July 31

 
Isaiah 64-66
Make no mistake in considering God's judgment. A day will come when He will pronounce judgment on all mankind, and there will be those who will suffer His wrath. However, as we read in Isaiah 65:2: "All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—" God is patient, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. However, He knows that just one bad piece of fruit has the potential to spoil the whole barrel. Therefore, He is not willing to allow even one tainted person to enter what He has in store for the redeemed. The good news is that He has provided a way for us to be cleansed and made holy through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ!

July 30

   
Isaiah 59-63
Jesus reads from this portion of Isaiah in Luke 4:18, in what I like to call his inaugural address, as He outines His mission. Is interesting that Luke omits the phrase: "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." Although it is implied in other parts of the quote. Who are the brokenhearted? Well, it would seem that Jesus intends this to refer to those who have been broken by lifes circumstances and then rejected by those who have not been so victimized. These are the divorced, the addicted, the widowed, the homeless -- those who have suffered the cruelties of life in a fallen world. It's difficult for many of us to relate to these. However, Jesus said that He was sent to take these broken vessels, and restore them, binding them up with His love and grace, making them a thing of beauty! And, even when others cannot appreciate their beauty, they can rest assured that their Father in heaven does!

July 29

Isaiah 54-58
This section is filled with Messianic prophecies, as well as, instruction and explanations.  Through His man, Isaiah, God reveals aspects of Himself that are useful to His followers, and, if heeded, to those in rebellion.  I found one phrase particularly fascinating to me: “. . . the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.”  We often wonder why it seems that the good die young.  Well, this is one possible reason.  I lost my brother at a very young age.  He was twelve days short of ten when leukemia took his life.  We were extremely close, being just nine months and seven days apart in age.  When we found out that he was going to die, I pleaded with God to let me take his place, because Gene was such a good person.  I felt like he was a much better boy than I, and that he deserved life more than I did.  As I grew up through the turbulent sixties, I began to see that it was a far better thing for Gene to not have had to go through the turmoil.  The more I witness our nation sinking further into degradation, the more I realize that my little brother is the fortunate one, for he has been spared from evil.  This passage fits so well.  Indeed,  the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil!

July 28

 
Isaiah 49-53
I suppose one of the more interesting aspects of the chosen Messiah is His lack of good looks, comely physical appearance. We often follow the "pretty" people, those who are appealing to the eye. However, the prophet tells us that if we are drawn to the Messiah it will be for something more than the external. Isn't that really the crux of the matter? Many are still looking for the material, physical aspects of a kingdom. But, Jesus said that His worshippers would not be concerned about the physical. Rather, the Lord's followers will be those who worship in spirit and truth. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, placed in heavenly realms, by our God, who is spirit. Thus, rather than looking to the outward, we should be looking inward, matching our spirit with His.

July 27

 
2 Kings 19; Psalm 46, 80, 135
The psalmists write praises to a God they know, a God they can speak to with full confidence in His hearing, a God who is alive and speaks and acts on their behalf, a God with whom they share a personal relationship. Is it any wonder that they mock the gods of the surrounding nations? These idols are not able to speak, hear, or act. Relationship doesn't exist in the vernacular of idolatry. Idolatry, in the form of molded images, seems to be somewhat archaic in our modern world. Or, is it? There are still those who bow to graven images depicting dead mortals. And, what of those who exalt money, sex, drugs, forms of recreation, and even science, to a point where these are worshipped and adored? No, idolatry is not archaic, it just changes form and practice.

July 26

 
Isaiah 44-48
In today's reading Isaiah concentrates on the sovereignty of the Lord using those words that God has given. The 45th chapter has an interesting statement: For this is what the Lord says — he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited — he says:“I am the Lord , and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18 TNIV. There are those who believe that "Mother Earth" would be better off without humans. As they try and understand the dynamic balance of nature, put into place by the Creator, they forget that we humans are part of the equation. This is done at their own peril, for in leaving one part out the whole becomes unbalanced and destruction is sure to follow.

July 25

Isaiah 40-43
“Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together.”  God issues the challenge, confident that His deeds speak for themselves.  All creation screams out the Lord who brought all things into existence.  From Eden to the Flood, through the Exodus and the Babylonian Captivity, the culmination of all in Jesus Christ, God is seen and proven to be true.  When all the evidence is presented, the case is so strong there is no way to refute.  All of the idols from the beginning of time, the philosophers, the wise, the strong, fall short when compared to the surpassing greatness of the Lord.  When all of the arguments are presented and the case is born out from every angle, the only logical conclusion to be made is that Jehovah God is who He proclaims to be.  He is the Creator, our Savior, mankind’s only hope.  Therefore, I will trust in Him and delight in His salvation!