Isaiah 54-55 -- About My Spiritual Ears

Oh, the promise these verse hold – not just for Israel, but for all children of God!  God’s restoration  produces a desire to sing for joy about what He’s done for us.  Multiplied blessings are promised and will be delivered!

Shame and disgrace caused by our past sins will be forgotten.  “The Lord called you to be His,” it says.  And when He calls, His longing for us assures us that we are not JUNK.

God’s grace and mercy are evident in how He describes His efforts to bring us back to Himself when we sin.  “I left you for a short time, but with great kindness I will ring you back AGAIN.  I became very angry and hid from you for a time, but I will show you mercy with kindness forever,” God says.

Because of our sinfulness, God sometimes finds it necessary to invoke judicial blindness – causing us to be unable to see Him.  That absence of something we’ve held so dear eventually impacts our souls and produces the thirst we need to bring us back to Him.

“My love will never disappear; My promise of peace will not come to an end,” He adds.

After producing that spiritual thirst in us, God then invites us to come and drink deeply of Him.  We cannot pay for or earn that privilege, He says.  It is all a free gift.

In 55:2-3, it says a lot about modern life:  “Why spend your money on something that is not REAL food?  Why work for something that doesn’t really SATISFY you?  Listen closely to Me, and you will eat what is good; your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.”

Our efforts to find satisfaction apart from Him are much like trying to thrive by eating only buttered popcorn – fulfilling and tasty for a moment, but not in any way able to sustain us.

He further says, “Look for the Lord before it is too late; you should call to Him while He is near … stop doing wrong … stop your evil thoughts … return to the Lord.”  When will it be too late?  Aside from the fact that we might die at any moment, there seems to be the possibility that our continued refusal to listen, which results in judicial blindness, might eventually reach a point where that blindness may not be removed by God.

God also says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts.  Your ways are not like My ways … My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”  No matter what we may think we know about how God should act towards us (especially when it comes to giving us freedom to do as we please), He has our very best interests at heart and desires them for us in spite of ourselves.  When His plans and purposes for us don’t seem to make sense, we must remember these verses and know that we are limited in our understanding while God is unlimited in His love, grace, and mercy.

Father, I needed to hear this today.  I’ve let situations around me foster again a false sense of entitlement, which can so often lead to sin.  I needed to hear again that what I need is to listen to You more closely, not to tune you out.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 51-53 -- A Call To Obedience For A Reason

The eyes of Israel will eventually be opened to the truth about Jesus being the Messiah, along with the eyes of many non-Jewish people as well:  “He will surprise many nations.  Kings will be amazed and shut their mouths.  They will see things they had not been told about Him, and they will understand things they had not heard.   Who would have believed what we heard?  Who saw the Lord’s power in this?”

What kind of Savior have they missed?

“He took our suffering on Him and felt our pain for us … He was wounded for the wrong we did; He was crushed for the evil we did.  The punishment, which made us well, was given to Him, and we are healed because of His wounds.  We all have wondered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.  But the Lord has put on Him the punishment for all the evil we have done … He was put to death.  He was punished for the sins of my people… He had done nothing wrong … The Lord made His life a penalty offering, but … He will complete the things the Lord wants Him to do … My good servant will make many people right with God; He will carry away their sin … He willingly gave His life … But He carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.”

In my commentary, it quoted from a hymn by Thomas Chisholm, saying, “And all our sin, and all our sin, and all our sin was laid on Him … He sought us where we were …and brought us home, and brought us home, and brought us home, safely home to God.”

That three-times-repeated “all our sin” really hit me.  Yes, I know Jesus died for all my sins.  It’s too easy to simply think of that as “all my sins I’ve committed up to now.”  But it didn’t stop there.  Christ in God is all-knowing, and He died to remove all the sins I’ll ever commit.  Having died for them all, He already knows the terrible depth of not only what I’ve already done, but even what I will choose to commit today, tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life!  He’s seen it, knows it, and He’s died for it.  He’s removed it as far as the east is from the west, and placed it on the ocean floor where it can never be remembered by God.  What an incredible Savior.  And what I need to do is to obey God’s word from here on out – more even that I would have before having read this again – to mitigate the causes of His suffering for me by choosing to love Him for what He’s already done for me, by not sinning any more than I can.

