Category Archives: Worthy of Fear / Reverence

All Powerful / King of All, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Faith / Trusting God, Mockers, Protector / Deliverer, Strong in Our Weakness, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

The World Will Tell Us That God Cannot Help

We will all face struggles in our life. We will face obstacles and enemies and challenges that are beyond our ability to manage on our own.  As we focus to put our faith in God, the world around us will tell us we are foolish and that God will not help us or does not exist. Stand strong. It is in God and God alone that we should trust in these circumstances.

Isaiah 36

Sennacherib Invades Judah

      1Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.

      4Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you have? 5“I say, ‘Your counsel and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? 6“Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8“Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9“How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10“Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

      11Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

      13Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14“Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us, this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18‘Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20‘Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

      21But they were silent and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Take heart and be encouraged. God is our rock eternal. God is our shield and protector. Do not be dismayed by the words of the world spoken against God. Instead, put your faith in God and lean not on your own understanding.

Take a few minutes in prayer to reflect and thank God for specific things He has done and is doing in your life to deliver you from difficulty. In what areas of your life are you now facing a difficulty for which you need to put your full trust in God? Ask Him to help in Jesus’ name.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Blessed, Curse, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Obeying God, Slow to Anger, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

God’s Wrath or God’s Blessing?

Isaiah 34 highlights God’s wrath against nations that choose not to submit to Him and live according to His ways. Those who choose their own ways, the ways of sin, are not pleasing to the LORD. There will be judgment. In fact, we can also remember that sin by itself, even without God’s wrath, separates us from God and transforms our personal lives, marriages, families, communities, or nation from what God desires to a mess.

Isaiah 34

God’s Wrath against Nations

1Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

2For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to slaughter.

3So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

4And all the host of heaven will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.

5For My sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom
And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

6The sword of the LORD is filled with blood,
It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7Wild oxen will also fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.

8For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.

10It will not be quenched night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.

11But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.

12Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its princes will be nothing.

13Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And an abode of ostriches.

14The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,
The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;
Yes, the night monster will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.

15The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.

16Seek from the book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.

17He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

Seek to live according to God’s ways. Do not sin. Seek forgiveness. Submit to the LORD. The very nature of living according to His instructions is to live in a way that loves God and loves others. On top of that, we want to seek and receive His blessing for obedience rather than His wrath for disobedience.

For those that want to focus on the forgiveness we get through Yeshua, that is true. We can be very grateful! However, He also tells us to go and sin no more, which is to repent and change our ways to God’s ways.

Take a few minutes to pray. Ask God to show you any areas in your life in which you have not fully submitted to Him. It may be a job or marriage. It could be a hobby or friends that you know are not a good influence. Once He shows you where you are not fully submitted, ask forgiveness and take action to bring that part of your life into submission before Him. No excuses.

Matthew 6:33

 33But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

Blessed, Compassionate, Curse, Doubt / Lacking Faith, Grace / Forgiveness, Repenting from Sin, Slow to Anger, Submitted / Servant, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

It’s Good to Have a Plan, But Make Sure It Is God’s Plan!

It is good that we have a plan for whatever challenges we face. However, we do well to ensure our plan is God’s plan. If we try to do things our way, instead of God’s, it is like adding to our problems instead of resolving them. Consult God and wait for His answer. Test your plans against the word of God.

Isaiah 30

Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance

1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;

      2Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

      3“Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.

      4“For their princes are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.

      5“Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,
Who are not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

      6The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev.
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;

      7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“Rahab who has been exterminated.”

      8Now go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.

      9For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the LORD;

      10Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right,
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.

      11“Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,

      13Therefore this iniquity will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,

      14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
So ruthlessly shattered
That a sherd will not be found among its pieces
To take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

15For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
“In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,

      16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses,”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

      17One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top
And as a signal on a hill.

God Is Gracious and Just

18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

      19O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”

      23Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

      27Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a remote place;
Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke;
His lips are filled with indignation
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;

      28His breath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.

      29You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

      30And the LORD will cause His voice of authority to be heard,
And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.

      31For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.

      32And every blow of the rod of punishment,
Which the LORD will lay on him,
Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.

      33For Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

Listen to God’s word. Seek out and listen to God Himself for your situation. If you have gone off making your own plans, stop now and consult Him. If appropriate, repent. Find your rest in the LORD. Trust in Him. He is waiting to be gracious and show compassion to you.  Do not trust in those who tell you what you want to hear, but rather trust in God who has the power to redeem and deliver you!

He is ready and waiting for you to make the next move.

