Isaiah 40 -- Our Circumstances

I love how this chapter points us to God’s awesomeness.  I also love some things my commentary brought out:

“God is greater than the circumstances BEHIND us … The remnant in Babylon looked back, seeing only failure and sin, needing encouragement.  Four voices are heard, each with a special message … The voice of pardon …The nation had sinned greatly against the Lord … But they were still His people, and He loved them.  Though He would chasten them, He would not forsake them… The voice of providence … The Jews had a rough road ahead of them, … but the Lord would go before them and open the way … The way back may not be easy, but if we are trusting God, it will be easier… The voice of promise … Like the grass, nations and their leaders fulfill their purposes and then fade away, but the Word of God abides forever … As they began their long journey home, Israel could depend on God’s promises … The voice of peace … God’s arm is a might arm for winning the battle, but it is also a loving arm for carrying His weary lambs.

God is greater than the circumstances BEFORE us … When you behold the greatness of God, you will see everything else in life in its proper perspective.

God is greater than the circumstances WITHIN us … God knows how we feel and how we fear, and He is adequate to meet our every need.  We can never obey God in our own strength, but we can always trust Him to provide the strength we need.  If we trust ourselves, we will faint and fall, but if we wait on the Lord by faith, we will receive strength for the journey … It is much harder to walk in the ordinary pressures of life than to fly like an eagle in a time of crisis.  The greatest heroes of faith are not always those who seem to be soaring; often it is they who are patiently plodding … God enables us to walk longer.  Blessed are the plodders.”

Father, thanks for lifting me up just when I need it.  When life knocks the wind out of me, causes me to feel entitled to sin, or looks absolutely hopeless, Your strong arms are there in reassurance and forgiveness, holding me close.  You know my future and You have Your absolute best planned for me, even when I sin and find myself off the path You’ve laid out for me.  Thank You for Your sovereignty, Your omniscience, and Your omnipresence.  Thank You for using Your great power just for me.  Such love!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 39 -- What Pride Did

Having recovered from being near death, Hezekiah was thrilled to feel well enough to be back on his throne.  The Babylonians – at that time not yet even considered a world power – saw their opportunity and sent their crown prince with a gift to celebrate Hezekiah’s recovery.  Hezekiah didn’t seek God’s guidance on this, however.  He failed to see that this was a reconnaissance mission, and his pride led him to fully disclose the wealth Israel had accumulated over the centuries.

My commentary said, “When Satan cannot defeat us as a roaring lion, he comes as a deceiving serpent.  What Assyria couldn’t do with weapons, Babylon did with gifts.  God permitted the enemy to test Hezekiah so that the proud king might learn what was really in his heart … The king was basking in fame and wealth and apparently neglecting his spiritual life.  Hezekiah was safer as a sick man in bed than as a healthy man on the throne.  Had he consulted first with Isaiah, the king would have avoided blundering as he did.”

Father, I’ve seen pride do terrible things to people – even to those I love.  It causes us to think much more highly of ourselves and less respectfully of You.  Please make such behavior abundantly clear to each of us and help us to admit how this deadly sin so deceitfully attacks us.  Humble us and cause us to seek only Your will in our lives.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 38 -- Hezekiah Prayed

Prior to the Assyrian invasion, but while Assyria was making threats to Judah and Jerusalem, Hezekiah found himself near death because of a boil on his skin.  Isaiah gave him God’s message that he would die.  Yet Hezekiah prayed, “Lord, please remember that I have always obeyed You.  I have given myself completely to You and have done what You said was right.”  He cried loudly.  He did not yet have a son, and his nation was in dire need of experienced leadership with Assyria threatening.

Isaiah hadn’t gotten far when God turned him around.  He told Hezekiah what God had said, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.  So I will add fifteen years to your life.  I will save you and this city from the king of Assyria.

In an amazing display of God’s omnipotence, He either took Hezekiah back in time a few hours (as evidenced by the sun’s shadow retreating), or He reversed the path of the earth’s rotation without disrupting everything on the face of the planet!  Either sign was incredible!

Hezekiah’s response was humility and praise for God.  “The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.”  His illness was not without blessing:  “I have had these troubles in my soul, so now I will be humble all my life.”  As with Hezekiah, God uses the troubles in our lives to cause us to be humble and to acknowledge our dependence upon Him.  “It was for my own good that I had such troubles,” he said.  God works for our own good in everything He does for us!

Father, I’m so thankful for the hard times, which led me to seek You out, to cry out to You, and to watch in amazement as You’ve answered with good.  Those times have stoked up my dependence upon You, and with each of these “divine appointments” I continue to grow my faith.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 37 -- God At Work

I love this passage!  When Hezekiah was faced with a seemingly impossible situation, he humbled himself, went to the Temple, and spread out his troubles before God.  Then he prayed:  “Lord All-Powerful, You are the God of Israel … only You are God … You made the heavens and the earth.  Hear, Lord, and listen.  Open Your eyes, Lord, and see.  It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these countries and their lands.  They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire, but they were only wood and rock statues that people made…  Now, Lord our God, save us from the king’s power so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You, Lord, are the only God.”

