Isaiah 54-58, True Rest

 ““If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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What a joy to delight in the Lord.  To follow Him in obedience and enjoy walking in His way.  It does require that we deny our own desires and walk in humility… Lord, help me to love Your commands and rest in Your promises, presence and protection!

Psalm 46,

 ““Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭46‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.46.10-11.ESV

Isaiah 40-43, Sin Eraser

 ““Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.

 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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God, I am so thankful that You are capable of removing my sin.  All the attempts at pleasing You are wasted and fruitless…because that is Your work.  Build my faith to trust that You are at work in removing my sin.

Isaiah 28-30, Needed Mercy

 “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭30‬:‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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What a fearful thing to have the wrath of God against you.  It is both terrifying and the brings a small bit of confidence that His Justice is perfect.

Lord, help me to listen to Your voice when you speak.  Help me obey Your commands and delight in following Your way.

Isaiah 19-22, Wrong Strength

 “He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭22‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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The people of Jerusalem in this prophecy were excellent planners and strategists!  They made sacrifices and rightly prioritized their defenses and future survival…in other words they did all the right things!!! But they failed to seek Gods help…and for that one simple reason, they were destroyed.

Lord, how many times is that me?  Please help me to turn to You first!  In small decisions and trivial things so that I never miss out on Your help and guidance.  I know that You should always be the first line of action, rather than what I am tempted to do…accomplish everything I can think of, then ask God to bless my plan.  How foolish!?!

Isaiah 13-17, Humble Perspective

 “In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭17‬:‭7‬-‭8‬, ‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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No matter what we live for, there will be a day when we have clear minded understanding of who God is and we will bow before Him. All of our accomplishments will fade away and we will be left with the truth, nothing good I have done will have been of my strength, and anything impressive will be recognized as Gods work. Since that day will come for us all, help me to live like it is true today!

2 Chronicles 28, 2 Kings 16-17, Eternal Identity

 “Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, Therefore the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭28‬:‭1‬, ‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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It is shocking how much God puts up with.  He doesn’t reject the people or excommunicate them…rather He patiently turns the screws on them intending to remind them of their need for Him.  He even continues to call them His people…as they are rejecting Him and following other Gods.

God, thank You for patiently and faithfully loving me, even when I have repeatedly gone after sin or deceived myself to follow my own desires.  Help me to love You more than anything else and flee from everything that does not draw me closer to You!

Micah 1-7, Humility First

 ““With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

‭‭Micah‬ ‭6‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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 Wonder if at times God looks at us with a compassionate sadness because we so easily depend on our acts of worship and forget that He has called us to live distinctly from everyone else.  His laws, rules, prohibitions and commands cause us to live so differently in this world that we should stick out, people should be in awe of our unselfish and loving behavior.

Lord, help me to love You in ways that make You stand out to the people around me.  Allow me to display justice and kindness and humility.

Isaiah 1-4, Habitually Humbled

 “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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The Lord will be exalted in the end…in every situation, Gods power will ultimately shine through.  Any human pride will be humbled and we will see it for what it really is- grasping after the wind.

Lord, please help me to be reflecting humility and recognize your work in my life.  Help me to see clearly all good gifts are from You, not my own accomplishments.

2 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 26, Prides Pull

 “He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.”

“But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭26‬:5,‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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How easy it is to completely change course from following God to being prideful and arrogant.  The change is so huge and destructive, yet happens with such small acts and decisions.

Lord, keep me close to You!  Allow my drift to be arrested early.  Help me to stay close to people who can speak into my life at the first sign of straying from Your ways, and give me the humility to see it clearly!

Jonah 1-4, Compassionate God

 “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?””

‭‭Jonah‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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What a strange story to highlight our selfishness in contrast to God loving even my enemies.  Lord, help me to be compassionate to everyone You put in my path…

2 Kings 14, 2 Chronicles 25- Anything but Halfhearted

 “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭25‬:‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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It is shocking to see when some of these kings do what was right…but don’t turn their whole hearts to the Lord.  God is still not pleased.  He doesn’t just want us to do the right things He wants our whole hearts, mind and bodies!

Lord, I see where I do all the right things, but my whole heart is not Yours…destroy the areas of my heart that refuse to turn to You.  I want to be all in on You only!

2 Kings 12-13, 2 Chronicles 24- Faithful God

 “But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭13‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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It stood out to me that the Lord carried out His promises for the Israelites because of His word…in spite of their actions.  What a Faithful God we serve that He cares for us even when we are not being obedient.

2 Kings 5-8, Harmonious Orchestration

 “And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My Lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.””

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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God’s ability to orchestrate dozens of moments illustrates how He is sovereign over everything.  How comforting to know that God is perfectly weaving this tapestry of life.  Every interaction is used for His purposes.  Lord, help me trust that You are at work and leading even the moments that I hate, to Your glory and my good!

Obadia 1, Psalm 82-83, Weak Protected

 “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.””

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭82‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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I love that God both protects the weak and is ready to humble the proud.  Both of these scenarios are intended to point everyone toward God.  They highlight the power of God and His goodness.

Lord, help me to have the same motive in all that I do…that others would see Your goodness and power…not my own ability.