Take a few minutes to pray. Ask the LORD to show you any areas in your life in which your plans do not line up with His plans. Wait for Him to answer. If it does not come right away, keep paying attention over the next few days as He may answer you in a different way. Let Him show you what you need to change and surrender to Him. Praise God for His compassion and grace.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faithful, His Timing Not Ours, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Loving / Kind, Merciful, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Protector / Deliverer, Provider, Strong in Our Weakness, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

I Will Exalt You, I Will Give Thanks to Your Name!

Take some time this day to reflect on God’s favor and give thanks!

Isaiah 25

Song of Praise for God’s Favor

1O LORD, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

      2For You have made a city into a heap,
A fortified city into a ruin;
A palace of strangers is a city no more,
It will never be rebuilt.

      3Therefore a strong people will glorify You;
Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

      4For You have been a defense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.

      5Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.

      6The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,
And refined, aged wine.

      7And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

      8He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.

      9And it will be said in that day,
“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

      10For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,
And Moab will be trodden down in his place
As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.

      11And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

      12The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

No matter what your situation may be, whether you are on the mountain or in the valley, trust in the LORD and give Him thanks and praise. His plans are good. He is faithful. He is our shield and protector and deliverer. Rejoice and be glad in His salvation!

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faith / Trusting God, Hope, Joy / Happiness / Rejoicing, Justice / Judgment, Protector / Deliverer, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Judgment on the Earth but the Remnant Still Rejoices

Many are concerned with a great variety of difficulties on the earth, such as pollution. They see in the carnal only, the physical. They do not see the spiritual. God shows us in Isaiah 24 that the earth is polluted by its inhabitants, not because they used too much plastic, but because they broke the covenant with God. The people have transgressed laws and violated statutes. People have turned what is good into evil and evil into good in their minds. It is this that defiles the earth. It is for this that the earth will be judged and those on it.

Be encouraged, though, as there will be a joyous remnant remaining. God will make a new heaven and a new earth. God will reign among His people again!

Isaiah 24

Judgment on the Earth

      1Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. 4The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

      7The new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the merry-hearted sigh.

      8The gaiety of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The gaiety of the harp ceases.

      9They do not drink wine with song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

      10The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

      11There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All joy turns to gloom.
The gaiety of the earth is banished.

      12Desolation is left in the city
And the gate is battered to ruins.

      13For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.

      14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.

      15Therefore glorify the LORD in the east,
The name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
In the coastlands of the sea.

      16From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

      17Terror and pit and snare
Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

      18Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

      19The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.

      20The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.

      21So it will happen in that day,
That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.

      22They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.

      23Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.

As believers, we can be encouraged that there is a remnant that survives and thrives with joy, even in hardship. Trust in God. Put your faith in Him. Rejoice and give thanks at all times.

I invite you to pray with me.

Father, thank You for protecting Your remnant and keeping us joyful! Thank You for the hope and faith that you will renew the earth and reign over us! Praise God who is worthy of all honor and glory. Amen. 

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faith / Trusting God, Faithful, Father / Yahweh, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Prophecy, Prophecy, Seeking God, Strong in Our Weakness, Through Prophets, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Though God May Seem Distant, He Simply Waits for His Timing

Sometimes God may seem disengaged from our trials and challenges for a time. However, in His timing, He will come against the enemies of His people. He does so in a way that brings honor and glory to His name.

Take heart and be encouraged if you are in a situation where it feels like God is distant. He has not changed. He is still sovereign. You need only focus on your relationship with God and trust in Him. He will come in His timing.

Isaiah 18

Message to Ethiopia

1Alas, oh land of whirring wings
Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush,

      2Which sends envoys by the sea,
Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.
Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth,
To a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation
Whose land the rivers divide.

      3All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth,
As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it,
And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.

4For thus the LORD has told me,
“I will look from My dwelling place quietly
Like dazzling heat in the sunshine,
Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

      5For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms
And the flower becomes a ripening grape,
Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives
And remove and cut away the spreading branches.

      6They will be left together for mountain birds of prey,
And for the beasts of the earth;
And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them,
And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

      7At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts
From a people tall and smooth,
Even from a people feared far and wide,
A powerful and oppressive nation,
Whose land the rivers divide—
To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, even Mount Zion.

God is always in control. God is always aware of our challenges and cares for us. In some cases, He is using tough situations to grow or shape us or draw us back near to Him. Trust in Him and focus on Him in any trials!

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You for the assurance that You will never leave nor forsake us. Thank You that we can trust in You even in difficult times! Thank You that You rescue us in Your timing to accomplish Your purposes, for we know that You love us. I pray this in the name of Yeshua. Amen. 

