Staying connected
Isaiah 15: A Message concerning Moab.
Lest it appear that Isaiah has it in only for Babylon, we must note that a quick journey through this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy brings to light God’s displeasure with several other groups. There’s Philistia, Moab, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tyre and others. In other words, not only have God’s people gotten themselves in trouble with the Lord for their sin, they’re surrounded by sinful nations that would like nothing better than to wipe Israel off the map. (Somehow that sounds familiar — oh yes, we heard something like this on the news this morning!) Across the centuries God’s people have survived only by the grace of God. Their own failures have brought judgment and their enemies have posed a very real threat to their existence. Today, that’s still true for all of God’s people. We Christians believe we’ve been “grafted in” and are, by faith, children of Abraham. As his people, God holds us to a high standard and we must not forget that. Also, as did they, we live in hostile territory. For some believers, this is literally true and for all believers it’s spiritually true. We’re surrounded by that which would destroy our life in the Lord. Israel’s only hope is to reconnect with God. Today, our remaining “in Christ” is also our only hope.
Take Away: Our journey through life takes us through some dangerous territory, our only security is in the Lord.
Tag: Book of Isaiah
Devotional on Isaiah
Missionary outreach
Isaiah 19: God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they’ll get to know him on that Day.
The words of condemnation to Egypt compare what’s coming to a powerful storm, sweeping away everything in its path. Even the mighty Nile, the symbol of life in Egypt, will be dried up and the nation will be in a hopeless state. Surprisingly, Isaiah’s tone suddenly changes. It’s almost as though the storm ends and the sun breaks through. God will make an appearance to Egypt and, with all else swept away, the people of that land will turn to him with all their hearts. Isaiah says, “Egypt will come back to God.” Additionally, we’re told, Assyria will join Egypt in the worship of God and the result will be that they’ll “share the blessing.” In one of his most famous statements Jesus announces that God “so loved the world.” However, here we are back in the Old Testament where a Hebrew prophet has been, just as would be expected, telling how God’s going to destroy all the enemies of the people of Israel. Then, the tone of his prophecy suddenly changes. The enemies of God’s people aren’t going to be wiped off the face of the earth. Instead, they’re going to be converted! Here, then is the heart of every missionary effort. If God wants to do away with those who reject him, he can do it with just a word. Instead, he engineers circumstances designed to draw us to him. Granted, some of those circumstances are stout medicine, but, then again, it isn’t annihilation, which is what we deserve. In this somewhat confusing turnabout passage we get a glimpse of what will only become clear through the ministry of Jesus.
Take Away: The Lord wants to save all people – that’s good news for you and me.
Devotional on Isaiah
Preaching a message people don’t want to hear
Isaiah 22: Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right. These people are doomed. It’s not all right.
Have you ever been to a hurricane party? The tamer version of it is that, with the storm knocking out all power, people dig into their freezers and have a feast of all the ice cream, etc. that won’t survive the power outage. A few years ago, when we fled a hurricane supposedly aimed for our area we took steaks we’d been saving and had a big cookout as we awaited the bad weather. We might as well enjoy the food; otherwise it’ll be lost when the electricity goes off. I wonder if that’s the thinking in this portion of Isaiah. The nation is in trouble, and no victory has been won, but Isaiah complains about the party atmosphere he sees. Apparently, someone has told him to lighten up, that things will be all right. His response is that things aren’t going to be all right. They live in a doomed nation and everything’s about to fall apart. Sometimes our message to our society isn’t the message it wants to hear. Sometimes, it isn’t going to be all right. In fact, when we look at things from the largest point of view we know that the world isn’t going to just go on and on as it is. A day’s coming with everything we know is going to melt away. While we can’t just live there, in doom and gloom, we Christians need to take a good look at the people around us. Outside of Christ, to use Isaiah’s words, “these people are doomed.” Ours is a message of hope, but it’s also the only hope of a world that’s doomed.
Take Away: Our message is one of hope, but we need to remember it’s the only hope of an otherwise doomed humanity.
Devotional on Isaiah
Making God’s plan my plan
Isaiah 22: You looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city…who has long had plans for this city.
