Devotionary

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Ep 824 – Isaiah 42:10-17 Mar 20, 2019

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In Isaiah 42:10-17, the prophet offers up a song of praise to God, sung in response to the news of Yahweh's future restoration of the people of Judah. God has promised to send His servant, a clear reference to the coming Messiah, who will rescue and restore the people of God. This prophetic word from God, received while Judah was surrounded by Assyrian troops and still reeling from the news of the coming Babylonian invasion, was just what Isaiah needed to hear. He was beside himself with joy and gratitude to God for His gracious offer of future redemption. Yes, God was still going to punish His people for their rebellion against Him, but He was also going to redeem His people and crush their enemies one. Not because they would somehow deserve or earn it, but simply because God is a covenant-keeping God. In a sense, God was going to give the people of Judah what they deserved: Judgment for their sins in the form of the Babylonian invasion of their land and their exile as captives. But God was also going to give them what they didn't deserve: Their future restoration to the land and to their place as His chosen people. And for Isaiah, that was news worth singing about.

Ep 823 – Isaiah 42:1-9 Mar 19, 2019

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God has established Himself as the one true God. He has ridiculed and lampooned the false gods of the world, exposing them for what they were: Lifeless and powerless. And because God is the sovereign God of the universe, He has a plan for that universe, and in Isaiah 42:1-9, He reveals that a day is coming when His Servant will show up on the scene, with a God-ordained commission to accomplish His redemptive plan on behalf of sinful mankind. Not only does God have plans for Israel and Judah, He has plans for the world He has made and for all humanity. The omnipotent, omniscient God knows how the story ends, because He wrote it. He is going to send His Servant, the Messiah, not once, but twice. He will come the first time as God incarnate, God in the flesh. And He will die a sacrificial death on behalf of condemned mankind. But because Jesus died and rose again, there is a day when He will return again. And when He does, He will come as the King of kings and Lord of lords. God has decreed it, and God will do it.

Ep 822 – Isaiah 41:21-29 Mar 18, 2019

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False gods have one major flaw: The are lifeless. Which means they have no power. They lack any capacity for speech, let alone any power to perform miracles. They can't predict the future because they aren't even aware of the present. In fact, they aren't aware of anything, because they are mindless. And in Isaiah 41:21-29, God calls the idols of the world to task, demanding that they be physically dragged into His divine courtroom, where they are commanded to defend themselves. This chapter is full of sarcasm, as God exposes the lunacy of idolatry. He condemns His own people for their love affair with false gods and reveals in embarrassing detail the glaring inadequacies of these man-made gods they have chosen to worship in place of Him. The contrast between the sovereign, all-powerful, and all-knowing God of the universe and these lifeless, mindless, and powerless idols is meant to expose and embarrass the people of Judah for their unwarranted faithlessness to their creator. And by the time this mock trial is complete, it will be clear that there is no god but Yahweh.

Ep 821 – Isaiah 41:1-20 Mar 17, 2019

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When you serve an incomparable God, you should learn to expect the unexpected. After all, He's the Creator of the universe and so, there aren't a whole lot of things that are beyond His pay grade. But sometimes we need a reminder that our God is truly great. In the midst of the difficulties of life, it can be easy to question His power or to doubt His ability or willingness to save. But, as we will see in Isaiah 41:1-20, God's greatness becomes most visible and believable when we come to grips with our own smallness. His power is made perfect in our weakness. His glory shines best in the gloom of our own darkness. And while the people of Judah were struggling with their lot in life, God wanted them to know that He was there for them. But He also wanted them to know that He was behind all that was happening to them. When it came to the question of who was behind the looming threat of Babylonian invasion, God replied: "I, the Lord, I am He." The people of Judah may not have liked what was going on, but if they would only trust God, they would learn that His ways were always best.

Ep 820 – Isaiah 40:12-31 Mar 16, 2019

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Whenever someone says, "Trust me," it almost always elicits a natural reaction of doubt. The very fact that they are asking you to trust them makes you think they might not be trustworthy. And, the truth is, a lot of people aren't. But what about God? Can we trust Him? Well, in Isaiah 40:12-31, we're going to get a primer on the trustworthiness of God, and it's all based on the unequaled, unparalleled nature of God. He is trustworthy and true because he is holy. He is deserving of man's trust because He is perfectly righteous and beyond reproach. He has never given man a reason to doubt his goodness or question His integrity. And yet, even His own chosen people doubted Him regularly and repeatedly. That was the whole reason He had threatened them with destruction at the hands of the Assyrians. And, while He had removed that nation as a threat, the Babylonians were next in line, because the people of Judah still found it difficult to trust God. But the difficulties they faced were meant to drive them back to the always reliable and trustworthy arms of God.