Father, I know that this body and mind are infected with the sin-virus.  Help me fight off its effects and strive not to sin, to honor Your Son for all He’s already done for me, for both my past AND my future.  Help me to love You more so that I can.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 49 & 50 -- God Helps Us, Strengthens Us, And Supports Us

The people had been taken as prisoners first by their sin and then by Assyria and later Babylon.  Now, God reveals how He planned to bring them back to Himself through the Suffering Servant – His Son Jesus Christ, who would become “a light for all nations to show people all over the world the way to be saved.”

Running through these chapters was a thread of hope for every sinner who struggles with his sin:  “I will get my strength from my God … Come out of your prison … Come into the light … The God who comforts them will lead them and guide them by springs of water … The Lord comforts His people and will have pity on those who suffer … The Lord answers, “ … I will not forget you.  See, I have written your name on My hand … Anyone who trusts in Me will not be disappointed.  The prisoners will be taken from the strong soldiers … I will fight your enemies…. Then everyone will know I, the Lord, am the One who saves you;  I am the Powerful One of Jacob who SAVES you.”

God also shows us how we can answer Satan when he tries to condemn us for our sins:

“Every morning [the Lord God] wakes me.  He teaches me to listen like a student.  The Lord God helps me learn … The Lord God helps me, so I will not be ashamed.  I will be determined, and I know I will not be disgraced.  He shows that I am innocent, and He is close to me.  So who can accuse me? … Look, it is the Lord God who helps me … Who among you fears the Lord and obeys His Servant? … Then let him trust in the Lord and depend on his God.”

Father, sin tries valiantly to make us its prisoner.  But You give us freedom if we will just grab hold of it.  Even when we sin and disappoint You, You love us and want us back!  Such love is amazing!  I need Your strength to help me obey You.  I cannot do it on my own.  Fight my enemies.  Keep me from the shame and disgrace that sin causes.  Thank You for sending Your Son to die for my sins, so that when Satan screams and hurls his accusations, I am able to know that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 46-48 A Little Reminder From God

Sometimes we tend to get full of ourselves and just need to hear God telling us how He loves us despite our relative insignificance to Him, and sometimes we start feeling down, with life seeming to kick us in the teeth.  We wonder why things are happening as they are.  These chapters are great because we get the answers we need at just such times, straight from God:

“I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth.  Even when you are old, I will be the same.  Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you.  I made you and will take care of you.  I will carry you and save you … Remember that I am God, and there is no other God.  I am God, and there is no one like Me … When I plan something, it happens.  What I want to do, I will do…. Our Savior is named the Lord All-Powerful; He is the Holy One of Israel … I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.  I have purified you by giving you troubles … Listen to Me.  I have called you to be My people.  I am God … I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to do what is good, who leads you in the way you should go.”

Father, thank You for personally involving Yourself in my life.  Thank You for lovingly planning everything that I experience in order to draw me closer to You.  Please continue to guide me every day.  And when I struggle against You, be patient.  Purify me and draw me back to You.  Remind me to listen only to the One who loves me and not to the one who seeks my destruction.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 44-45 He Is God And We Are Not

These are chapters we all need to read often, for in them God reminds us that He is God and we are not, that anything we make with our hands from raw materials created by Him should never be worshiped, including our homes and possessions.  Idol worship leads to judicial blindness, as God will close the minds of those who will not worship Him:

“Those people don’t know what they are doing.  They don’t understand!  It is as if their eyes are covered so they can’t see.  Their minds don’t understand.  They have not thought about these things; they don’t understand … He doesn’t know what he is doing; his confused mind leads him the wrong way.  He cannot save himself….”

God reminds us over and over in chapter 45 that He is the only God.  There is no other God but Him.  We need such a reminder, because in our human pride we often can be tempted to think that we are gods as well.