Disaster’s coming and Isaiah speaks of it as though it’s already happened, in what’s called “prophetic perfect tense.” He describes the preparation for battle: weapons, fortifications, even the securing of the water supply. It seems they’ve done all they can do. However, they’ve totally missed it. In all their plans they’ve failed to look to the One who has plans of his own for their city. Isaiah says that God’s plan includes their repenting of the sins that brought them to all this in the first place. Instead, they make their own plans and then throw parties, saying, “Eat and drink now, for tomorrow we may die.” This refusal to acknowledge God and, instead, to rely on themselves is going to cost them everything. The truth is that we ought to identify with all this, possibly as a nation, but definitely as individuals. God has plans for you and me and his good will to us has been abundantly demonstrated. With that in mind my life should be focused on him. Instead, I tend to do things my own way and then, once in a while (especially when things get difficult) I pause to look to God and ask him to help me do what I’ve decided to do. That isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. It isn’t that I’m to never have a thought of my own, but it is that I’m to live in partnership with the Lord. Instead, I tend to “look and look” but never look “to him who gave” me life in the first place; to him “who has long had plans” for my life. When I fail to look to him it’s a recipe for disaster.
Take Away: Failing to look to the Lord is a recipe for disaster.
Devotional on Isaiah
This prescription works for both the farsighted and the nearsighted
Isaiah 25: And God will wipe the tears from every face.
Isaiah’s words contain a great deal of condemnation and his target is not only the enemies of Israel, but Israel, herself. I get lost in it all and am not sure whether the prophet is talking to specific people at a specific moment in history or if he’s slipped into “prophetic perfect tense” in which he speaks of the future as though it has already happened. It may be that he’s speaking on multiple levels of a near future and a distant future with the same words. At times like this, I take the easy way out and focus on my devotional reading, asking, “What’s this saying to me right now?” As I read this part of Isaiah I can’t help but think of the book of Revelation which contains almost the exact same words. In fact, I’m pretty sure the Revelator is reminded of these words even as he promises the glorious “no tears” day. My conclusion is that whether we’re thinking about the broken people of Isaiah’s day or persecuted Christians of John’s day or hurting people today that God’s message is one of comfort and hope. Some of that hope is contemporary hope: what God is about to do. At the same time some of that hope is out there in the uncertain future when the Lord wraps up history and brings a new reality into existence. I’m not sure about just who it is Isaiah is thinking about in this passage, but I do see here a wonderful theme of God’s mercy and grace.
Take Away: Yesterday, today, and forever the Lord remains merciful and gracious to his people.
Devotional on Isaiah
Reason to expect an answer to prayer
Isaiah 26: God, order a peaceful and whole life for us because everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.
What an interesting prayer this is. I love the request for a “peaceful and whole life.” When all is said and done, this is about as insightful a request as a person can make for their own life. Isaiah lives in turbulent times and, in the face of so much uncertainty, this prayer makes a lot of sense. However, he isn’t the only one who has lived in such days. We do too. Again, I like this simple prayer. The second half of this sentence though, is the reason the person praying thinks the first half will be granted. Isaiah says, “We’re following your directions Lord, only doing what you’d have us do, operating under your power and authority.” You see, it makes no sense to plead with the Lord for peace and life if I’m ignoring his intentions for my life. The only way this prayer makes sense is when I pray it in the context of absolute obedience and trust. It’s only when I can say, “Everything I have done and am doing is what God is doing in me” that I can pray with an expectation of God’s blessing on my life.
Take Away: The Lord’s blessings often depend on my obedience.
Devotional on Isaiah
Baby talk
Isaiah 28: This is the meaning of the stone: A TRUSTING LIFE WON’T TOPPLE.
