July 14–Isaiah 36-39

“Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. . .I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake”(37:21,35).

I don’t understand it, but I KNOW it to be true. There is great power in prayer.

Hezekiah was a flawed person. (OK, who isn’t?) At times fickle, self-centered, insecure, he craved the approval of men. However, for all his imperfections, when Hezekiah prayed, God answered him. Friend, do you hear and receive this encouragement for your own prayers?

Having destroyed Samaria, the Assyrian army came south to Jerusalem. A siege was imminent. Defeat almost certain. At a particularly discouraging moment, Hezekiah took the letters calling for unconditional surrender and “spread them out before the Lord” (“Eloquent symbol of humility and honesty in prayer,” says Maclaren.)

It was an act of faith, a rejection of the wisdom of politicians and military leaders. To spread something out before the Lord is to take your own hands off the solution. It is to humbly request and to humbly receive God’s answer. “Wait on the Lord,” is how Isaiah described this task.

Will you read the words of Hezekiah’s prayer? Notice how God-focused his words are. How singularly concerned with the glory of God. Prayer (at least at this moment) was not a way to get what Hezekiah wanted. It was a sincere and self-less effort to grasp the invisible realities of God’s will.

Soon after, Isaiah sent a message of assurance to the king. Note 37:26, 35. God hears prayer. God answers prayer.

For all the cost of it, (think of Jacob wrestling at Jabbok, or Jesus surrendering in Gethsemane), believers have no greater privilege than the invitation from God to seek Him in prayer. In a day of fear and confusion, the people of God are well reminded of this potent power that is ours.

“There are parts of our calling, works of the Holy Spirit, and defeats of the darkness that will come no other way than furious, fervent, faith-filled, unceasing prayer”(Beth Moore).

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day” (Abraham Lincoln).

August 13–Ezekiel 1-4

“And each went straight forward; wherever the Spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went”(1:12).

As I look back over my life, I mark moments of dramatic change. Many turning points!

Conversion and first steps of faith in high school. . . Spiritually rich years at Baylor University. . .ministry assignments. . .meeting Holly. . .marriage and family. . .the privilege/pressure of the pastorate. . .cancer. . . retirement. . .cancer, again. Who could have anticipated all the twists and turns of this road? Not me!

Viewed from Heaven, all of these turns were actually a straight line! Each was a part of the steady out-working of God’s plan in my life. No surprises from Heaven’s perspective. The Bible says God knows our days. Every crisis, every change is part of the path,”which God prepared in advance.” See Ephesians 2:10.

The prophet Ezekiel gave witness to Judah in exile. He spoke to people who (despite the warnings of God) were profoundly surprised and disappointed when Jerusalem was destroyed. In his first recorded vision, God allowed Ezekiel to see angelic beings with four faces. One facing north. One south. One east. One west. When the Spirit moved, and these beings followed, in some real sense they were always moving straight forward. They had no need to turn. “Just keep going,” whispered the Lord to these strange creatures.

The message is clear. When changes come (and they do!) they are only superficial. In heaven (the place of our true identity and destiny), nothing is truly a disruption. God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him.

Friend, is your heart convinced of this Spiritual fact? Do you embrace every new assignment from God, every heartbreak, every loss, every opportunity, every day as a continuation and completion of His good work in you? Even when life changes, do you walk straight forward?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight”(Proverbs 3:4-5).

July 13–Isaiah 32-35

“A highway will be there, a roadway. And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it. . .and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away”(35:8,10).

The ancient world had few roads. Beaten paths only, and not many of them. The expense and political authority required for a true road was prohibitive. Only Rome, years later, could accomplish the marvel of nation-connecting roads.

Imagine, then, the gift of grace that was communicated by Isaiah’s vision. A road! A holy highway. A walkable path and the possibility of progress!

Do you ever feel stuck? God has a holy highway for you, friend. He will provide a way forward, a way of escape.

“I am the way,” said Jesus in John 14:6. The thought and promise of His words are very close to the ancient text in Isaiah. Even after we are saved, there are steps to be taken. Those who are justified also have a journey. Jesus is our Redeemer. He is also our Road.

Isaiah predicted the highway the exiles would travel to return to Jerusalem. A path of hope!

In a deeper sense (all prophecy is only a pre-echo of an ultimate fulfillment in Christ) Isaiah saw saved people walking in the Spirit. Redeemed people (v. 9). Ransomed people (v. 10). As we walk, He sanctifies us. Friend, are you walking with the Lord in holiness? Are you making progress in Him?

“Then let our songs abound and every tear be dry; we’re marching through Immanuel’s ground to fairer worlds on high”(Isaac Watts).

“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15).

There is a road for redeemed people to walk. Those who do so will eventually get home! Joyful shouts. Sweet privilege. Put on your shoes, dear friend! Don’t stop or resist or delay! Even today, the Good Guide calls us to get forward on His Highway of Holiness.

July 12–Isaiah 29-31

“For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing” (30:15).

Assyria was a problem. BIG problem. The people of Jerusalem (like all others in the ancient Middle East) lived in daily anxiety of their aggressive northern neighbor.

The threat of an Assyrian invasion was the subject of every newscast, the topic of every anxious conversation. Talk show hosts and political leaders recommended an alliance with Egypt as the prudent path. See 30:2.

Isaiah (and the other prophets) disagreed. The solution, they said, was not political, but Spiritual. Rest (safety) could only be found in repentance. The Hebrew word is shubah (shoo baw), “to return, to repent.” A return to the historic relationship of Israel with God. A rediscovery of the power in Jehovah through faith and obedience. Doing so, the nation would experience the protection and provision of God.

Secular thinkers ridicule Spiritual solutions as unrealistic or irresponsible approaches to “real” issues. History and eternity prove the opposite. The only safety available to man is in God.

Turn back, friends! His mercy bids you come back to the original design for human life. Let the disappointments suffered in this broken world soften your heart and speed your feet! Consider what has happened since we broke rank from Father. Why did we ever listen to the world and leave the Reliable One?

Whatever the problem. However present the danger. Turn back to the God who made you. Take steps required to be right with Him. You will find safety there.

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling”(Matthew 23:37).

July 11–Isaiah 26-28

“Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity”(26:20-21).

There is no special shame for America in our drift from God. Significant shame, but not special.

Sadly, we have gone the way humans always do. We have proven God’s judgement. Men are sinners. Sexually immoral. Greedy. Lawless. Ungrateful. Violent. None righteous. Not one. “Man produces evil as a bee produces honey”(William Golding).

There is, however, a special grace for the people of God who live in America (and every other sinful nation). God’s people are mixed into the culture as wheat among tares. The Lord knows who are His. He also, “knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement”(2 Peter 2:9).

As judgement fell on Israel, the prophet gave counsel to the people of God. They were to enter their rooms and close their doors and hide until the indignation ran its course. They were to seek His face. His help. To find safety in Him.

The words are strangely reminiscent of Jesus. “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in secret,” says Matthew 6:6. In prayer, the Father allows us to confess our own sins. In prayer, He allows us to see His face and His purpose in discipline. In prayer, we find His grace and guidance and hope, even as harsh discipline falls.

God will not turn back from His holiness, but neither will He turn away from His people. When wrath comes, those who wait on Him will find special grace. God in His grace is calling us to do so.

“I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. ‘Come let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us’ “(Hosea 5:15-16:1).

July 10–Isaiah 23-25

“The Lord will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth. . .the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed. . .The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the people. . .the Lord will wipe tears away from their faces”(24:21,23; 25:6,8).

With great steadiness, the prophets reported the approach of two very different days. A Day of Wrath (destruction of the present earth for its sin) and a Day of Reward (lavish Banquet for people of God). Looking into the future, Isaiah saw both judgement and joy.

Jesus believed and taught the same. In Matthew 24, our Lord spoke plainly of a coming day in which the “Sun will be darkened, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.” The glorious return of Christ will be anticipated by COSMIC DISTURBANCE. Please compare His words to Isaiah’s in 24:23. Jesus had great respect for the prophets. They saw the future with the same eyes.

God is no defender of the world in its present state of rebellion and corruption. The world is passing away. Sin will ultimately bring a day of final and irrevocable destruction.

Side by side with this dark prediction, however, is a picture of a BRIGHT BANQUET on the mountain of God. Food. Wine. Friendships. Tears wiped away from every face. When Jesus met with the disciples for the Last Supper, he talked openly about this coming celebration.

Does your mind conceive, and your heart receive, both pictures?Judgement and joy. These two outcomes are the plan and promise of a good and holy God.

“Behold the kindness and the severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness”(Romans 11:22).

July 9–Isaiah 18-22

” ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off,’ for the Lord has spoken”(22:23).

Part prophet, part poet, Isaiah used vivid picture-words to communicate Spiritual truth. In today’s reading, he refers to, “a peg in a firm place” (22:23, 25).

Can you imagine it? Will you? In your kitchen or garage, a nail firmly anchored in a wall, a peg on which you hang tools or bags of supplies?

It is a metaphor for trust. The picture refers to people in whom, (on whom), we hang our hopes. Institutions we trust. Leaders we believe will hold the weight of our confidence.

A disappointing exercise! Always. After Shebna was replaced (22:15), Eliakim the king became a “peg” for Judah. People depended on him. Overworked him. Expected too much of him. When, predictably, he collapsed, Isaiah’s prediction became a reality.

Ultimately, only God can carry the weight of our needs. He only is the peg that doesn’t give way, the peg on which we can hang our hopes.

For years, Isaiah declared this truth. Don’t trust Egypt! Don’t trust Damascus! Don’t trust yourselves or your leaders or the Temple! None will give you safety against the threat of Assyria. Turn to God! Trust God! The visible world is passing away. Only God is stable. Only God is safe.

Have you been disappointed, dear one? Have you trusted people or organizations, only to have them fail you? Christ calls us to put our confidence in Him. With loving heart and indestructible life, He alone can prevent your disappointment.

“And not only this, but we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance brings about proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us”(Romans 5:3-5).

July 8–Isaiah 14-17

“Surely, just as I have intended it so it has happened. . .to break Assyria in my land. . . This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all nations”(14:24-26).

God has a tense relationship with nations.

Governments are, without question, part of His plan for the world. See Romans 13. Believers are, therefore, to respect and honor the nations of our birth. “Tax to whom tax is due. . .fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor”(Romans 13:7). “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” taught Jesus, without any hesitation of conscience.

Nations, however, are also a significant part of the resistance of the human race to the rule of God and His Christ. Please read Psalm 2. This tension is clear in the Scripture. In our patriotic fervor, believers must never sugar-coat the truth. All nations, ours included, participate in the world’s fleshly resistance to God.

As Isaiah predicts the eventual fall of Assyria, he declares it to be the decision and deliberate choice of God. Assyria, and all governments, will eventually face the outstretched hand of God’s judgement. He will remove and judge them.

For the believer, this makes for a relationship that can be tricky. We owe partial patriotism to our nation. Honor for the flag. Obedience and prayers. At the same time, we know the temporary nature of this country and its tendency toward sin. Our ultimate allegiance must ever be toward God and His coming kingdom! We cannot be confused about our true citizenship and true passion. Our first love is for God alone.

“Now abide faith, hope and politics; and the greatest of these is politics,” said George Grant with intentional sarcasm. Believers must never be confused on this point.

With July the 4th just passed, and in a moment of angry politics in our nation, believers must check our hearts. Do we accurately perceive and embrace the purposes of God with the nations? Do we remain loyal to the clear teaching of Christ as we engage in political conflict? Do we refuse to be unequally yoked with those who are bullies or dishonest or immoral?

Patriotism is good, but only when it is rises from, is disciplined by, a much greater love.

July 7–Isaiah 10-13

“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. . .He will delight in the fear of the Lord”(11:1-3).

Isaiah lived for God in a period of Spiritual disorder and decline. His nation was crumbling. Weak leaders and even weaker faith created instability. The future looked dark. A new crisis almost every week. Sound familiar?

Assyria was ascendant. Proud. Cruel in battle and governance. Nations in the ancient Middle East (from Persia to Egypt) lived in fear of these ruthless people. It was a narrative the Assyrians themselves perpetuated. “By the power of my own hands and by my wisdom I did this,” they said of themselves. See 10:13. They were arrogant. Brutal and proud of it.

Isaiah saw/told a different story. The bible often calls prophets “seers” because they could see God at work. Behind and beneath the headlines, Isaiah (having followed His own advice of “gaining strength by waiting on the Lord”) could see a bright future of hope.

He saw the coming of Christ. Chapter 11. Beautiful image! Even after the great oak (Judah) was cut down (dead by all appearances), a shoot would eventually grow out of it. A new king from the house of David. Jesus!

Under the good government of this new king, Isaiah found assurance that the restoration of the world would come. See 11:4-10. He also saw a coming day of complete judgment. See 12:6-16. For all the uncertainty of his day, Isaiah was neither discouraged nor confused. He saw the future of God. Do you, friend? Do we?

If “faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1), every believer needs a supernatural and confident vision of the future. Spending time with the Father, we must hear His hope and hold to it with stubborn courage.

“Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31).

“Hope itself is like a star–not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only discovered in the night of adversity” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon).

July 6–Isaiah 6-9

“For a child will be born to us; a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace”(9:6).

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on”(Carl Sandburg).

True of every infant. Even more true of Christ. Babies bring hope. Their arrival causes us to dream possibilities. To rescue the human race, God sent a baby. His son. Our savior. A child was born to us.

Years before it actually happened, Isaiah predicted this amazing event. To a people under the judgement of God, a baby would be born. The child’s name (meaning, message, significance) would be, “God with us”. We have not been abandoned. That’s what His life means. God is willing to be involved in our lives. The baby was (is) proof.

In chapter 9, Isaiah calls the child, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” The words pose a huge logical and theological problem! How can a vulnerable infant be, at the same time, Mighty God? Paradox! Both things cannot be true, but they are! A baby with a birthday would also be (in some inexplicable way) The Eternal Father.

Years later, when God came to Joseph to insure his faithful participation in the nativity story, the angel quoted these words from Isaiah! “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son and she shall call His name, Immanuel”(Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14). Please note how aware the angels are of our Bible! How puzzled they must be as they observe our neglect and unbelief!

Friend, do you believe that God still loves the world? That He has NOT given up hope for the world, and that the proof of His determined love is Christ? Will you open your heart to Him today?

“Veiled in flesh the God-head see, hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel”(Charles Wesley).