Father, those who ridicule these teachings are already judicially blinded.  I know because I’ve been there, and I don’t ever want to go back.  Keep me closer to You, the one and only God, Creator of the Universe and Savior of my soul!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 43 -- Viewing It From Both Sides

This chapter is a stunning declaration by God of just how much He loves His people, the Israelites, and how He will renew the land and gather them together someday.

Back when I’d let myself get away from God after college, I happened upon this chapter and I didn’t like what I was reading.  I was looking at it from an us-versus-them viewpoint (with us being the Gentiles, since we weren’t Jewish) and I didn’t like it at all that God said He’d given other Gentiles as a ransom for His Jewish people.  In fact, I let that build animosity within my soul towards God, thinking “What if I’d been among those He’d chosen to ransom for Israel?  How is that fair?”  For years that feeling kept screaming “Unfair!” to my soul.

But at some point, God broke through my resistance, showing me that those who love Him are His people, that at this point the Jewish people were more like Gentiles than godly, and that Gentiles didn’t so much as mean non-Jews as it meant those who didn’t worship and honor God.

When God finally opened my eyes to that, this chapter took on incredible new meaning for me personally.  Here’s what I saw:

“He created you … He formed you … I have saved you.  I have called you by name, and you are Mine.  I will be with You through every hurt.  I, the Lord, am your God … your Savior.  I gave much to pay for you, to make you Mine, because you are precious to Me.  I give you honor and love you.  Don’t be afraid, because I am with you.”

Then it gets highly personal for me:

“I will bring your children from the east (Ukraine) and gather you from the west (He had me, in the West, go get them)… Bring My sons from far away … Bring to me all who are Mine, whom I made for My glory, whom I formed and made … You are My witnesses and the servant I chose (telling how He put us together as a family).  I chose you (both my boys and me) so you would know and believe Me, so you would understand that I am the true God …I Myself AM the Lord; I am the only Savior.  I Myself have spoken to you, saved you, and tell you these things … You are My witnesses, and I am God … I have always been God (even when I doubted Him) … I will knock down all the locked gates (exactly what He did in Ukraine).  I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King… Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past.  Look at the new thing I am going to do.  It is already happening.  Don’t you see it? …. I, I am the One who forgives ALL your sins.  But you should remind Me.  Let’s meet…”

What an incredibly wonderful and personal God You are to me, Father.  Even when I was far from You, You had already planned to draw me near again to bless me.  Thank You for loving me more than I can ever love You, but please allow me to try!

Isaiah 42 -- Humbling For Not Just Israel, But For Us As Well

Hearing God speak about the characteristics of His Son reminds me of just how often I fail to look like Him:

“He will not cry out or yell or speak loudly in the streets.  He will not break a crushed blade of grass or put out even a weak flame.  He will truly bring justice; He will not lose hope or give up until He brings justice to the world.”

Father, remind me when things get heated to react as Jesus would react.  Remind me not to further damage a crushed blade of grass that represents someone You care about deeply.  Father, You personally start the spark of belief in each of our souls.  Help me not to extinguish that spark by anything I might carelessly or wrongly say.  Don’t let me lose hope when I fail You again and again.  Help me never to give up trying my hardest to obey.

As I read the rest of this chapter, I was overwhelmed by God’s majesty and sovereignty and of how I often let my selfishness and pride lead me to dare to question Him about His plans for my life.

“I am the Lord.  That is My name.  I will not give My glory to another; I will not let idols take the praise that should be Mine…  For a long time I have said nothing;  I have been quiet and held Myself back.  But now I will cry out … You have seen much, but You have not OBEYED.  You hear, but you refuse to LISTEN … We sinned against Him.  We did not live the way He wanted us to live and did not OBEY His teaching … It was as if they had fire all around them, but they didn’t KNOW what was happening.  It was as if they were burning, but they didn’t pay any attention.”