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Faith / Trusting God, Faithful, Father / Yahweh, Grace / Forgiveness, Hope, Loving / Kind, Merciful, Peace / Rest, Prophecy, Prophecy, Through Prophets, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Have You Ever Felt Overwhelmed?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the challenges and perhaps enemies you feel are coming before you? I suspect Judah felt that way when Israel and Syria were aligned against them. However, Isaiah 17 reminds us that God is all-powerful. He is able to bring down your enemies before you and remove what obstacles you are facing. Put your faith in the LORD. Follow His ways. Be encouraged.

I think the Matthew Henry Concise commentary includes some good background on Isaiah 17 for those interested. I want to highlight a few sentences in particular to share.

“Happy are those who remember God as their salvation, and rely on his power and grace. The trouble of the believers, and the prosperity of their enemies, will be equally short; while the joy of the former, and the destruction of those that hate and spoil them, shall last for ever.”

Isaiah 17

Prophecy about Damascus

      1The oracle concerning Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city
And will become a fallen ruin.

      2“The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks to lie down in,
And there will be no one to frighten them.

      3“The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the LORD of hosts.

      4Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

      5It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears,
Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the valley of Rephaim.

      6Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost bough,
Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,
Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

      7In that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

      8He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,
Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,
Even the Asherim and incense stands.

      9In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest,
Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;
And the land will be a desolation.

      10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange god.

      11In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

      12Alas, the uproar of many peoples
Who roar like the roaring of the seas,
And the rumbling of nations
Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!

      13The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.

      14At evening time, behold, there is terror!
Before morning they are no more.
Such will be the portion of those who plunder us
And the lot of those who pillage us.

I want to close by coming back to the point highlighted above from the Matthew Henry Concise commentary.

“Happy are those who remember God as their salvation, and rely on his power and grace. The trouble of the believers, and the prosperity of their enemies, will be equally short; while the joy of the former, and the destruction of those that hate and spoil them, shall last for ever.”

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, help me to remember You are my salvation. Help me to rely on Your power and grace. The trouble of believers and the prosperity of our enemies will be equally short. Our joy as believers will last forever as we draw nearer to You.  Help us to find peace by casting our anxiety and worries upon You for You care for us. I pray this in the name of Yeshua, Amen. 

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Justice / Judgment, Protector / Deliverer, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

God Is in Control Even in Hard Times

Isaiah 13 contains prophecies about Babylon. Isaiah is speaking from before the time when Babylon carried off God’s people into captivity. He does not specifically foretell the captivity, but he prophecies about Babylon facing judgment and being taken down by the Medes and Persians. Babylon was to be used by God to discipline His people, but their pride was not to be ignored. God already knew before He used them that He would also raise up the Medes and Persians to strike down the Babylonians and set His people free from captivity.

While some of these specific prophecies may seem unimportant on the surface to some today as “irrelevant”, I see several ways in which they are encouraging and relevant. When God brings judgment against His people or when we are in a difficult situation, He already knows how to deliver us, assuming we repent and turn to Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Even if we have done nothing wrong and are facing hard times, like Job, then we can still be encouraged that our Father already knows how and when He will deliver us.

This scripture also reminds us that God loves us. He will discipline those He loves. Do not think He is unwilling to use the godless to do so. He uses them for His own purposes. Sometimes they will appear to have victory for a while, and we may wonder why. However, God already knows how it will end.

Isaiah 13

Prophecies about Babylon

      1The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

      2Lift up a standard on the bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.

      3I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My mighty warriors,
My proudly exulting ones,
To execute My anger.

      4A sound of tumult on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.

      5They are coming from a far country,
From the farthest horizons,
The LORD and His instruments of indignation,
To destroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the LORD

6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

      7Therefore all hands will fall limp,
And every man’s heart will melt.

      8They will be terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.

      9Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

      10For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.

      11Thus I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.

      12I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.

      13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the LORD of hosts
In the day of His burning anger.

      14And it will be that like a hunted gazelle,
Or like sheep with none to gather them,
They will each turn to his own people,
And each one flee to his own land.

      15Anyone who is found will be thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.

      16Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ravished.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

17Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.

      18And their bows will mow down the young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their eye pity children.

      19And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

      20It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.

      21But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.

      22Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Her fateful time also will soon come
And her days will not be prolonged.

Be encouraged that God is never surprised. When He brings or allows difficulty for His people, He already knows how and when He will end it. In this way it is not unlike a parent disciplining a child. They may send the child to their room or ground them for a period of time, but they already know it will end. The child need only focus on obedience and humility, not how or when the situation will end.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, thank You for encouraging us through Your scripture. Thank You for loving us enough to keep directing us back to You. Help us to trust in You even during the hard times or when it seems like the godless have victory over Your people. You are worthy of praise and trust in all situations. Let us be encouraged to know that You are always in control!

