GOD IS … ANGRY
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for always being for me and always being at work on my behalf. Make me more aware of your presence and your care that sustains me. Help me respond with greater thanksgiving and praise.
Read ISAIAH 5:24–30
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
The mountains shake,
and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.
26 He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!
27 Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist,
not a sandal strap is broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung;
their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of the lion,
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.
30 In that day they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
there is only darkness and distress;
even the sun will be darkened by clouds.
Reflect
When was the last time you got cross? I mean really angry, with a passion that ‘burned’? What caused it? Was it justified, or did you go too far? What happened afterward?This passage begins ‘therefore’ (repeated in v. 25). How does verse 24 sum up the litany of wickedness we read yesterday in verses 8–23?
Isaiah tells the people: There will be consequences for your actions. We cannot do whatever we want and get away with it—for a while, maybe, but not forever. Isaiah gives two pictures of what those consequences will look like (v. 24). I once put a couple of dead holly bushes and an old Christmas tree on a bonfire. Within seconds, they caught, and the fire was so ferocious that the flames reached higher than the roof of our house. Rot is much slower and harder to spot, but in the end, no less destructive.
Rejecting God’s laws may result in the swift destruction of an invading army (vv. 26–30) or the slow moral decay that destroys by hollowing out. And yet, do you see how warning his people through Isaiah is a sign of God’s grace and patience?
Apply
In verse 26 God whistles for Assyria like we might whistle for a dog. How might that vivid picture of God’s sovereignty encourage you to pray for the situations (and people!) who make you really angry?
Closing prayer
Almighty God, thank you that I am spared your wrath because you gave your Son for me. Holy Spirit, thank you for giving me everything I need to live a life pleasing to him who saved me.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.