Father, forgive me for putting anything else in my life ahead of You.  That would make it an idol for me, and nothing deserves praise that should only come to You.  Forgive me for not giving You all the glory You are due.  You have been more than kind and loving, holding off Your anger when I fail You.  You have shown me much light, and I am responsible for what You’ve shown me.  That makes obedience all the more important, and my failure to obey all the more grievous.  Please heighten my awareness of sin in my life, just as You heightened my awareness of the wildfires around us yesterday.  Help me to pay attention to sin and not to ever dismiss it, for You take disobedience very seriously.  Thank You for so lovingly showing me this today, reminding me that You are God and that I can never offer excuses, only requests for forgiveness.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 41 -- God Speaking To America?

Just as surely as God called Cyrus as He mentions here, He also calls us, and these words seem to read across the miles and the centuries to us today:

“Faraway countries (U.S.?), listen to Me … Come to Me and speak; we will meet together to decide who is right (us or God?)…. Who has caused this to happen?  Who has controlled history since the beginning?  I, the Lord, am the One.  I was here at the beginning, and I will be here when all things are finished … All you faraway places (U.S.?) look and be afraid … come close and listen to Me … You are My servants … I chose you.  You are from the family of My friend Abraham.  I took you from places far away on the earth and called you from a faraway country.  I said, ‘You are My servants.’  I have chosen you and have not turned against you.  So don’t worry, because I am with you.  Don’t be afraid, because I am your God.  I will make you strong and will help you;  I will support you with My right hand that saves You (Christ).  All those people who are angry with you will be ashamed and disgraced.  Those who are against you will disappear and be lost …Those who fought against you will vanish completely.”

And with perfect timing for Father’s Day, think about the picture God describes here:

“I am the Lord Your God, who holds your right hand, and I tell you, ‘Don’t be afraid.  I will help you.  I Myself will help You.  The One who saves you is the Holy One of Israel … I, the Lord, will answer their prayers.  I, the God of Israel, will not leave them to die … People will see these things and understand.  They will think carefully about these things and learn that the Lord’s power did this.”

Father, You speak to our nation again.  You speak to me as my Father.  And I hear You speaking to my very sick friend in this, too.  Continue to work a miracle with her healing.  Give her a story to tell that will glorify You.  Do what You say here, Father.  And thanks for being my Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 40 -- God Is More Than Enough

How big of a God do we have?  He’s measured the oceans in His palms and the skies with His hand.  He’s weighed Mt. Everest on a scale.  No one but Christ and the Holy Spirit have known the mind of God.  All of the nations from all time are but the light coating of dust on His scales, barely visible to the naked eye.  The forests of the world could be set afire to offer up all the sacrificial animals in the world, and yet that offering would be insufficient to fully honor Him.

Anyone who dares to compare himself to God is immediately aware of his own insignificance.  And when we are worn out and need rest, God is just getting started.  He never tires.

How great a source of strength then He can be for us!  God Himself says here:  “Comfort My people.  Here is your God … coming with power … bringing reward for His people … bringing their payment.  He takes care of His people like a shepherd.  He gathers them like lambs in His arms and carries them close to Him.  He gently leads them.”

God says here:  “Why do you complain?  Why do you say, ‘The Lord does not see what happens to me; He does not care if I am treated fairly’?  … He gives strength to those who are tired and more power to those who are weak … The people who trust the Lord will become strong again.  They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired.”

I see the greatness of my God written all over these pages, and I see His loving watchcare over us woven into every fiber of His being, guided by His infinite wisdom – driven by His love.

Father, thank You for being more than I could ever ask or imagine.  Thank You for being more than enough for me.  Be more than enough for my very ill friend and her family today as well!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 36-39 Prayer For A Very Sick Friend

I have been praying for my dear friend.  She’s right now in a fight for her life against an infection, not unlike Hezekiah’s illness in these verses.  

When Hezekiah received word from Isaiah that he would die, Hezekiah turned in his bed toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, crying loudly.  God the told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah, “I have heard your prayers and seen your tears.  So I will add 15 years to your life.”