The people who hear Isaiah’s sermons think they have everything figured out. As far as they’re concerned they’ve heard it all before. If Isaiah wants their attention he has to come up with a new approach, something unique and interesting. Otherwise, in their opinion, they’re too sophisticated for his old message. The prophet says, “You aren’t as advanced as you think you are. In fact, God’s going to strip everything back to the bare basics and his message to you is going to be ‘baby talk.'” Isaiah describes the Lord’s new approach in dealing with these know-it-all people as laying a new cornerstone. That stone, he says, will be inscribed with God’s communication to his people: “A trusting life won’t topple.” That message is, at the same time, both simple and profound. It’s simple because anyone can understand it. It’s profound because it’s the secret to maintaining life in the Lord. God isn’t looking for clever people who come up with all kinds of gimmicks and cute slogans. Instead, he’s looking for people who’ll simply trust him. As I read of the Lord’s future plans for the people of Isaiah’s day, I see that he wants me, as one of his people, to hold steady, always trusting in him.
Take Away: The Lord’s looking for people who’ll simply trust him.
Devotional on Isaiah
Genuine Worship
Isaiah 29: They act like they’re worshipping me but don’t mean it.
Generally speaking, we know how to have church. While it’s true that there are various “flavors” of worship ranging from high church with rich liturgy to “low church” filled with individual expression, there’s beauty and impressive worship services across Christianity. The issue isn’t that some need to abandon their worship tradition and adopt that of someone else. Isaiah complains about how his contemporaries worship, but his complaint isn’t that they don’t know how to organize a worship event. They’re doing fine in that department. The problem is on the inside, not the outside. An impressive, well done worship service is meaningless unless the worshippers pour themselves into their worship. This is no excuse for shoddy planning, but it does force us to concentrate on what really matters. Isaiah says the solution is God doing a “shock and awe” operation on the worshippers. Is that what it takes for us to move beyond “worship wars” and get about the business of worshipping from the heart?
Take Away: The Lord still looks for people who worship in spirit and in truth.
Devotional on Isaiah
Sanctification
Isaiah 29: These children will honor me by living holy lives.
They’re such failures at being a people of God! Nothing works for them. Their worship is skin-deep, their vision of God is lost to spiritual blindness, and their relationship with their Creator is upside down and wrong side out! The Lord, through Isaiah, has no compliments for them. However, the Lord does have words of hope. It will take some doing but God’s going to make them into a holy people. He’s going to have people who worship in holiness, who reverence him as the holy God of Israel. Getting there is going to cost them everything. They’ll lose the land God gave them and, frankly, many in this generation will lose their lives. Out of the destruction, God will begin remaking them into a people worthy of his Name. Today, God’s still in the business of creating holy people. The process is, in some ways, the same. He brings us to the place where we give up everything, dying out to self. Once all else is gone he fills us with himself. This sanctification process is often painful for us as we struggle with the Lord over ownership of our lives. When we do surrender to him, though, the result is holiness; God honoring, wonderfully satisfied lives.
Take Away: The Lord is still in the business of creating holy people.
Devotional on Isaiah
Running off to Egypt
Isaiah 30: Quit hounding us with The Holy of Israel.
As the small nation of Israel realizes just how precarious their place is on the world stage they seek an alliance with a world power, turning to Egypt to be their protector. Meanwhile, God’s prophets keep pounding away at them, calling on them to trust God and live the way he wants them to live. Their desire to find a protector among the nations seems reasonable, but they have a higher calling. However, Israel won’t listen. Those who speak for God are called irrelevant and impractical. To them, religion has its place but not when there are “real” enemies with which to deal. Their response to Isaiah is, “leave us alone while we deal with these practical issues and quit hounding us with God-talk.” Since I believe God is very much involved in every aspect of my life; that he directs me and walks with me every day and in every situation, passages like this are of only historical value to me — right? You know the answer. When something goes wrong, when someone says or does the wrong thing to me, when I have a problem, my first response is to head for Egypt for reinforcements. My actions say, “Don’t bother me with God-talk right now — I’ve got a ‘real’ problem to solve. Once that’s taken care of I’ll see you in church next Sunday.” I know it’s possible to over-state things here because I believe God gave me a brain and he expects me to use it. His plan for my life isn’t for me to sit idly by and wait for him to come to my rescue all the time. Still, the reminder here is that the Lord wants to be connected to my life and he wants me to see all I do as a part of my walk with him; not just the so-called “religious” stuff.
Take Away: The Lord calls us to live in a real relationship with him – every day, in every situation.