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

Discipline / Guidance From God, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Justice / Judgment, Loving / Kind, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Unteachable / Foolish, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

When God Calls Us to Change Course, We Have a Decision to Make

When God is sending a message to you to repent and turn back to Him, take heed. Do not ignore the difficulties he is sending your way or He may simply escalate them. He is calling you to repent. He is calling you to come back humbly to Him. He is calling you to walk away (or run away) from the things in your life that are not of Him.

Do not take the attitude that Israel took with God as recorded in Isaiah 9. They were arrogant and simply kept assuring themselves that they could handle it their own way, without turning back to God. If He loves you, and you are not listening, He will turn up the volume to get your attention. Better to listen early than to wait until full volume.

Isaiah 9:8-21

God’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

8The Lord sends a message against Jacob,
And it falls on Israel.

      9And all the people know it,
That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
Asserting in pride and in arrogance of heart:

      10“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with smooth stones;
The sycamores have been cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”

      11Therefore the LORD raises against them adversaries from Rezin
And spurs their enemies on,

      12The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;
And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

      13Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,
Nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.

      14So the LORD cuts off head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

      15The head is the elder and honorable man,
And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

      16For those who guide this people are leading them astray;
And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

      17Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men,
Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows;
For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,
And every mouth is speaking foolishness.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

      18For wickedness burns like a fire;
It consumes briars and thorns;
It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

      19By the fury of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up,
And the people are like fuel for the fire;
No man spares his brother.

      20They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;
Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

      21Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
And together they are against Judah.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.

Take a few minutes to pray and quietly reflect on your own life. Ask the Spirit to show you specific areas in your life in which you need to repent and turn back to God. He may not answer you directly in your prayer time. He may answer you later. But try to take at least 5 minutes now and perhaps more later in the day and prayerfully reflect on this area of your life.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Knowing, All Powerful / King of All, Consequences of Sin, Discipline / Guidance From God, Justice / Judgment, Protector / Deliverer, Repenting from Sin, Teachable, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Victory Does Not Always Come Quickly or Without Challenges

In our last reading, we focused in on the first 9 verses of Isaiah 7. Today we zoom out the focus a bit and take in the whole of chapter 7 to see what message it may reveal to us.

It starts with a war against Jerusalem. God speaks through Isaiah a message of encouragement to the king of Judah, Ahaz. Though the enemies are feared, God says in verse 4 to remain calm and do not fear. Picking up in verse 9, we see emphasis that if he does not believe, then he will not last. This certainly gives a hint that there are some hard times coming for Jerusalem. In fact, as we read the rest of the chapter, we get just that message.

How many times in our own lives do we feel like we face something overwhelming? We should seek God first. Trust in what He tells us. If He tells us that we will have victory and not to fear, but to remain faithful, that that indeed is what we need to focus on in our situation, just like Ahaz and Jerusalem. Just because God gives us victory does not mean it will be easy or quick. Sometimes we must be prepared to wait faithfully for it.

Isaiah 7

War against Jerusalem

      1Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. 2When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.

      3Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field, 4and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5‘Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying, 6“Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7thus says the Lord GOD: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. 8“For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), 9and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”’”

The Child Immanuel

      10Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!” 13Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? 14“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15“He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16“For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

Trials to Come for Judah

      17“The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.”

      18In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places.

      20In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

      21Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; 22and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey.

      23And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. 24People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Remember from the earlier chapters of Isaiah, that God’s people had rebelled and were far from Him. This war and these tough times were brought as a result of that, perhaps to cleanse and refine them and bring about a repentance among the people. They needed a shakeup to return to the LORD. This is not a cruel God but rather a Father helping to steer His children back to the right path. Maybe a good lesson for us would be take care that we are not so hard hearted that God needs to be this direct with us when we need correction in our lives! Let us seek and expect the Spirit to guide us and be responsive with a lighter touch from the LORD.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, please strengthen our faith in times of challenge and hardship. Help us to seek and find You. Help us to grow and remain strong in our faith, even facing tough circumstances. It is little test of faith when all is going well. All praise and honor to You, O Lord my God. You are all powerful and all knowing. You know what is best for us as Your people and can bring it about, even if it is uncomfortable for us. If we need discipline to get back in right relationship with You, then please bring that as You see fit. We want to walk in Your ways and in Your presence.  In the name of Yeshua, our Messiah, we pray. Amen. 

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ

Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.