My commentary said to take note of Hezekiah’s response in verses 15-17.  Hezekiah said, “The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.  I have had these troubles IN MY SOUL, so now I will be humble all my life.  Lord, because of You, people live.  Because of You, my spirit also lives; You made me well and let me live.  It was for my own good that I had such troubles.  Because You love me very much, You did not let me die but threw my sins far away.”

My commentary says:  “Hezekiah acknowledges that by these afflictions men live, and that they have a beneficial influence on man’s character.”  Hezekiah’s faith was strengthened by his ordeal and by God’s gracious response to his prayer.  He determined to praise God all the days of his life.

In the same way, Father, we pray for my friend.  By these afflictions, allow her to live, and let them have a beneficial influence on not just her character, but also on the faith of her family and friends.  As Hezekiah prayed in chapter 17, we also pray.  We spread this out before You:  Lord All-Powerful, You are the God of Israel.  Only You are God of all the kingdoms of the earth.  You made the heavens and the earth.  Hear, Lord, and listen.  Open Your eyes, Lord, and see.  Now, Lord our God, save her from this disease’s power so that everyone everywhere will know that You, Lord, are the only God.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 33-35 Comfort In Scary Times

I LOVED several passages I read here today:

“Lord, be kind to us.  We have waited for Your help.  Give us strength every morning.  Save us when we are in trouble.”

“The Lord says, ‘Now, I will stand up and show My greatness.  Now, I will become important to the people.’”

“You people in faraway lands, hear what I have done.  You people who are near Me, learn about My power.”  (The U.S. would be a faraway land from Israel.  Christians would be people near Him.)

“Your eyes will see the king in His beauty.  You will see the land that stretches far away.”

“The Lord will be our Mighty One … The Lord is our judge.  The Lord makes our laws.  The Lord is our king.  He will save us!”

“Everyone will see the glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God.”

“Be strong.  Don’t be afraid.  Look, Your God will come … He will save you.”

Father, how we need You right now, more than ever.  The wheels appear to be coming off this world, but You are in control.  Save us with Your mighty hand.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 30-32 God Waits

Verses 18-25 of chapter 30 really caught my eye this morning.  I read, “The Lord will hear Your crying and He will comfort you.  When He hears you He will help you.  The Lord has given you sorrow and hurt … He is your teacher;  He will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your teacher with your own eyes.  If you go the wrong way – to the right or to the left – you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the right way.  You should go this way … At that time the Lord will send rain … The harvest will be rich and great.”

My commentary said about these verses:  “Still the Lord will wait to be gracious.  God waits until the disaster of our choice has taught us the foolishness of that choice.”

God wants to guide us.  He graciously stands ready to do so if we will only listen.  However, if we willfully choose the wrong path, God will allow us to learn from our choices.  He will wait to be gracious until we cry out to Him from the midst of our disaster so that we will learn to trust Him first.

Father, You have been so gracious over the years to save me from disasters of my own making.  I’ve made foolish choices, and I ask that You allow me to easily hear You – to know the right way to go in every situation.  Be my guide and my steadfast hope.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 29 -- Lots In There Just For Me

Though it appears that much of this news from God was directed towards the Jewish remnant, I find lots in here that speaks to me directly.

In v. 2, “I will attack Jerusalem … it will be like an altar to Me.”  That tells me that we can choose to bow down to God at an altar or He will use us for an altar.

In v.13, the Lord says, “These people say they love Me; they show honor to Me with words, but their hearts are far from Me.  The honor they show Me is nothing but human rules.”  God looks at our hearts.  He knows our motivations.  If He sees that what we’re doing doesn’t match what we’re thinking, then He’ll call our hand on it.  He can’t be fooled or mocked.  And if we are simply going through the motions and not fully engaged, He knows it and He doesn’t honor it.

He follows all that with verse 15:  “How terrible it will be for those who try to hide things from the Lord and who do their work in darkness.  They think no one will see them or know what they do.  You are confused … You think the clay is equal to the potter … This is like a pot telling its maker, “You don’t know anything!”