Devotional on Isaiah
I’d rather do it myself
Isaiah 30: Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
The salvation being spoken of in this passage isn’t “getting religion.” Instead, it’s salvation from an enemy that’s threatening to destroy them. Their effort to save themselves includes preparing for war and forming an alliance with a powerful nation that they might defend themselves. Still, there’s a spiritual element here. Their nation’s existence has always been improbable, a seeming fluke of history. Their ancestors were slaves who never had a chance of calling any land their own. Had it not been for God Almighty acting on their behalf they would have, by now, been one of thousands of forgotten people groups, a mere footnote in history. To forget just who they are how they came to be is a recipe for disaster. However, that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’ve removed from their lives the One who gave them existence in the first place. Now, when everything starts coming apart they’re looking for a “reasonable” solution; a solution that excludes God. Through Isaiah the God they’ve ignored tells them that they have only one chance and that chance is in him. What’s true of nations is also true of individuals. I owe my very life to him. The next breath I take is a gift of the God who has loved me and patiently worked in my life. To turn my back on him and fool myself into thinking I can handle life on my own will result in disaster. In Isaiah’s words: my “strength will come from settling down in complete dependence” on the Lord. There’s plenty of hope here, but also there’s plenty of warning.
Take Away: The Lord is our hope – our only hope.
Devotional on Isaiah
Grace as far as the eye can see
Isaiah 30: Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace.
Things are a mess for the people of God. They’re living apart from the God who gave them life. Their nation is under considerable threat and they’re looking for help from everywhere but from the Lord. Things look hopeless and, if they continue as they are, that is just the way it is. Still, through Isaiah, the Almighty reaches out to them. Isaiah says “He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.” This is as powerful a vision of God’s grace as you’ll ever find apart from the cross. If the Lord is waiting for me to mess up so he can “get me” the wait would be long over. Instead, I see here a picture of God Almighty patiently waiting for me to look his way. When I do that, he doesn’t tell me I’ve been bad and that I deserve what I’m about to get. Rather, he tells me he loves me and wants to transform my life in wonderful ways. The only thing that stands between me and the grace of God is, well, me! When I bring my messed up life to him he begins to pour grace out: bucketfuls of it! How about you? Have you been afraid to come to God because you think he’s just waiting to send you to hell? If so, this passage contains some of the best news you’ll ever find. When you turn to the Lord you find an ocean sized portion of grace just for you.
Take Away: The only thing standing between you and grace is you.
Devotional on Isaiah
Like an eagle circling high above
Isaiah 32: Weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured out on us from above.
Isaiah is addressing the women of his society, warning them that Judgment is coming and telling them that when it comes their comfortable lives will be disrupted. The coming danger isn’t just that of invading armies but of crop failures resulting in famine in the land. Everything will be turned upside down on that day which Isaiah specifically says is just a little over a year away. With such a storm bearing down on them Isaiah says there’s just one thing to do: repent and seek God. The coming disaster isn’t some random event. It’s the Judgment of God. It’s not too late for them to change their ways and seek the Lord. Earlier, the prophet pictured God as a mighty eagle, circling high in the sky, not waiting to pounce upon some unwitting prey, but waiting to deliver. Now, he says that if sinning, God-rejecting people will repent of their sin the Lord will pour his Spirit out upon them from above. We often think of the prophets as having messages of only gloom and doom but that’s only a portion of their work. In this passage we see an abundant measure of hope for even the most God-rejecting life. To this day, the Lord waits for us to look up in repentance and trust that he might pour his Spirit out on our lives.
Take Away: Like a circling eagle, the Lord hovers over us, waiting for an opportunity to dish out abundant mercy.
Devotional on Isaiah
To do list
Isaiah 33: The answer’s simple: live right.
