September 25, 2014
God gave Isaiah a prophecy against Babylon and its idol worship. It is almost sarcastic in its imagery, predicting that Babylon’s idols will “bow” down as they are lowered onto ox carts and carried away by the very people who used to “bow” down before them. Even the oxen are “bowed-down” under the weight of pulling these massive, manmade gods. This illustrates the ridiculous nature of those who would make gods of their wealth and possessions. In the end, their wealth cannot protect them and they cannot preserve it. They both “go off into captivity together,” as if in a funeral procession with heads bowed down. Yet, those who trust in the Lord are not weighed down, but lifted up by the Redeemer who can save to the uttermost!
September 24, 2014
I often heard my mother quote this psalm in prayer after my father died. She was only 31 years old when she found herself a widow raising four children alone. She called on God to keep His promise to be a Father to her fatherless children and a Defender, a Husband, to her. I think He heard her prayers. My life and calling are a testament to them.
September 23, 2014
This psalm was to be sung in the Temple accompanied by instruments. It is a prayer, asking God to make Himself known to people everywhere. This prayer is consistent with God’s will and it is being answered today, perhaps even in this generation. Jesus has commanded us to go to the nations and make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20) and He also said that when every nation has heard the gospel, the end would come (Matt 24:14). So, we pray this psalm to God, knowing that only He can save and make Himself known, yet also knowing that we are called to be His heralds, announcing the gospel to the nations, so that they may hear and be saved.
September 22, 2014
Through the centuries the Bible has been burned and banned by dictators seeking to stamp it out. It has been accused of being corrupted by copyists and filled with inconsistencies by unbelieving skeptics. Yet, while the dictators and skeptics pass away, the Word still stands. God has preserved His Word, so that we might receive the revelation of His Son. We can trust the everlasting Word of God. It stands forever.
September 21, 2014
When King Sennacherib sent a letter threatening Jerusalem, King Hezekiah put on burlap, went up to the Temple, and spread the letter out on the floor for the Lord to consider. And God heard his prayer and defended him. What threat do you fear today? Have you brought it to the Lord? Spread your trouble out before God. Let Him handle it.
September 20, 2014
We are to be like executioners, dealing cruelly with our own sin. When we see sin in others, we do not hesitate to judge, assigning it to their character. Yet, when we see it in ourselves, we make excuses for it, claiming some external cause or momentary lapse. Or we go the opposite way, and make sin our identity, calling ourselves by sin’s name (thief, liar, adulterer, addict, murderer…). Neither our tendency to condemn sin in others, nor to excuse or identify with it in ourselves is right. Those “who belong to Christ” count their sin nature dead with Christ, so that they might live in Christ. Counting sin dead, it is not excused, nor is it allowed to live and become our identity. Our identity is in Christ!
September 19, 2014
From Abraham’s time until that of Isaiah’s, the people of Israel had often looked to Egypt when they should have been looking to God. Trusting Egypt for help is a metaphor for trusting the world and human strength. Who are you trusting? Egypt or the Lord? Isaiah counsels us to look to the Lord!
September 18, 2014
Receiving Jesus we are prompted to call God by the name His Son uses, “Abba, Father.” Abba (Aramaic for “daddy.” Two simple syllables easily spoken by the youngest child- “Ab-ba.” Found in Ab-raham’s name – “Father of Nations”). In this verse we see the Trinity revealed: God sending, the Son providing, the Spirit prompting… all so that we who are distant from God may be brought near. And so, we are able to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.”
September 17, 2014
Isaiah sought the Lord. As he lay his head down at night, he searched for God’s presence. When he awoke in the morning, he listened for God’s voice. Do you have this habit? Are your last words and thoughts at the end of the day for the Lord? Do you open your eyes looking for Him and listening for His voice? If you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (Jer. 29:13).
September 16, 2014
Christianity is not a self-improvement course. We are not called to come and do, but to come and die. For the new life follows not self-improvement, but self-denial. We consider our old self “crucified with Christ” and our new self risen with Him to new life. We die to sin and we also die to self-effort, no longer trying to please God by following some set of religious rules and regulations that we are unable to keep. Dying to self, we live by Christ, “trusting” in Him to live His life in us.