Oh, how our human pride and hubris lead us to dare to believe that we know better than God what we need!

Finally, God said this about the believing remnant:  “When they see all their children, the children I made with My hands, they will say My name is holy.  They will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy, and they will respect the God of Israel.”

Father, I thank You for calling me out any time my motives do not match my actions.  Thank You for revealing to me that You know my heart.  Thanks for reminding me that saying I love You is one thing.  But having a heart that beats for You is quite another.  And thank You that, when I look upon my boys, the children You made with Your own hands just for me, I still am filled with awe and amazement, causing me to worship You for all You do for me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 27-28 The Care God Uses In Disciplining Us

Two things grabbed at my heart this morning.  In 28:21, Isaiah says about God, “He will do His work, His strange work.  He will finish His job, His strange job.”

My commentary says that, since God is a God of love, rising up against His own people in judgment is something utterly foreign to Him, but He does it anyway because it must be done.  He loves us that much!

Isaiah also uses a farming illustration in 28:23-29 that helps us to see the way God deals with His children. 

“He doesn’t continue breaking the ground indefinitely, but stops when it is ready for planting.”  Likewise, our trials are brought to an end as soon as they have accomplished His purposes in our lives.

In the next part of that same illustration, the farmer scatters or plants in rows, based on which crop is being planted.  “This assures us that the Lord carefully selects the discipline especially suited to OUR particular needs.”

Then, in a section about harvesting, the dill is struck with a light stick, the cumin with a heavier one; the wheat is cleaned with a wheel just heavy enough to avoid crushing the grain.  Likewise, “the Almighty uses the gentlest possible touch for our condition, never allowing an affliction to be greater than we can bear.”

Father, I thank You for Your great wisdom, and for loving me enough to know me better than I know myself.  In every season of my life, You know exactly what I need, and if I try to tell You differently, then I am the one who is wrong, not You.  Please remind me of that every time I think that I know better than you, for I’ve sat and watched myself agreeing with You on what’s best for my life, and yet shortly thereafter I find myself doing the exact opposite!  What kind of an idiot does sin cause us to be?

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 25 & 26 What God Wants To Do

My commentary says these verses are talking about tribulation saints and Israel’s deliverance through the Tribulation.  I’ve always maintained that the Bible is holographic, in that seen from one vantage point, it says something to one person based on his circumstances, yet to another person in a different set of circumstances, it can say something completely different yet equally valuable.

In 26:8-9, God says about us:  “Our souls want to remember you and Your name.  My soul wants to be with You at night, and my spirit wants to be with You at the dawn of every day.”  God is telling us that He created us to have a hunger for Him.  But there’s a disconnect between our souls and spirits and our physical bodies due to sin.  What God prefers for us is stated in verse 7:  “The path of life is level for those who are right with God.  Lord, You make the way of life smooth for those people.” 

At some point in the past I’d written a note in my Bible about that verse.  Every time I see the word “level” in the Bible, God seems to show me a picture of a graph.  Here, that graph would be charting time from left to right, and the distance between my will and God’s up and down.  Those who are right with God should have zero distance between their will and His always, and the graph would be a level, flat line.

Verse 12 tells how we achieve that:  “Lord, all our success is because of what You have done, so give us PEACE.”  Struggling against God causes differences between our will and His.  Verse 3 tells us more about that:  “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on You, because they trust You.”  We have to start by trusting Him to provide that peace. 

Verses 13 & 14 tell how the graph used to look:  “Lord, our God, other masters besides You have ruled us, but we honor only You.  Those masters are now dead [or should be];  their ghosts will not rise from death.  You punished and destroyed them and erased any memory of them.”  God wants to kill off that old life and not let the ghosts of it haunt us.  He wants to wipe out the memories of it, but in our sin we sometimes won’t let Him do that.  We want to wallow in those memories.

