Devotionary

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Ep 804 – Isaiah 30:18-33 Feb 28, 2019

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Judging the presence of God based on the condition of our current circumstances doesn't always produce accurate results. Sometimes, our situation may give the impression that God is nowhere to be found. But, in time, we come to realize that He was there all along. What appeared to be a lack of His presence was simply a deficiency in our faith. There are times when God allows His people to experience the pain of brokenness so that He might pour out His love and bind up their wounds. In Isaiah 30:18-33 God calls out to His people, begging them to return to Him so that He might restore them. He longs to pour out His compassion and shower them with His blessings. But time and time again, the people of Judah had revealed the hardness of their hearts and the stubbornness of their dispositions. Yet, God was and is patient. He has a long-term strategy that entails both their discipline and their blessing. He was going to punish them, but the day was coming when He would restore them. They had brought down His judgment upon themselves. But the day is coming when He will bind up the broken.

Ep 803 – Isaiah 30:8-17 Feb 27, 2019

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Screwing something up always seems to come easy to us. But finding a solution or remedy can be next to impossible. And when it comes to the predicament in which the people of Judah found themselves, they had ended up there with virtually no trouble at all. It had come easy and naturally to them. Like hard-headed children who stubbornly refused to listen to the warnings of their Father, they found themselves in a serious bind. But the remedy was easier than they thought. And in Isaiah 30:8-17, God reveals that all they had to do to get out of their difficult situation was to repent and return to Him. But for some reason, they found this simple solution impossible to carry out. They just couldn't bring themselves to confess their guilt and admit their need for God's help. They would rather turn to Egypt than trust God. They would prefer paying an exorbitant fee to have Egypt rescue them than sacrifice their pride and return to God in brokenness and humility. God longed to restore them, but they refused to heed His words of warning and His call to repentance. And they would live to regret their decision.

Ep 802 - Isaiah 30:1-7 Feb 26, 2019

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Where do you turn when the going gets tough? Is God your go-to source for help and hope, or do you find yourself seeking rescue in something or someone other than God? For the people of Judah, faced with the reality of God's pending judgment in the form of defeat at the hands of their enemies, they decided to turn to Egypt for help. What an ironic development. Here was the nation that had been rescued from captivity in Egypt by the hand of God, turning to their former captors, in a futile effort to escape the coming judgment of God. And in Isaiah 30:1-7, the prophet will reveal just how ridiculous this plan really was. Egypt had not been able to stand up against God before, so what made the people of Judah think they could do it now? Worldly powers were no match for Almighty God. The Pharaoh may have been worshiped as a god, but he would prove anything but divine when he tried to thwart the will of the one true God. Judah would have been much better served by repenting of their rebellion and returning in humble submission to God. But they were like stubborn children and would rather turn to Egypt for help than turn back to God in repentance.

Ep 801 – Isaiah 29:17-24 Feb 25, 2019

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The Bible is a book of history and prophecy. It is full of stories about the past and predictions about the future. It tells us how the universe was created by God, how sin entered into the scene, and how mankind went from being made in the image of God to being the enemies of God. In its pages, the Bible reveals the on-again-off-again nature of Israel's relationship with God. It tells us about God's promise to send a Messiah or Savior to restore fallen mankind to a right relationship with Himself. And then it shows how that promise was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ. The Bible, while thousands of years old, is a timeless book that deals with far more than ancient history. It is about the future and its impact upon the present. And in Isaiah 29:17-24, God gives the people of Judah a much-needed reminder that His plans for them extend well beyond their current circumstances. They were facing judgment because of their sin, but He promises them future blessing because of His grace and mercy. They couldn't seem to stop rebelling against Him, but that would not stop God from pouring out His blessings upon them – in the future and according to His divine will.

Ep 800 - Isaiah 29:9-16 Feb 24, 2019

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Everybody likes to think they are in control of their own lives. We love the idea of being the masters of our fate and the captains of the ship of our life. And the people of Judah were no different. They wanted to live according to their own agendas and thought they could fool God into believing that they were being obedient to Him, when they were living in open rebellion to Him. They were so confident, that they believed they had God fooled. They had pulled the wool over His eyes and convinced Him that they were really good and faithful children. But Isaiah 29:9-16 reveals that nothing was further from the truth. God knew everything and He was well aware of their disobedience. He was not the one who was ignorant and deceived. They were. But in their arrogance and pride, they felt they had every right to tell God what to do. They operated under the misguided idea that He somehow worked for them and existed to serve their needs. But they were in for a rude awakening. The potter rarely takes advice from the clay. He was in full control and they were in full subjection to His will, whether they liked it or not.

