”

May a new respect, reverence and awe for what God has given to us to manage be developed well within us so that when all is said and done on earth, we hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Lord,

We learn from Isaiah that our world is given to us to manage well, to bring honor and glory to you.  We learn that you will take care of our enemies of the faith. We love how you love and care for us in all kinds of ways.  Help me to love like you love us.

In Jesus Name, Amen

If we were to name the number one sin that brings us to our knees it would be pride.  Our pride driven by self-fulfillment, wanting to be what we want and do things our way, is our “Achilles heel”—our true weakness in our faith when it comes to loving and serving God with ALL our hearts, minds and souls.  Our pride gets in our way of God’s way which is best.  Our pride keeps us in a box of our own limitations while God is outside the box waiting to take us to new heights that are beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations.

Pride begins as soon as we are born.  I remember as a toddler telling my mom or dad, “I can do this myself!”  It didn’t matter what the task was before me, I wanted to do it all by myself no matter the mess I would make.  Anger welled up if I was not allowed to do things on my own.  As I matured from thinking like a child, I had to “unlearn” the childish notions from the world telling us that we need no help in rising to the top of success, such as,  “Pull yourselves up from your own bootstraps”, (which is physically impossible).

It took a while, but I had to learn from God, that I needed Him most of all.  God would then send other prideless people on my path that would mentor me in humility versus pride. I wanted to grow in the ways of God.  So, I learned I really cannot do anything by myself except for one thing—I must decide to lay down my pride and walk humbly with God.  I also discovered that apart from God, His Son, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit, I can do nothing.  I am nothing of significance without Him! 

Yes, nothing to see here friends, but humility before God asking Him what HE wants for my life.  He is my rock, my salvation, and my best way of living life well.  In a world of people who seek “balance” in life, peace of mind, and ways to work smarter not harder, pride must be laid to rest for God’s best work to be done in us.  God will give humbled people all that we need to live a life with peace no matter what is happening around us in our world.  “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” –Jesus (Matthew 6:33) I highly recommend reading ALL of Matthew 6 as Jesus teaches the characteristics opposite of pride.

“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.”  Proverbs 16:18 was written from experience.  God’s people, (all of us) are pride-filled until we fall down before God and realize that God is God and we are not.

Isaiah foretells what happens to a pride-filled people who have turned away from God.  Nothing to see here but destruction. 

Isaiah posed almost a rhetorical question, “Who has brought this disaster on Tyre?” The Lord Almighty! Just as He purposed to destroy Egypt and Babylon, so He purposed to judge Tyre. Just as Assyria had destroyed the city of Babylon in 689 B.C., so Tyre and Sidon would be destroyed by a revived Babylon in 585–572 B.C.

The pride of Tyre was a sin that God could not ignore.

Isaiah 23, The Message

It Was All Numbers, Dead Numbers, Profit and Loss

23 ^1-4 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
    your strong seaports all in ruins!
When the ships returned from Cyprus,
    they saw the destruction.
Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast,
    merchants of Sidon.
Your people sailed the deep seas,
    buying and selling,
Making money on wheat from Shihor,
    grown along the Nile—
    multinational broker in grains!
Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up,
    the powerhouse of the ocean says,
“I’ve never had labor pains, never had a baby,
    never reared children to adulthood,
Never gave life, never worked with life.
    It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss.”

⁵ When Egypt gets the report on Tyre,
    what wailing! what wringing of hands!

Nothing Left Here to Be Proud Of

^6-12 Visit Tarshish, you who live on the seacoast.
    Take a good, long look and wail—yes, cry buckets of tears!
Is this the city you remember as energetic and alive,
    bustling with activity, this historic old city,
Expanding throughout the globe,
    buying and selling all over the world?
And who is behind the collapse of Tyre,
    the Tyre that controlled the world markets?
Tyre’s merchants were the business tycoons.
    Tyre’s traders called all the shots.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies ordered the crash
    to show the sordid backside of pride
    and puncture the inflated reputations.
Sail for home, O ships of Tarshish.
    There are no docks left in this harbor.
God reached out to the sea and sea traders,
    threw the sea kingdoms into turmoil.
God ordered the destruction
    of the seacoast cities, the centers of commerce.
God said, “There’s nothing left here to be proud of,
    bankrupt and bereft Sidon.
Do you want to make a new start in Cyprus?
    Don’t count on it. Nothing there will work out for you either.”

¹³ Look at what happened to Babylon: There’s nothing left of it. Assyria turned it into a desert, into a refuge for wild dogs and stray cats. They brought in their big siege engines, tore down the buildings, and left nothing behind but rubble.

