Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 15:7, 19-28, 32-33; 2 Chronicles 26:22-23; 27:2-6; Isaiah 1:18-20, 27-31; 2:1-5, 19 – 3:7; 4:2-6; 5:26-30; 6:1-13
After talking yesterday about the different sins, today begins with the anger of God. After His people had rejected the law and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel, what else is left than the anger of the Lord! And there is no escape by trusting in idols or in people. So than the Lord Himself begins pleading with Israel to reason it out with Himself! Even under the worst circumstances with sins like scarlet or red as crimson, they can be washed clean before God, But again the choice put before His people, either obedience bringing the best to them or else on the other hand, because of resistance and rebellion, leading to being devoured by the sword! – Does that take much reasoning to figure that one out?
And it’s almost as if the Lord can’t stop Himself when thinking of that glorious day, and He describes in vivid detail the beauty of that day. And He goes on to describe Mount Zion as a place of refuge. So Isaiah continues on to talk of the last days, when all will be set right. I love the phrase, “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in His paths.
We have part in the New Covenant, so this is the cry of our hearts to draw near to God and to be taught HIS WAYS so that we can walk in HIS PATHS.
Certainly the record of the kings of Israel only sinks to lower levels, as the kings try in their own strength and schemes to either buy off people or get rid of obstacles with violence!
But in Judah, there is still some good left. Uzziah although ending his life separated from God, has a good son. Did he learn from his father to be afraid of God, so therefore, Jotham didn’t enter the Temple? His character is described as “did right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done.” I cringe when I think about the fact that I may be setting a benchmark for the next generation! I covet for the next generation a fresh vision for their time and world, that they may do great things for the Lord within their own generation and there may no “continuing their own corrupt practices.”
What a beautiful episode in Isaiah’s life ends today. He realizes that he is a man of unclean lips and lives in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But he is cleansed by one of the seraphs, and as a result, is ready to be sent by God. But there is suffering involved, because the people will not listen to him and God does not promise him great success with his mission – at least what Isaiah will be able to see. Perhaps we will only learn how God has used us for His mission when we finally reach our eternal home and I picture God as my loving Father, with His loving arm on my shoulder, and His loving finger tracing the path and mission which He had for me on the map of life. Perhaps I could only see failures when here on earth, but He will trace the golden thread of the path He choose for me and the hidden successes which He accomplished in my life and others – because of the fact that nothing can separate me from the love of God!
Stay close to Him today, talking constantly with Him and know for sure, that He’s there with you today!