Day 198 – Isaiah 18-22

Talking Points

• Isaiah prophesies God’s message for the land beyond the rivers of Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Edom, and Arabia.
• One of God’s judgments against Egypt is that they will turn on each other — brother against brother, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. While we know it is rooted in sin, it makes one wonder if the boiling division and hatred in today’s world is an act of God’s judgment. Either way, the answer is repentance.
• God reveals the purpose of His harsh dealings with Egypt is that they would “return to the LORD” (19:22). God tells of a day when the Egyptians and even the Assyrians would honor Him in worship. God’s plan is redemptive in purpose.
• In Isaiah chapter 20, it reports that Isaiah not only spoke of God’s coming judgment, he was called to demonstrate it. For three years, he lived “naked and barefoot,” as he walked the streets. He was to take off his outer robes and wear only his undergarments, as would a prisoner or slave. His appearance was a shocking sign of what was coming. For Isaiah, this would have been a terribly humiliating act. Yet, in faithful trust, he was obedient.

Thoughts

As we are reading through the Bible, we are being taught that to obey God, we must truly trust Him, and to trust Him, we must truly know Him. The more we are saturated in the testimony of Scripture, teaching us what God has done and who He is, the more we will look to Him in the great things, and then, increasingly, in the small things. We are being trained that our trust and worship of God is not some compartmentalized segment of our lives, but that every part of us, every decision, every belief must be given to the truth of His Word.

This is what jumped out at me as I read God’s message to Jerusalem. God tells them that they had made all of the preparations for war — weapons, defenses, water storage for a siege — “But [they] did not depend on Him who made it” (22:11). They were trusting in their own abilities, their own logic, their own resources. They were not depending on the LORD to secure their safety.

I wonder how often I fall into this same temptation — trusting God in some areas, but holding back some parts of me and my life and trusting in myself rather than Him. It’s a constant process of evaluation, as I remember that God doesn’t just see our actions; He knows our hearts, our motivations, our fears.

Today, Lord, help me to take every part, every decision, and every belief and test it against Your Word, giving it all to You, and trusting in Your goodness, wisdom, and love.