Isaiah 10

As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria Isaiah 10:10

When I was playing basketball in junior high, we had a large variety of schools that we had to drive to because we were in a very rural location. So often we knew little to nothing about these teams other than their mascots. So in our typical junior high fashion, we decided that whoever had the best mascot would probably win. We were the eagles, and we saw ourselves beating up on the wildcats, hawks and bulldogs. We were concerned about playing the lions, rangers and bears though. By the end of the season, we began to realize that it doesn't matter what your mascot is called. It doesn't translate to the court.

As Assyria comes to bring the beatdown on Jerusalem, they mention that the previous nations had greater idols than Israel does. This impression probably came from the fact that those previous nations had large idols and made quite a show out of yelling and calling on them to save their nations. Israel doesn't go running off to an idol, which makes them appear to have nothing and no one to count on. He wasn't their mascot for them to rally around. He was their God to be completely devoted to. Do you sometimes treat God as an idol? Sometimes we can act as if He's not around just because we don't think about Him. You don't have to go to church to pray. You don't have to hold a cross. You just have to pray. Have you been treating your faith and your God as an idol? Running to Him when trouble comes, but neglecting to maintain and strengthen your relationship in the good times? Let others around you see that you worship a God, and not a religion.

Isaiah 9

Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. Isaiah 9:13

God is at the center of everything. It’s hard to determine the difference between what He causes and what He allows, but we know that there isn’t a circumstance or heartache that God is unaware of. On 9/11 people asked Christians whether God caused 9/11, and if not why did He let it happen? I don’t know, but I do know that 9/11 caused many people to consider a God that they had long forgotten. I don’t think that God lacked compassion as those people died, however the opportunity for America to take notice that she wasn’t protected from such atrocities didn’t grow us closer to God for long. The fastest growing religion since 9/11 has been the religion of Islam, the faith of the very terrorists who struck against us. That’s foolishness to not only ignore God, but to choose falsehood over truth.

God allowed the enemies of Israel to come upon them, and still God’s people refused to call upon God. They neither considered or turned from their sin, and they definitely did not seek God. God is called the Lord of hosts here, a term indicating his command over a heavenly host that could defeat Israel’s enemies. God was exactly who they needed, and He was able to meet their specific need, but the people were unwilling to ask. What needs do you have in your life? How are you going about meeting them? Have you spoken to the Lord about them, or have you given up because the answer didn’t come in your time? It would be enough if God were just this great, big God. But He is more. He is able to be specifically who you need Him to be in any given circumstance. Start relying on the Lord with specifics and not just generalizations to make your life better. And if He allows heartache and pain to come into your life, seek Him out. Don’t attempt to handle on your own, what God intended for you to ask Him to handle in your life.

Isaiah 8

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Isaiah 8:16

A man recently came up to me after I had spoken in church. I had shared a story of us singing songs of the Lord over our children as babies and how it seemed to calm them down. We are a household of music, and my assumption is that our children remember those songs from the womb. This man came up and said they sang a Japanese lullaby to their oldest one while his wife was pregnant with their next child. After the next child was born, he was soothed to that lullaby even as an infant, proving to this man that his unborn child heard the music. I told him, "It's great to have your children come out and enjoy praises to the Lord." He said, "I don't know that we were doing that, but the point is the same." He was not a believer and amongst the truth God shared through me that night, all he listened to was one good story.

Binding up the testimony and sealing the law among the disciples does not mean that we are to be silent about who we are or what we believe. It means that when people approach us, as we live our lives to honor the Lord Jesus, testimony and the truth of Scripture should come forth. This man wanted a nice story to share. I wanted to make the point of how God sings over us according to Zephaniah 3:17, and that just as my children were defenseless and helpless as we sang over them, it soothed them. You need to understand that the lost are not looking at the world through the truth of God's Word. They think it's great that it works for you, but it's not for them. Make sure that you live your life with a testimony and the Word of God ready for anyone that God would choose to send your way. Remember that your testimony isn't how bad a sinner you were and so you became a Christian. Your testimony is also who you are now because of Jesus Christ. Be prepared today to share the Word of God and your story of faith with someone who doesn't know the reason for your faith. In fact, make it a point that you will not end this day until you have done so.

Isaiah 7

thus says the Lord GOD: "It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. Isaiah 7:7

My children come to me quite often telling me what their brother or sister said to them. It might have been a threat to damage their favorite toy or something about getting a spanking for a bad deed. So many times, one of my children has come to me so upset until I simply say, "That's not going to happen." Once they hear me assure them that their toys and/or bottoms are in no real danger, they calm down. They begin to realize that someone made statements that they couldn't back up.

