What do you place your trust and hope in? Do you trust, hope, and love money, sex, drugs, acceptance, or power? Happiness can never be secured by treasures of this life. Everything around you is temporal and the hope and blessing you derive from these trinkets will waiver and fail you when you are craving trust, hope, and love the most. “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!” Isaiah 31:1 The beautiful simplicity of God’s truth is found in Isaiah. We cannot build our hope on anything apart from the glorious God who lavishly moved to save humanity from its foolish pride. Continue Reading…
Are you standing upon the lavish simplicity of God: Isaiah 31 and 32
Do your actions proclaim your trust or disdain of God: Isaiah 29 and 30
We are given a looking glass into our own lives in Isaiah 29 and 30. What do you treasure? What do you value? What do you hold in high regard? Our lives will answer these questions without a need for us to speak. We can proclaim to act or believe in one thing or another but if our actions do not match what we say we are lying. Do you live out what you proclaim to be your faith in God? Do your actions proclaim your trust or disdain of God? “And the Lord said: ‘Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.’” Isaiah 29:13,14 Where is your heart? Our hearts are what truly motivate us to do everything we do. Continue Reading…
The greatest commitment of your life: Isaiah 27 and 28
What is commitment? Do we commit only when there is some benefit to ourselves? Is there a greater motivation to what we do? Why do we get up every morning? Once we identify the motivating factor behind our commitment we will truly know who we are and what we value. Does money motivate you? Do the pleasures of life bring you satisfaction? Can family and friends produce a lasting motivation that carries you through life. Has your faith in God pervaded your life to spur your motives? There are many things that we claim as motivators in life but true motivation can only be found in God. Continue Reading…
Our fears and failures are abolished: Isaiah 25 and 26
“O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” Isaiah 25:1 Can you fathom the great purpose of God? Have you become consumed by the worries of life as you go about your life? We cannot afford to think so highly of ourselves as to not need God. Sadly we often find ourselves seeing wonders around us yet not perceiving God at work around us. We place our trust in Jesus Christ but without tangible reality to ground our faith we forget God is absolutely surrounding us. Why do we desire a tangible facet of faith? Continue Reading…
Hope in the coming day of judgement: Isaiah 23 and 24
A day is coming when God will come to judge the earth. There will be no one excluded from the moment then God returns in glory to weight the hearts and intentions of men. ”Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. Continue Reading…
The unstoppable will of God: Isaiah 21 and 22
Will you acknowledge your Hope? When you find yourself blessed do you attribute that blessing to your own prowess or your luck? Do you remember that God is that one who is at work in your life? Read the story of Isaiah 22 and learn what happens when selfish pride overwhelms man. “Therefore I said: ‘Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.’ For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.” Isaiah 22:4,
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Just turn and start that journey of faith before you: Isaiah 19 and 20
Can anything that we hold in high regard give us lasting hope? Can money buy us assurance? Will friendship provide the lasting fellowship we crave? Can the power and renown of our ethnicity, nation, or religious denomination grant us the hope that tomorrow will be better than today? “An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom; and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers; and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.” Isaiah 19:1-4 In Isaiah 19 we see how nothing can stand against the will of God. Prowess, power, and cunning are of no use against God when He determines to move.
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Refuge, hope, and salvation found in Jesus Christ: Isaiah 17 and 18
Do you possess a continual eternal perspective that envelopes your life? If we had a consistent eternal perspective we could endure the ups and downs of life with little or no regard because we would always be steadfast upon the truths of God. Our eternal perspective is always shifting depending on our emotions and circumstances. We are consistently scrambling to overcome every moment of tribulation before we become overwhelmed and sadly we easily forget the truth that God is our unmovable hope. ”For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.” Isaiah 17:10,11 God is a refuge for those who know Him. God is hope for those who seek Him. God is the source of salvation to those who believe. Do you know God? Do you know His refuge, hope, and salvation? Continue Reading…
Leaving pride to find the enveloping grace of God: Isaiah 15 and 16
What of do you think about pride? Is pride a noble virtue, an inherent quality of mankind, or a fault to overcome? Look at the people of the world who you pass by each day. Have they presumed to live their lives in complete apathy towards God and endure without calamity? We create monuments to our vanity as we glory in ourselves each day. Oh the wretchedness of humanity ; we take the precious gift of life that God has given us and we degraded it to a freak occurrence of nature over billions of years. Do we fear God? Do we realize the peril that is upon our doorstep as we glory in our pride of life? Continue Reading…
