THE URGENCY OF GOD
Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, thank you for the grace and mercy you offer me, for the gift of faith. Holy Spirit, please speak to me through the Word today; strengthen and increase the faith I have been given.
Read ISAIAH 30:19–33
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33 Topheth has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur,
sets it ablaze.
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
As you prepare, imagine God hurrying to be with you, as you ‘wait’ for him (v. 18).Verse 18 (from yesterday’s passage) provides a key overlapping point with today’s verses. After much feverish activity from others, God ‘rises.’ This feels like a full, New Testament revelation of his nature. At the heart of it are grace, compassion, and justice. Because of these, we can see in verse 19 the same loving father who runs delightedly toward the prodigal son (see Luke 15:20).
All we can expect from God is well encompassed here in these verses. As his people, when we cry for help, we can look for his immediate response (v. 19), his intimate presence (v. 21), and his bountiful provision (vv. 23–24). By now, I guess, we are ready for Isaiah’s lurch in verse 25—from broad, tranquil meadows, through horrible slaughter, and back to streams of water and gentle healing (v. 26).
Finally, we plunge back into destruction, the raging anger of God’s judgment and fire pits. (Topheth is something like an ancient cremation place—v. 33.) Yet still—mixed in a way that’s strange to our modern sensibilities—are images of holy festivity, rejoicing, and celebration (v. 29). Isaiah’s God-given vision shows realities that we know must come to pass. God will destroy all that is wicked. He will restore his kingdom—and then invite us in.
Apply
What are the bruises you carry from life? Ask the Lord to bind them up right now (v. 26).
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for your loving patience shown over and over again, not just in the Bible, but in my own life. Help me to better exercise more compassion and grace as I relate to those I love.
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