Week 137, Day 5: An Extension
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 38:1-22
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Hezekiah’s life is full of interesting events. He comes along and turns Israel back from their evil practices (or you could say he managed to restrain them from openly practicing these things like before), he renewed the temple worship by spurring the Levites to consecrate themselves to serve God and instituted a restoration of the temple, the passover was observed with such a crowd of worshipers that had not been seen since the times of Solomon and David, he even invited the people of the northern tribes to return to God, destroyed the idols, and he instituted other reforms. And yet it is during his reign that the armies of Assyria begin to invade Judah. It is during his reign that Jerusalem was besieged by an army of 185,000 plus and now we have him lying sick on his bed and told that he will die. To man these series of events in the life of a good king doesn’t make much sense. In many ways I think this demonstrates how different our perspective on life is than how God in His wisdom sees things. Judah needed to be punished for the rampant idolatry they had been practicing and the siege of Jerusalem turned into a great demonstration of God power. Even with Hezekiah’s illness, because he turns to God and pleads with Him he is granted an extension on life. There is no guarantees that anyone will live a long life. Not even a righteous person “deserves” to live long. And keep in mind that Hezekiah’s prayer would not have been heard in the first place had he not been a righteous man. All of these things is why I say that Hezekiah’s life was very interesting.
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Week 137, Day 3: Deliverance
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 36:1-38
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
When Hezekiah gets the letter from the king of Assyria he takes it before God. This may seem like an obvious response but there had been many kings who had tries to deal with things on their own. There had also been many kings who would not have taken such offense at this blasphemy and torn their royal clothes to put on sackcloth. Hezekiah demonstrated by his response that he indeed cared about serving God and about defending the name of God. He indeed believed that Jehovah alone is God. Because of his confidence and trust in God Jerusalem was delivered.
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Week 137, Day 2: The Taunting
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 36:1-22
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Isaiah now shifts back to recording an immediate danger to Judah. Assyria now comes to the doorstep of Jerusalem. And as is the norm, the king of Assyria has sent a messenger to taunt and intimidate the people before his assault. The king, Sennacherib, gives them a chance to give up but in the message he also tries to discourage them from fighting against him. He says that Egypt cannot save them, they can not save themselves and the worst part is that the king says that Jehovah cannot save them from his hand. What Sennacherib missed was that there was indeed a true God in this land. Yes he had defeated the other lands and their so called gods. But a long time before Assyria showed up on the seen, God had demonstrated to all the nations that He was the true God by the mighty deliverances that He gave to Israel. Unfortunately Israel had disobeyed God so often that now God was allowing them to be punished. Because of his arrogant pronouncement, the king of Assyria incites the anger of Jehovah against himself and his army.
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Week 137, Day 1: Healed
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Verses 4-6 are good for illustrating how Isaiah gave many prophecies that were ultimately fulfilled in the Messiah. Isaiah tells them to look forward to the time when the Lord would save them. He would heal the blind, the deaf, the lame and the mute. This is the response that Jesus quoted this passage when the disciples came from John and asked if He was the expected one or should they look for another (Luke 7:20-23). The Lord would cause things to be renewed and for there to be a “highway of holiness” (vs. 8 ) upon which the redeemed would walk. Isaiah was speaking of an event that would come several hundred years off in the future though.
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Week 136, Day 5: Desolate
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 34:1-17
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
The description of the destruction here makes me think of those old castle ruins that you see pictures of. Did the castle fall in because of age or was there some huge battle. Verse 13 mentions how thorns and thistles will come up in their fortified places. All that would be left after God’s judgment would be a few places of crumbling buildings. With the pictures of those castles we have to wonder at times what the “story” was behind the ruins. With the scriptures we have recorded for us both the why and how the destruction came upon these nations. They were brought down by God’s mighty hand. Their armies were rendered useless and their cities overthrown. The lessons from the result of their actions are preserved for our benefit.
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Week 136, Day 4: Who can stand?