He didn’t ask simply to save his people.  He asked God to defend His own honor.  He wanted God to be glorified by what He would do, above all else.

“When Hezekiah had been deathly ill, Isaiah had assured him of deliverance.  God’s promises ARE sure, but God’s people must claim them by faith before God can work … In the building up of our faith, the Word of God and prayer go together,” my commentary said.

God responded with three things:  Jerusalem would be delivered, the Assyrians would leave, and the people would not starve.  Then the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers during the night.  The Assyrian king left and never returned.  Twenty years later, his sons assassinated him in the temple of his god!  He had been a tool used by God to discipline God’s people, but his pride led him to speak against Almighty God, and that led to his demise.

Father, thank You for reminding me of Your sovereignty and omnipotence!  Help me to remember that, when I am afraid, I can bring my problems before You and ask for Your protection as well.  Remind me to be humble and worshipful of You as I do, and the allow me to watch and see You at work protecting me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 35-36 Faith Is Living Without Scheming

The people of Jerusalem had watched as the Assyrian army had decimated the surrounding land, and now that mighty army stood ready to invade the Holy City.  They were likely amazed to hear Isaiah’s words from chapter 35.  God was telling them about a time in the future when the curse of sin on creation would be removed.  The deserts would become more fertile than farmland.  All sickness and infirmity would disappear, and God would establish “The Road To Holiness” to lead people to Him!

But first there was this matter of the Assyrian army outside the city walls, waiting for the order to attack.  The field commander had come to Jerusalem to talk sense into them.  He spoke Hebrew so that every citizen would understand him and likely put pressure on King Hezekiah to surrender.  The propaganda he delivered included the promise of peaceful lives in Assyria in captivity.  He also told them something that shocked them:  “The Lord Himself told me to come to this country and destroy it.”

“The Assyrian invasion was a part of God’s discipline to teach His people to trust Him alone,” my commentary said.  “Hezekiah and his people needed to learn that faith is living without scheming.”  No more running to Egypt for help or trying to buy off invaders.  Only trust in God would do.

Ironically, this meeting was taking place on the very spot where Isaiah had confronted Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, about 30 years earlier.  “Ahaz hadn’t trusted God, but had instead made a treaty with Assyria, and now the Assyrians were ready to take Jerusalem!”

Father, You call us today to lives of faith – living without scheming – trusting You for everything in our lives.  But we must be on Your Highway to Holiness.  We cannot expect Your blessings when we are cheating faith by scheming.  Help us to see when we are doing that and to repent and depend solely on You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 33-34 What To Do When Things Seem To Be Going Wrong

Some verses particularly seemed to stand out this morning:

“Lord, be kind to us.  We have waited for Your help.  Give us strength every morning.  Save us when we are in trouble … He will be your safety.  He is full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.  Respect for the Lord is the greatest treasure … The Lord says, ‘Now, I will stand up and show My greatness.  Now, I will become important to the people’ … Your eyes will see the King in His beauty … The Lord is our judge.  The Lord makes our laws.  The Lord is our king [note all three branches of government mentioned].  He will save us.”

My commentary said, “Isaiah 33:2 is the prayer of the godly remnant … Isaiah had promised that God would be gracious to them if they would only trust him, so a few devout people turned His promise into prayer.  God spared Jerusalem for David’s sake and because a believing remnant trusted God and prayed.  Never underestimate the power of a praying minority … Unbelief looks to human resources for help, but faith looks to God  … We witness to a lost world when we trust him and let Him have His way.”

Yesterday was a disappointing day for our church.  We’ve gone over a year without a music minister, and we had hopes for the man who came yesterday.  Yet God helped me to understand through the whole process that He is sovereign, that His will cannot be thwarted.  These verses seem to echo that today.  We can turn His promise into prayer as they did.

Father, help us to know in our hearts what that believing remnant did.  Help us to understand the power of prayer.  Help our church not to look to human resources for help.  Remind us that faith looks to You, and when we exercise that faith, we bear witness to a lost world.  We trust You and we too will let You have Your way.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Isaiah 31-32 Come Back To The God You Fought Against

God had specifically warned His people for years not to trust Egypt for help and not to trust in military might (chariots and horses), but to trust only in Him.  To that end, He said:  “The Lord All-Powerful will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.  The Lord All-Powerful will defend Jerusalem … He will defend it and save it; He will ‘pass over’ and save Jerusalem.”

In telling words, God spoke to us today as well – “Come back to the God you fought against.”  Even in our sin, He seeks our return!

Isaiah again describes the Messianic kingdom, when people will listen and understand and obey God’s will.  He also plainly tells us that the person who says foolish things, who plans evil, who does wicked things, who speaks wrongfully about the Lord, and who doesn’t feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty are fools.

But one day “God will pour His Spirit from above upon us.”  Justice and fairness will then rule, and the defilement will then be removed from the land, bringing fertility, peace, and safety.  “Hail will destroy the forest, and the city will be completely destroyed, but you will be happy.”

Father, it will be so wonderful when we can experience life without sin and see how You created us to live!  How we should mourn the effect our sin has had on creation!  Make it happen soon, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford