Category: Devotions

Isaiah 12
Surely this is our God …v9

In a somewhat identical meal from the days of the covenant meal on Mount Sinai marking the people’s move from death under Pharaoh to life under God, Isaiah sees on Mount Zion a last-days meal to commemorate God completely defeating death itself.
‘Death where is your sting’ would be the words of Apostle Paul who would know this passage of Isaiah very well.
Death is our ultimate enemy. It either comes without warning or it announces its arrival and slowly creeps towards us in an almost torturous way. Either way we have not managed to defeat it. The truth is for many of us death does leave a sting. It hurts those who are left behind. But this is why this chapter is so comforting. Isaiah is focusing not so much on death but on the end of mourning. The hurt that death brings for those still alive, the sting, the pain of numbed children, broken men, burdened and tired women, these are who God focuses on in this last days meal.
God in this last days battle which chapters 24-27 reveal pauses and with compassion stoops down to wipe away each tear of grief and brokenness. With joy, relief and expressions of worship the people say, “This is our God.”
Death can be a fierce enemy. It can destroy not just the body but relationships. It can be feared, it wants to be feared. Pretence will not stop the pain that it always brings.
But it does not have the last word.
Death is defeated, it is no longer an enemy, for life and hope comes. This is what Isaiah saw.
This is what Christ our Saviour brings.
He is our resurrection and life.
What Isaiah saw we now experience.
Isaiah’s last days are our present days.
Surely this is our God.

Isaiah 24
This chapter through till 27 focuses on the judgment of God. Most people don’t want to focus on judgment. Except those who live with injustice or who are bullied, violated, who come under the hands of the wicked, who face desertion and rejection, these actually celebrate the judgment of God. They have longed for it and prayed for it for too long.
Isaiah prophesies what he does not know, “the Lord is going to lay waste the earth.”
For those who have it all this is terrible news.
But for the poor and the outcast He will come to lay waste, to devastate, to ruin and to scatter. He will deal with the enemy.
It matters not your status, high or low, He will come and there will be no escape. No matter how powerful or obnoxious people can be, this is their fate.
It may look like that man or woman has got away with it, they haven’t, judgment is coming.
Are you ready?
With tsunamis, earthquakes, and financial concerns dominating headline news, National Geographic initiated a survey about what Americans’ think about a potential “Doomsday scenario. Here are some of the key findings:
More than 62 percent of Americans think the world will experience a major catastrophe in the next 20 years.
The four most likely disaster scenarios include (in order) a significant earthquake, a significant hurricane, a terrorist attack, a financial collapse.
71 percent envision a major disaster in their lifetime as an “act of God, not man.”
85 percent said they are not ready for a devastating event; 25 percent claim they’ve done absolutely nothing to prepare for a major disaster. (Meghan Gleason, Nat Geo TV Blogs, “The Results Are In: Is It the End of the World as We Know It? Survey Says!”)
Are you ready?

Isaiah 23
v15-16 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:“Take up a harp, walk through the city, you forgotten prostitute; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered.”

After 70 years a forgotten prostitute will sing to be remembered. She will sing the old songs of how pretty she used to be.
Do we sing out at times to be remembered?
Sing about our past achievements?
Harp on about the old times?
Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past. Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe.
The past can be great or not, but it’s not to be lived in.
A new day!

Isaiah 22
V15 “Go say to this steward, to Shebna …”

The nation was in rebellion and selfishly living their life away from God and Shebna who held high office was responsible.
When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t know she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, “Then I will be good.” The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on.
Who do we have under us? Who are we responsible for? Are we good shepherds?
Are we responsible for work colleagues, our children, our pupils, or Sunday school children, the elderly, the youth in our church etc ?
God wants us to treat them fairly, righteously and as God would treat them.

Isaiah 21
Day after day … I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post, v8

President John F. Kennedy in a speech that he was never able to deliver due to his assassination, wrote these words:
“We in this country, in this generation, are by destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”

Today, listen, watch, be alert. An opportunity is coming your way to prevent hurt coming to someone, to show the light of God and brighten someone’s day, to hear from Him who is watching you.
Be vigilant.

Isaiah 20

It would be quite difficult to forget that 3 year period if you were a friend of Isaiah!
In the most dramatic and disturbing of prophetic signs God speaks to those who boast in the strength of man to show the foolishness of their way.
He gives and takes away.
He builds and tears down.
He clothes and strips bare.
God is.
They were not even putting their trust in what God had given man.
Augustine said, “Even the good merits and qualities which people may display toward one another are gifts from God. Every good quality comes from His grace. God’s mercy is the ground of salvation. Therefore, let no man boast. Out of faith spring hope and love. We hope only in God — not in men and not in ourselves.” (“The History of Doctrines”, Reinhold Seeberg, p. 366)
What do we boast in? What do we hope in?
Only God is the sure thing to boast in
With Him you will never be ashamed.

Isaiah 19

With language of the Exodus story, this oracle calls for God’s people not to look at what man looks at. They must not glorify Egypt by trusting in its power, but to trust in God. God says He will judge Egypt and bring it low.
We will not forget the scenes displayed in our media recently of the protests, riots and the deaths within Egypt regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian brother will fight against brother, neighbour against neighbour,” v2. Are these scenes the fulfilment of end-time prophecy?
It states that Israel would fight back against Egypt capturing 5 cities, there will be an altar of worship to the Lord, Jesus would make Himself known to the Egyptians and this will be their saving grace. There will then be a holy alliance between Egypt, Assyria and Israel.
There are many who can interpret end-time prophecies. They specialise in such chapters as these.
One thing I know is that if God can judge, rescue and then defend a nation He can do it for individuals.
No one has gone too far or wasted their life away from God that they cannot be reached. Everyone can be known as a people of God, His handiwork or His inheritance, v25. It is not for a select few. It is for you and that person you know who at the moment is walking away from God. So hold on to that dream of seeing your Egypt find God again. Don’t give up on them.

Isaiah 18
This is what the Lord says to me: “I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” v4.

The silence of God.
The loudness of man.
The still small voice of God.
The shouting of man.
Heroic figures displaying their celebrity statuses.
This is the world we have come to know so well.
But the world of God is at times so much different.
Ask the Persecuted what God is like and they will say ‘He is quiet’.
There are many unknowns today, in prison, tortured, deprived of their human rights,. Many unknowns facing shame and lifelong battles with their families for becoming Christian. The unknown knows all too well unanswered prayers, the fear of worsening danger and the absence of courage.
What is God like?
He is quiet.
But he is still there!
Like a shimmering heat or a morning cloud of dew God can be seen even in the most strangest of ways.
Just because God is quiet today is no indicator He is not there.
He is watching you.

God
Grant me to be silent before you that I may hear you;
at rest in you that you may work in me;
open to you that you may enter;
empty before you that you may fill me.
Let me be still And know you are my God.
Amen.

Isaiah 17
Damascus was a key city, highly influential and very powerful. This city in Syria along with Israel will experience a fading glory. God will show the world that all that these 2 places have accomplished are simply not real. They are fraudulent. Man may look and be impressed but God will reduce their achievements to rubble.
Why?

You have forgotten God your Saviour; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress, v10.

How is it possible to forget anything of great significance?
No doubt these people still believed in God and they still declared they were Yahweh followers. Had they really forgotten?
Well we all know what it is like to have some kind of memory loss! Two elderly women were discussing the problems of growing older. One commented, “The worst thing is when your memory starts to go. I’ve known you all my life, and I can’t think of your name. What is it?” The second lady thought for a moment and said, “Do you need an answer right now?”
But to forget God? How is that possible?
Unknown author, Chuck Ross, took a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, titled Steps, which had won the National Book Award six years before. Ross retyped the first 21 pages of Steps and sent them out to four publishers, using the name Erik Demos as a fictitious by-line. All 4 publishers rejected the manuscript. Two years later, he retyped the novel Steps in its entirety and submitted it, again credited to Erik Demos, to several more publishers, including the original publisher, Random House. It was rejected by all with unhelpful comments, including Random House! All told, 14 publishers and 13 literary agents failed to recognize a book that had already been published and had won an important award. And so …
We forget God when we forget what He has done in our past that was absolutely wonderful and life-saving and our present shows no sign of that amazing provision. This is dangerous memory loss.

Isaiah 16
v5 In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.

Isaiah believed for a leader who will lead in love. Power is not everything.
Isaiah believed for a leader who will stand firm. So many start but do not finish.
Isaiah believed for a leader who will be faithful. The call must always remain.
Isaiah believed for a leader who will live for others. Many die living for themselves.
Jesus fulfilled all that Isaiah believed. He is that dream leader.
There is still a call for such leadership.
Let us all lead our lives in such a way today.