Back in 25:1, we see what is possible if we will conform our will to God’s and let him have His way in our lives:

“Lord, you are my God.  I honor you and praise You, because You have done AMAZING things.  You have always done what You said You would do;  You have done what You planned long ago.”

Father, I agree with all of this, and I want this for my life.  You still have changes You want to make in my life, and I’ve got to let You be God to make them happen.  Please give me more of Your true peace and help me to only depend on You and not on myself.  Finish doing the amazing things I need You to do in my life that You planned long ago.  Keep the path of my life level with Yours.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 24 -- It Won't Be Global Warming Doing This

The events in chapter 24 are still to come, and they are not going to be anything to look forward to.

“The Lord will destroy the earth and leave it empty; He will ruin the surface of the land and scatter its people.”

As much as environmentalists want to blame mankind for global warming, it’s impact on the earth will not be the thing that does us in.  Our sins will lead God to ruin the surface of the earth, leaving it empty and causing the few remaining inhabitants to scatter in order to find food.

“The earth will be completely empty.  The wealth will all be taken, because the Lord has commanded it.”

This emptiness and destruction of wealth could result simply from God willing everything manmade to cease to exist.  It’s not hard to imagine God ordering the removal of even the largest building and its foundations, leaving nothing but bare ground.  Though humans choose to disobey, the very atoms and molecules making up the building would certainly do God’s will, dissolving into nothingness.

“The earth will dry up and die; the world will grow weak and die .. the foundations of the earth will shake.  The earth will be broken up; the earth will split open; the earth will shake violently.  The earth will stumble around like someone who is drunk; it will shake like a hut in a storm.  Its sin is like a heavy weight on its back; it will fall and never rise again.”

This sounds like the earth’s very orbit could change.  The earth’s rotational wobble, which is well known to scientists, could become so violent from the “heavy weight on its back” of perhaps unbalanced polar ice caps (as opposed to receding polar caps due to global warming) that its rotational axis could even change.  Such a cataclysm would resemble what is described here.  This doesn’t sound like simply natural earthquakes.

In that enigmatic last sentence of verse 20, the earth is said to “fall and never rise again.”  Earthrise and earthset were first witnessed by astronauts on the moon.  This might even mean that the moon itself no longer orbits or even that God might stop the earth’s rotational spin!  Those kinds of things are much more in line with the power and might of God.

My commentary suggested that the last verses result from Christ’s return to rule, and that His light will far outshine the sun or the reflected light of the moon, which would resemble creation prior to God’s creation of the sun and moon – when God’s Shekinah glory lit all of creation.

Father, Your word says here that the people of the earth have ruined it – not by pollution but instead because of our sin problem that can only be solved by turning to You in repentance.  Our sin doesn’t just affect ourselves, but does damage to the whole world.  Help us to understand that, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 21-23 Watching Our Own Destruction Arrive

I noticed a repeating theme across these chapters:  What the people were doing versus what they should be doing.  It shows up in 21:9 –

“They set the table; they spread the rugs; they eat and drink.  Leaders, stand up.  Prepare the shields for battle!”

Instead of being ready, they are reclining to dine.

In 22:12-13 –

“The Lord God All-Powerful told the people to cry and be sad, to shave their heads and wear rough cloth.  But look, the people are happy and are having wild parties … They say, ‘Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die.’ “

Their apathy towards God’s calling has led God to take action:  “The Lord God All-Powerful has chosen a special day of riots and confusion (sounds exactly like what they are calling for in the Middle East right now) … You did not trust the God who made these things; you did not respect the One who planned them long ago …. It was the Lord All-Powerful who planned this.  He decided to make these proud people unimportant; He decided to disgrace those who were greatly respected … The Lord has stretched His hand over the sea and made its kingdoms tremble … You are forgotten.”

When God’s appointed time arrives, all the preparations made by any nation will be insufficient to prevent its destruction.  God’s decision came after watching for years as they wantonly ignored Him.

Father, please help me as an individual and us as a nation to be doing what we should be doing, rather than flippantly ignoring You.  Help us to change before it is too late.  Don’t let us repeat history.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford