(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)
(Isaiah 30:1-33)
1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 For their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,
Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”
6 The pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.
9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy the truth to us.
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For this is what 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,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top,
And like a flag on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
19 For, you people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 For their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,
Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”
6 The pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.
9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy the truth to us.
Speak to us pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For this is what 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,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top,
And like a flag on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
19 For, you people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”
23 Then He will give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful; on that day your livestock will graze in a wide pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned feed, which has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound He has inflicted.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place;
His anger is burning and dense with smoke;
His lips are filled with indignation,
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28 His breath is like an overflowing river,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray.
29 You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard,
And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31 For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
32 And every blow of the rod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33 For Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Whether making a deal with the devil, or making a deal with the wicked, or relying on others or ourselves in order to get through life - this is a life without God. And the thing that we fear and hate is the thing we tend to create or get. Ironically, in life, there are contracts and deals and rules and restrictions in everything. Yet at the mention of Christianity, many people react by saying it is just a bunch of rules.
With God and His forgiveness, we can have freedom from sin and rest in His grace, having eternal security. And when something comes up, we can consult the Lord and His word, and be assured that what He says is truth which always benefits us. Because God longs to be gracious to us and have compassion on us, we can be confident and know that God will guide us and help us!
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