The picture Isaiah paints isn’t a pleasant one. Things are going to get bad as a firestorm of God’s wrath is on the agenda. Who can survive such a purging? How does a person prepare for it? Isaiah has a list for all who will listen: “live right, speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, and avoid evil amusements.” This, he says, is the way through the storm, the way to stability and satisfaction. I know that some things about God are complicated and it takes a lifetime of serious study and application to master them. However, some things are pretty straight forward and this list is an example of that. The Lord expects us to “live right.” That is, we can drop the excuses and commit ourselves to, as best we can, doing the things we know we should do. That isn’t all there is to it, but it’s a pretty good start. Soon enough we’ll realize that our best isn’t good enough, but it does turn us in the right direction and with that done, we’ll find ourselves aligned with God’s grace which is freely extended to us.
Take Away: The Lord expects us to “live right.”
Devotional on Isaiah
Guilt free living
Isaiah 33: Best of all, they’ll all live guilt-free.
Jerusalem is conquered, now condemned by Assyria to bow and scrape to those in control of their holy city. Isaiah promises that things won’t remain as they are. As the citizens turn back to the Lord, the Lord will turn back to them. The day is coming when the Assyrian tax collector will be gone and their new masters’ foreign language will no longer be heard in the streets of Jerusalem. It won’t be King Sennacherib who’ll be in charge, instead, Isaiah promises it will be “God who makes all the decisions here” and it’ll be God who’ll be king. Isaiah adds, describing his people, “Best of all, they’ll all live guilt-free.” This is such a wonderful promise. You see, the people hearing these words are really guilty. It’s their abandonment of God that brought this calamity on them in the first place. The good news is that the only One who can forgive them is willing to do so. It’s a great thing when God removes the “foreign kings” from our lives and forgives us our sins. One lady told me that when she confessed her sins and received Christ into her life that she “felt lighter.” In other words, having the sin burden lifted from her was just as real as if a 40 pound backpack had been lifted from her shoulders. Only God can make that kind of difference in a life or in a nation. The Good News is that he wants to do just that.
Take Away: How wonderful to realize that the only one who can forgive us our sins is willing to do just that.
Devotional on Isaiah
Wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now
Isaiah 35: There will be a highway called the Holy Road.
God is a holy God and his purpose for us is that we be a holy people. Isaiah looks to such a day, a day when the people of God will reflect God in their lives. Of course, that reflection is incomplete. Even as the bright moon reflects the sun, but not the entirety of the sun, so do God’s people reflect the holiness of God. Isaiah promises a day and a people who’ll walk the Holy Road and in that journey will “be becoming” the people God intends them to be. To walk that road is, at the same time, a journey and a destination. That is, the journey is what the Lord calls us to. To him, “arriving” is not nearly as important as “journeying.” With that in mind we respond to his call on our lives, the call to holiness, and thus get on the Holy Road. Starting is not the same thing as finishing, but without the start and without the steadfastness of the journey there’s no hope of arrival. Holiness people are people committed to that journey, not people who have finished it.
Take Away: We are a people on a journey, not people who have reached a destination.
Devotional on Isaiah
Just the facts
Isaiah 36: Be reasonable. Face the facts.
There’s nothing theoretical about the threat Sennacherib of Assyria and his great army is to Jerusalem. They can crush that city as they have crushed many others. The king sends a spokesman with his terms of surrender and he minces no words in telling them what will come if they don’t give in. He offers them a choice: be starved and then destroyed, or surrender and be relocated to a distant land under the rule of Assyria. The king’s man, Rabshekah, isn’t much of a diplomat. He’s convinced that these pitiful people are in his hands and that either through defeat or surrender his army will win the day. He says to them, “Be reasonable…face the facts…” pointing out that they couldn’t mount an opposing army even if they were given horses and chariots with which to fight. Those words strike terror in the hearts of all who hear them. In that terror all of God’s promises are forgotten and they’re ready to do the “reasonable” thing and abandon their faith. I am, I think, a reasonable person and generally do a good job of learning the facts and acting on what I’ve learned. However, there’s a whole set of “facts” that can only be seen with the eyes of faith. Rabshekah’s facts ignore the fact that these are the people of God and that God has something to say about what happens to them. In the decisions I make I must remember that I’ve surrendered my life to the Lord and, even though some facts aren’t apparent to me, they’re clear to him. When I’ve done my spreadsheet of pluses and minuses, I must remember that there’s a dimension beyond my view and that dimension is every bit as real as the facts and figures I might collect. If I’m going to be truly reasonable, I must carefully listen to the Lord. That’s the only way I can really keep my facts straight.