Ep 819 – Isaiah 40:1-11 Mar 15, 2019

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While the people of Judah were ecstatic at having been spared defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, the future was not as bright as they had hoped. Because Isaiah has just delivered the news from God that the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem will one day fall to the Babylonians – the very same nation to which Hezekiah pridefully revealed all the riches in his treasury. So, what is Isaiah supposed to tell these people? He has spent years trying to warn them about the coming judgment of God which would manifest itself in the form of the Assyrian army. But now, the Assyrians were gone and the next bully on the block was Babylon. And, this time, God says the nation will fall and the city will be destroyed. The people of Judah were facing the undeniable prospect of a life of captivity in a foreign land. But in Isaiah 40:1-11, God gives Isaiah a rather strange message for the people of Judah. And it begins with the words, "Comfort, comfort my people." While the future looked dim, God wanted His people to remember that the future was in His hands. And He had a plan in place.

Ep 818 – Isaiah 39:1-8 Mar 14, 2019

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Hezekiah has been healed by God. His physical infirmity was gone and he had a guarantee from God of another decade and a half of life. But the king had another problem. Pride. Which manifested itself in an inordinate love affair with power, possessions, and prestige. In Isaiah 39:1-8, Hezekiah's pride problem gets put on full display for all to see. And it's not a pretty picture. Here was a man who had been given a second chance by God, but rather than living in humble gratitude and singing praises to God in the temple like he promised to do, he sang his own praises and flaunted his own glory. Never a good move for any God-appointed leader. And it shouldn't be overlooked that in chapter 38, Hezekiah had been just days from death and faced with the possibility of losing everything he held near and dear. But now that he had received a reprieve from God and an additional 15 years to enjoy life, he reveals what he loved the most: Power, possession, and prestige.

Ep 817 – Isaiah 38:9-21 Mar 13, 2019

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Let's face it, It's easy to sing God's praises when everything is going your way. When all is right with your world, praise comes naturally and effortlessly. It's only normal. But what about those times when things don't turn out quite the way you expect or desire them to? Does your praise for God flow quite as easily when the going gets tough? In today's passage, Isaiah 38:9-21, we have recorded a song of thanksgiving, written by King Hezekiah in response to God's announcement that, rather than immediate death, he would enjoy an additional 15 years of life. The king is ecstatic and expresses his gratefulness to God. He also shares the range of emotions he experienced while waiting to see if God was going to answer his prayer. In these verses, Hezekiah displays a natural human reaction to suffering and pain. He wanted deliverance from it. But the real lesson to be learned from this story is whether we are ready, willing, and able to praise God, even when the circumstances of life give us no reason to do so.

Ep 816 – Isaiah 38:1-8 Mar 12, 2019

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You've probably seen the bumper sticker that says, "Prayer changes things." But the real question is whether prayer changes God – His mind that is. When we pray, do we have the capacity to alter the will of God? There are more than a few cases in Scripture where we seem to see it happen. And Isaiah 38:1-8 appears to contain one of them. Hezekiah has been given a message from God by Isaiah, telling him to get his affairs in order because he has only a short time to live. This bad news comes as Hezekiah was having to deal with the presence of the army of Assyria, camped outside the walls of Jerusalem. But upon hearing this shocking report, Hezekiah doesn't panic, he prays. And we're told that God hears his prayer and tells the king he will live an additional 15 years. In grateful response, Hezekiah writes a song of thanksgiving to God. But the question remains: did Hezekiah change God's mind or was it the other way around. It's a matter of perspective. And a case of the sovereignty of God.

Ep 815 – Isaiah 37:21-38 Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

God is the god of the impossible. There is no challenge too great, no problem too large, and no enemy too powerful, that God is not greater, larger, and more powerful. He is incomparable. He is unconquerable. He is all-powerful. And in Isaiah 37:21-38, King Hezekiah is given an up-close-and-personal glimpse of just how great God really is. After he took the problem of the Assyrian siege to God, Isaiah gave King Hezekiah a message from God. He was going to deal with the Assyrians quickly and effectively. Despite all their arrogant boasts, they would never breach the walls or get beyond the gates of Jerusalem. God would deal with Sennacherib and his mighty army. In fact, He would delegate the job to one of His angels, revealing just how sovereign He really is. And, for all this to happen, Hezekiah simply needed to turn to and trust in God. In response to Hezekiah's simple, yet passionate prayer, God answered and brought about a salvation that had to have left the people of Judah slack-jawed and awe-struck. Practicing humble faith when faced with trouble unleashes the God of the impossible.

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