Ep 799 - Isaiah 29:1-8 Feb 23, 2019

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By now, we should have a firm grasp on the reality that God never treats sin lightly. In spite of Judah's status as God's chosen people, He was not going to put up with their rebellion against Him indefinitely. He warned them repeatedly that their judgment was coming, unless they repented and returned to Him. And in Isaiah 29:1-8, God makes it clear that their refusal to repent would bring not only His judgment but their own deaths. Their disobedience was punishable by death. And while He had provided them with the sacrificial system as a means of receiving atonement for their sins, they had even treated it with disdain. They had even defiled the temple of God itself by setting up idols to false gods within its walls. This blatant disrespect for God, His house, and the sacrificial system He had provided, was not something He could overlook. So, Isaiah is forced to warn the people of Judah that their rebellion was going to turn the sacrificer into the sacrifice. Rather than seeking atonement through a lamb, bull or goat, the guilty people of God would be forced to shed their own blood and give their own lives as payment for their sins.

Ep 798 – Isaiah 28:20-29 Feb 22, 2019

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When a farmer plants, he does so with the expectation that one day he will be able to reap. Otherwise, there would be no reason to go through all the effort of preparing the soil and sowing the seeds. Planting is done because reaping is the expected outcome. And the same is true of God and His chosen people. In the 28th chapter of Isaiah, verses 20-29, God reveals through His prophet that a day is coming when He will reap the fruit of righteousness from the people of Israel. While their current spiritual condition was more like an unfruitful field full of weeds and incapable of producing any kind of harvest, God was not done with them. In fact, He was going to have to prune and cultivate them in order that, one day, they might yield the fruit for which they were made: The fruit of righteousness. God is always about the outcome. He focuses on the long-term and, because He is all-knowing, He has an unobstructed view of how things are going to turn out. And while He was forced to thresh His disobedient children to prepare them for future fruitfulness, He did so with the harvest in mind.

Ep 797 - Isaiah 28:14-19 Feb 21, 2019

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You don't have to know a lot about construction to understand the necessity of having a firm foundation. It's the primary source of stability for whatever is being built, whether it be a single-story house or a high-rise office building. A solid foundation is what provides a stable and reliable footing on which the entire structure stands. And a good foundation begins with a well-laid cornerstone. It is around this single stone that the rest of the foundation is oriented. It serves as the primary point of reference for the rest of the structure, so if the cornerstone is off, the rest of the building will be as well. In Isaiah 28:14-19, God has some strong words to say to the leaders of Judah, referring to them as scoffers, arrogant, pride-filled individuals who were guilty of building the nation of Judah on the wrong foundation. Through the misguided leadership of these men, Judah had started relying on other nations as sources of support and stability. But God was letting them know that their world was about to be rocked. Their little kingdom, built on lies and deception was going to prove unstable and unsustainable. When the storms of God's judgment came, their walls would fall because their foundation was faulty.

Ep 796 – Isaiah 28:1-13 Feb 20, 2019

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Everybody loves success. And there's nothing we love more than self-made success. It's part of the American work ethic. Stories of self-achievement have been around as long as we've been a republic. The image of the self-made man is a popular icon in American culture, but it certainly isn't unique to our nation or this century. It has been around since the beginning of time. In fact, this love affair with self-elevation and self-preservation is as old as time itself. And in Isaiah 28:1-13, we are going to see God address the runaway attitude self-importance that marked the Northern kingdom of Israel. Repeatedly referred to as Ephraim, the ten northern tribes had a long track record of pride and arrogance that was based on their unique status as God's chosen people. It didn't seem to matter to them that the way they lived their lives in no way reflected their position as the children of God. They were rebellious and disobedient, but they were also drunk on their own success and self-importance. Believing that they were somehow immune from God's wrath, they refused to repent and continued their love affair with the world.

Ep 795 – Isaiah 27:1-13 Feb 19, 2019

Show notes

Isaiah is living in the midst of a time period when the people of Judah are facing the eminent judgment of God. They have spent years living in open rebellion against God, proving to be unfaithful to Him and living lives marked by ungodliness. Now, Isaiah has warned them that God is going to punish them for their years of stubborn disobedience to His will and persistent resistance to His calls that they repent. But at the same time, God has given Isaiah a message of hope to deliver to His rebellious people. And in Isaiah 27:1-13, the prophet will repeatedly speak of "that day" – a future period of time during which God will show unmerited favor toward His people. He will shower on them unprecedented acts of kindness and mercy, restoring them to a right relationship with Himself and fulfilling every promise He has ever made to them. And while they would eventually experience days marked by the judgment of God, they could rest assured that their future will feature the unmerited favor of God. That day, while still distant, is not to be discounted or dismissed. It will happen, because God has said it will.

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