Take Away: Even though some facts aren’t apparent to me, they’re clear to the Lord.
Devotional on Isaiah
Taking it to the Lord
Isaiah 37: Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.
The threat Sennacherib makes to Judah through his general Rabshekah can’t be ignored. King Hezekiah sends representatives to God’s man, Isaiah, to seek a response from the Lord. God doesn’t let Hezekiah down. The Lord has heard the threats and the blasphemy and is going to personally deal with the situation. Not long after that, Sennacherib is called away to deal with a crisis elsewhere in his kingdom. However, before he leaves he sends a letter to Hezekiah, promising that he’ll be back to finish the destruction of Jerusalem just as he promised. Upon receiving that letter Hezekiah takes it to the Temple. There, in the presence of God he opens that scroll and spreads it out before the Lord. He prays, reminding himself and God of the promise the Lord made to take care of Sennacherib and to protect his people. I love what Hezekiah does with that letter. He knows that the Lord has promised to deliver him but that letter and the threat it contains is real. Rather than letting it consume him with fear he takes it to the Lord. This is a lesson I need to learn. What difference might it make if I take that lab report from the doctor that’s causing me concern and lay it out before the Lord when I pray? Or maybe a good course of action is to write out the situation from work that’s worrying me and then lay it out before the Lord? I’m not saying that this is some magical formula for getting the Lord to do what I want him to do. However, I do think that it might serve as a practical reminder to me that God does know about these difficult situations and that he has promised to walk with me through even in them.
Take Away: In the words of the old hymn: “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
Devotional on Isaiah
Extraordinary favors from God
Isaiah 38: I’ll add fifteen years to your life.
Hezekiah is one of the good guys who trusts in the Lord; a king who has his priorities right. When he gets sick Isaiah visits him and tells Hezekiah that this is it, he needs to prepare to die. Hezekiah prays a simple, trusting prayer that touches the heart of God who grants the king fifteen more years of life. As I read this story I remember that my life is in the hands of God. He has the final say. In Hezekiah’s case, the illness that comes to him is a natural one but God trumps it by granting him a supernatural healing. I know that the Lord doesn’t always do that, even in the lives of people just as good and trusting as Hezekiah. Still, this incident reminds me that I can ask for extraordinary favors from the Lord while trusting him in his wisdom to answer according to his grace.
Take Away: Sometimes, the Lord’s answer is “yes.”
Devotional on Isaiah
Looking to the distant mountains
Isaiah 40: Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.
An illustration of how the prophets view the future is of looking from the plains up to a towering mountain range. As I look to the mountains I see one mountain in the “front range,” but at the greater distance is yet another taller and even more majestic peak. Coloradoans call the really big ones, “fourteeners,” that is, they’re over 14,000 feet in height. From my vantage point I can’t tell how far it is between the two mountains. It’s only as I actually travel through the mountains that I realize there’s a deep valley between the first and the second mountain range. As the prophets are given a vision of God’s intentions they sometimes see an act of God that’s close at hand and at the same time see a similar but even greater event more distant than they can imagine. Here in Isaiah 40 the focus of Isaiah’s prophecies is on comfort and hope. These words will become a life line for his people in a few years. All the terrible things he’s warned them of will come to pass, and in distant lands the next generation will turn to these words to find comfort in their sorrow. When I read this passage at the level of the “front range” I see that God’s broken people have hope of restoration. The Lord’s going to return to their lives as a powerful king might return to his kingdom. Isaiah’s command to them is to start preparing for this sure event by making a smooth and straight road into their lives. However, beyond that “front range” is a gigantic “fourteener,” the coming of the King of Kings to this world. Hundreds of years later this prophecy will become John the Baptist’s text and it’ll be fulfilled in a much greater way by King Jesus. As a Christian I can identify with the dual nature of this passage. That “front range” view is when I receive Jesus as King in my own heart. The “fourteener” view is when Jesus comes to this world the second time as King and Judge of all.
Take Away: Sometimes the words of the prophets of the Lord cause us to look both to the past and to the future.