Judah had a serious situation and they were being told by their enemies that it was all over for them. However, a declaration by their enemies did not trump the declaration of God. God simply says, "It' ain't gonna happen." Sometimes we get caught up in the threats of the world and we forget to trust God and fear him only. Instead we find ourselves fearing man, who can touch our lives, but not our souls. What words of men have you worried? Is there talk in your work place of cutbacks. Do you hear constant bad news regarding your investments that you have spent so much time on? Let us remember that the only one with the power to make declarations over our lives is the Lord. If you lose your job or your money, God is aware. Nothing comes to pass without his knowledge. Trust in the Lord, and seek His peace in your times of confusion.

Isaiah 6

In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Isaiah 6:1

John had preached in many churches to fill the pulpit, and this one seemed no different. It was a small country church. It didn’t have huge facilities, a dynamic worship leader, or an exciting worship service. But, something was different about this church as John began to preach. He mentioned it afterwards to many of the members who simply gave a knowing smile. They acknowledge that the Spirit seems to move in their church on Sundays, and then they asked John if he had noticed the shack in the pastor’s backyard. John indicated that he had, and the members told him that their pastor spends 2-3 hours in there on a Saturday night praying for the worship services. As a result, others began praying as well. The Spirit was in their church, because they invited Him and expected Him to be there!

Isaiah was living in Judah during a tough time. King Uzziah had been a great king, and the people were missing him. In the midst of this, Isaiah goes into the temple and he sees the Lord. There were probably other people in the temple that day, but only Isaiah was able to see this vision of the Lord. He had heard about God, but now he was seeing God with His own eyes. But Isaiah had a personal encounter with God. My guess is that just like this church in Tennessee, Isaiah went to the temple (i.e. he went to church) expecting God to show up! How do you approach God’s house? Do you go to church because it’s Sunday and that’s what you do? Do you go expecting the minister to bring you closer to God? Or do you go expecting God to show up? Are you happy to go to church and go through rituals and routines instead of the real presence of God? Ask God to move in your worship services and ask Him what He expects of you as you come into His presence.

Isaiah 5

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

When I was in the National Guard, I had a friend named Don. I don't know how we became friends because we were polar opposites. I talked to him about God and my relationship with Jesus. Don talked about his latest sexual escapade. I talked to him about this and told him that it was going to catch up with him one day. He laughed it off, even through a few STDs. To him, Christianity was just all about ruining his fun. Then one spring break he came home and said it wasn't fulfilling anymore. I had never seen him so upset. He never came to Christ while I knew him, but he began to see that what he was calling "good" just wasn't cutting it in his life.

Israel was suffering from an identity crisis in Isaiah's day. They had the law, so they knew what God's standards were. However, they weren't living by them and as a result, good became evil and evil became good because they were simply doing whatever came out of their own brains. I think many Christians sin out of ignorance of the Word of God. There have been many life changes I have made because I was reading the Bible and saw the broken areas of my life as a result. For the Christian, we have to make sure that we call sin what it is...sin. Are you justifying sin in your life? Are you giving a reason why your sin is ok for you? Premarital sex is not ok for the Christians that are truly "in love". Stealing is not ok because you really "needed it". Examine what sin you have allowed to remain in your life, and admit to God that you have been calling evil good.

Isaiah 4

There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. Isaiah 4:6

My wife and kids came back from the library recently, only to discover online that there were still books that we had not brought back. Nikki asked our 7-year-old son, Tyler, if he had checked his room for these books, which he said he had before they left. He looked again and came back within a minute with the missing books. Nikki said there was a late fee of a $1.50 and Tyler had recently been given a dollar by a woman in our church, so I told him to bring me his dollar to help pay for it. This made him pretty sad because he had plans for that dollar. Nikki told him that he would have an opportunity to earn it back, which I initially didn't like. But then I realized, there's nothing wrong with giving him hope in the midst of discipline. And that night in his prayer time, he even asked God to help him not be upset about losing his dollar.

Just like Tyler and I, God gave Israel hope in the midst of discipline. God has been laying out, through Isaiah, what's going to happen. Babylon will come and defeat them and carry many of them off. That's why verse one talks about having one woman to seven men. Babylon defeats Israel because God's people have turned themselves into a pagan nation. As a result, God wants Israel to have a fresh start and He chooses Babylon to give it. But even as disappointed as God is in His people, God gives hope for renewal. He promises to lead Israel just as He did out of Egypt with the cloud by day and fire by night, allowing them to constantly see His presence. He promises to be a shelter and a refuge. Have you recently been under the discipline of God? I know that in times that I am paying the price for my sin, I am ashamed to be near Him. But if I come to Him in humility over my sin, it doesn't always mean the consequences won't come, but God shows us that He will not abandon the humble. He'll leave the proud, unrepentant Christian out to dry for a while if needed, but humility brings God close. The greatness of God is shown in so many ways, but the way He loves us even when He's disciplining us has to be one of the most comforting characteristics of God. He truly loves us in spite of who we are.