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 33:1-24
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
There are several things in this chapter that are difficult to understand. But I want to focus on one section of the text. In talking about God’s judgment to punish the wicked, He says that those who are far away will hear about His actions and acknowledge His might (vs. 13-15). After talking about His judgment being seen and His might acknowledged by those who witness its fierceness, He mentions how trembling has seized the godless. Who can live among such a consuming fire and continual burning? When you think about judgment coming upon any nation for their wickedness, this is a question that will be asked over and over. Who can stand when the judgment of God comes? The one who walks righteously, who speaks with sincerity, who rejects unjust gain or bribes and who turns his eyes away from evil. Such a person will be able to stand and survive when the day of judgment comes. God remembers the deeds of the righteous and will look after them. They may still suffer loss of physical possessions but their souls shall be cared for and protected by the Lord.
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Week 136, Day 3: A mixed bag
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 32:1-20
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
The message from God turns to having a mixed message. The beginning speaks of good things to come with a righteous king reigning. Such righteous leaders will be like refuge from the wind or a storm or shade in a parched land. They would give the land sweet rest and comfort. But “within a year and a few days”, vs. 10, they would be troubled and the gathering from the land would cease and the palace would be abandoned. This is such a dramatic turn. The captivity for Judah will not be far off. The people needed to prepare themselves by seeking God. There would be a few good leaders before the fall but a complete turn around in Judah would not happen.
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Week 136, Day 2: Not of Man
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 31:1-9
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
God’s message grows starkly more upbeat in the next few chapters. In verse 5 He says that He will protect and deliver Jerusalem. There was coming a day soon when they would cast away their idols and return to God. Assyria would come upon Jerusalem and siege the city. The people in their desperation would stop looking to Egypt or their idols for help and would turn to God. In that day God would cause Assyria to “fall by a sword not of man.” I believe this is what we find happening when the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, came with a mighty army but God destroyed 185,000 of them with His angel. They were not destroyed by any weapon of man but by God’s power. Yet another time when God displayed His power and called for Judah to be faithful to Him only, but they would not remain faithful.
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Week 136, Day 1: Alliance of Shame
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 30:1-33
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
We are told in this chapter how Judah had sought to have aid from Egypt. From a physical standpoint this makes good sense. Assyria & then Babylon had been increasing threats to the land of Judah. What was Judah to do? The sensible thing from a earthly standpoint is to seek to make allies. So Judah sought to ally itself to the other superpower of the day in hopes that Egypt could keep them safe from the threat of the armies of Assyria & Babylon. But there is only one problem. Judah was not just any nation. They were God’s people. As such they should have sought help from God FIRST. I think that this kind of action is unfortunately common among Christians today. When we are faced by hardship or some threat, we try to fix things ourselves. We figure out what we think will work best and plung right ahead. But that is not the first step that we ought to take. Our strength and salvation comes from above. We ought to seek out guidance from God’s written word and we ought to pray for help. Seeking God first in all things will help us stay on the right path and work to do what God would want us to do during those times of hardship.
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Week 135, Day 5: Honors Me with lip Service
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 29:1-24
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
In talking about the condition of Jerusalem and Judah, God says that they drew near to Him with their words and honored Him with their lips but yet something was missing. Reverence and substance to their worship. They didn’t have their hearts in it. They showed reverence for God only so far as to complete their traditions. I believe that these verses hold a stark warning for all of God’s children today. If we honor God and show reverence to Him only by saying something we’ve learned from a tradition or that comes without even thinking much about what we are saying then there could be serious problems. Many Christians serve God today because that is what they were raised doing or just because that is what they have always done. Religion is just something they do or are expected to do. But their heart is not in it. God is not egotistical and needs our verbal praise. He is not looking for us to just cheer about His works and goodness an hour or two a week and then live without regard for Him the rest of our time. Our life will reflect the level of reverence we have for Him and our desire to serve Him will reflect our love for Him. Be careful that you are not doing things simply because it is what is expected of you. God will see through such service and judge us based on the condition of our heart.
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