¹⁴ Wail, ships of Tarshish,
    your strong seaports all in ruins!

* * *

^15-16 For the next seventy years, a king’s lifetime, Tyre will be forgotten. At the end of the seventy years, Tyre will stage a comeback, but it will be the comeback of a worn-out whore, as in the song:

“Take a harp, circle the city,
    unremembered whore.
Sing your old songs, your many old songs.
    Maybe someone will remember.”

^17-18 At the end of the seventy years, God will look in on Tyre. She’ll go back to her old whoring trade, selling herself to the highest bidder, doing anything with anyone—promiscuous with all the kingdoms of earth—for a fee. But everything she gets, all the money she takes in, will be turned over to God. It will not be put in banks. Her profits will be put to the use of God-Aware, God-Serving-People, providing plenty of food and the best of clothing.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Even before their eventual destruction, Tyre and Sidon would not be involved in business for seventy years. History reveals that the Assyrians restricted Phoenician trade from 700–630 B.C.; but when Assyria began to weaken in power, Tyre and Sidon revived their businesses. The prophet compared the revived city to an old prostitute who had to sing lovely songs in order to get attention.  Once again proving that Isaiah is truly a prophet from God!

On our journey through Isaiah, we have learned three very important truths about God:

1. God is in control.  There is nothing on earth that escapes the notice of God.
2. God hates the sin of pride.
3. God judges the way nations treat each other. 

When nations turn from the living God to trust their wealth and their armaments, God must show them that He is the only sure refuge.

Dear Friends, let us stay focused on God!  No matter how frightening the national or international situation may become, God’s children can have peace, because they know Almighty God is on His throne. The nations may rage and plot against God, but it is comforting to know God knows. When the Lord of heaven and earth is your Father, and you gladly see the yoke of Jesus, you have nothing to fear.  Nothing to see here but God at work in us!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

Lord,

I believe.  I accept your yoke and not my own yoke of pride.  Help me to walk humbly with you today, seeking you first, in all I am, think, say or do.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Have you experienced putting something of importance and meaningful significance away in a “special place” so it was protected and saved from harm, only to forget where that special place was when you needed it—And you never saw it again?

We become so foolish to think we have it all together, don’t we?  As soon as we think everything is in order, everything is in place, we forget where I put it.  Or we think “nailed it” when we think we have nailed down all that gets in our way—until it does and our lives suddenly fall apart.  The excuses are, “well, if I haven’t used it or needed it in the past, I don’t need it now” or “I will find another way to get around this”. These excuses do not work in our spiritual walk with God.  God proved our daily need for Him  over and over again throughout the history of His creation.  (See the story of His daily provision of manna in the desert in Exodus 16!) When we think we can do life without him, and we try, we need to think again.  Our efforts to do life on our own are in vain, lead to nothing in the end with only a few dying, cut flowers heaped on a grave. 

When God steps in with words of warning about where we are headed, we ignore, run from Him or we party.  Satisfying our desires for a good time, without concern for others, seems to be our only earthly goal.  Granted, we have thoughts of religion but we have put it in a special place for later.  Most of the world has forgotten where that special place is.  Many have forgotten God, along with forgetting His love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and grace.  We have forgotten that He longs for a relationship with us.  However, when we do remember, great is His faithfulness to us!  When we repent of going our own way with a humbled desire to honor Him with wanting His best way for us, life is altered, changed, transformed forever.

God’s enemy, working through gullible, selfish, proud people nailed Jesus, God Son, to a cross of shame, humility, and excoriating pain—for us.  The legalistic religioius thought they had finally defeated the One and Only who would change their world.  They really thought they had “nailed it,” putting things back in order, having it their way, without distraction from One who told them of their lack of relationship with God.  But in three days, only the nail pierced scars remained and life forever began—for all who would believe.  We must remember that it wasn’t the nails that held Jesus there, it was His love for us.  “Forgive them for they know not what they do” were His exact words.  Forgiveness of sin made complete—once and for all.  God has and always will have the final say. God nails it every time.  God knows us and provided a Way to Truth that leads to eternal Life by believing His Son sent to save us.

Isaiah 22, The Message

A Country of Cowards

22 ^1-3 A Message concerning the Valley of Vision:

What’s going on here anyway?
    All this partying and noisemaking,
Shouting and cheering in the streets,
    the city noisy with celebrations!
You have no brave soldiers to honor,
    no combat heroes to be proud of.
Your leaders were all cowards,
    captured without even lifting a sword,
A country of cowards
    captured escaping the battle.

