SHAKING THE EARTH
Opening Prayer
Lord, I present myself before You. What I seek, only You can give; what I ask, only You can provide. How great You are.
Read Isaiah 2:6–22
The Day of the Lord
6 You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9 So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled—
do not forgive them.[a]
10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
and human pride brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship[b]
and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.
19 People will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day people will throw away
to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 2:9 Or not raise them up
- Isaiah 2:16 Hebrew every ship of Tarshish
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Consider what you might do if you heard today that a giant asteroid will soon strike the Earth.Isaiah chapter 1 described a desolate land, a prophetic vision of the consequences of Judah’s continuing disobedience. Today’s passage is addressed, at a different time, to a materially affluent but corrupted people. The account here surely strikes a chord with our modern, western societies. Natural resources abound, including those to be spent on defense and security (7). Apparently, technological advances do nothing to discourage unwholesome spiritual practices. It can sometimes seem, in cultures through the ages, that ‘any god will do’ before the true God.
Into this scene, on His chosen day, comes God in all His power. It is a day when, to return humankind to our rightful place, the Lord shakes the earth (21). Some think Isaiah is alluding to an actual earthquake which took place during the reign of King Uzziah. At any rate, the passage compares God in all His terrifying majesty with humankind whom we find here groveling in a hole in the ground (19). Of course, we all hope that no cataclysm strikes our own time and place, whether of natural or of man-made origin. Reasons for disasters are complex, but could it be that in the big picture of human disobedience, sometimes they are no more than we, together, deserve?
Apply
Some catastrophes and many tragedies in our world today are of human making. How can you shine the light of God’s love in our broken world today? Sometimes it’s one word or prayer at a time.
Closing prayer
Mighty One, here I am reminded of what an awesome, powerful God You are. I desire to seek You first above everything else.
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