You Looked, but You Never Looked to Him

^4-8 In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone.
    Let me grieve by myself.
Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right.
    These people are doomed. It’s not all right.”
For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people,
Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision,
    knocking down walls
    and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!”
Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth—
    weapons and chariots and cavalry.
Your fine valleys are noisy with war,
    chariots and cavalry charging this way and that.
    God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.

^8-11 You assessed your defenses that Day, inspected your arsenal of weapons in the Forest Armory. You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water.

You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.

^12-13 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    called out on that Day,
Called for a day of repentant tears,
    called you to dress in somber clothes of mourning.
But what do you do? You throw a party!
    Eating and drinking and dancing in the streets!
You barbecue bulls and sheep, and throw a huge feast—
    slabs of meat, kegs of beer.
“Seize the day! Eat and drink!
    Tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴ God-of-the-Angel-Armies whispered to me his verdict on this frivolity: “You’ll pay for this outrage until the day you die.” The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says so.

The Key of the Davidic Heritage

^15-19 The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, spoke: “Come. Go to this steward, Shebna, who is in charge of all the king’s affairs, and tell him: What’s going on here? You’re an outsider here and yet you act like you own the place, make a big, fancy tomb for yourself where everyone can see it, making sure everyone will think you’re important. God is about to sack you, to throw you to the dogs. He’ll grab you by the hair, swing you round and round dizzyingly, and then let you go, sailing through the air like a ball, until you’re out of sight. Where you’ll land, nobody knows. And there you’ll die, and all the stuff you’ve collected heaped on your grave. You’ve disgraced your master’s house! You’re fired—and good riddance!

^20-24 “On that Day I’ll replace Shebna. I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I’ll dress him in your robe. I’ll put your belt on him. I’ll give him your authority. He’ll be a father-leader to Jerusalem and the government of Judah. I’ll give him the key of the Davidic heritage. He’ll have the run of the place—open any door and keep it open, lock any door and keep it locked. I’ll pound him like a nail into a solid wall. He’ll secure the Davidic tradition. Everything will hang on him—not only the fate of Davidic descendants but also the detailed daily operations of the house, including cups and cutlery.

²⁵ “And then the Day will come,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies, “when that nail will come loose and fall out, break loose from that solid wall—and everything hanging on it will go with it.” That’s what will happen. God says so.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The people of Judah were behaving like their pagan neighbors, so it was only right that Isaiah should include them in the list of nations God would judge. Yes, in His mercy, the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrian army, but He would not deliver them from Babylon.

The unbelief of the people is described. In Isaiah’s day, Jerusalem was a joyous city as people would engage in all kinds of celebrations. The popular philosophy was, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die”. But the prophet did not participate in the parties, for he saw a day coming when death and destruction would reign in the city of David. The people went up to the housetops, but the prophet went down into one of the three valleys around Jerusalem; there God gave him a vision.

The people did everything but trust the Lord.  God had sent the nation many prophets to warn them, but the people would not listen. Now it was too late; their sins could not be forgiven because their hearts were hard. Judah would go into captivity, and God’s word to Isaiah would be fulfilled (Is. 6:9–13).

The leaders were unfaithful. Had the leaders been faithful to the Lord and called the people to repentance, there might have been hope. But too many of the leaders were like Shebna, thinking only of themselves. As treasurer (steward), Shebna was second to King Hezekiah in authority but he used his authority (and possibly the king’s money) to build himself a monumental tomb and to acquire chariots. Shebna was not a spiritual man, and he probably sided with the pro-Egypt party in Judah.  Politics over religion.  Religion over relationship with God.  Lost with no hope.

God chose a new man, Eliakim (“God will raise up”), and called him “My servant.” Instead of exploiting the people, he would be a father to them and use his “key” (authority, v. 22) for the good of the nation. He would be like a dependable peg, hammered into the wall, on which one could hang many burdens. But even a godly leader like Eliakim could not prevent the ultimate fall of Judah, for one day the whole nation would fall.

Eliakim is a picture of Jesus Christ (Rev. 3:7), the greatest Servant of all.  Jesus the One on whom all sin was placed and erased forever. 

Lord,

We are learning so much for our lives now through your prophet Isaiah who warned your chosen long ago.  Thank you for the warning for us today.  I repent of “storing” my relationship with you at times.  I repent of leaning toward the politics of religion versus nailing my relationship with you through prayer filled adoration while seeking you first before doing anything of significance.  Thank you for your forgiveness, help, provisions, and protection.  Most of all thank you for loving me the way you do.

In Jesus Name, Amen