Tag: Isaiah 55:8-9
Highly esteemed by God!
Scripture reading for August 2: Isaiah 63-66?
Our culture values material wealth very highly. We love to look at the holdings of the extravagantly rich and imagine what it would be like if we could live in that luxury. We also value those with talents or abilities that make them famous. The death of the “king of pop”, Michael Jackson, revealed that many people idolized this man. Nearly two million applied to go to his funeral! The prices of his albums, music, and other memorabilia went up as people grabbed for them after his death. But now, several years later, almost no one remembers or cares!
We ought to esteem our God Who owns the universe and everything in it. (Isaiah 66:1) We should recognize what He esteems and values highly. He is the One Who’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) He told us what He values: “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 65:2b) God values the man or woman or child who is humble and teachable. He cares deeply for those who value His Word.
God promises His people that their enemies will be repaid for their mistreatment. ( Isaiah 66:5-6) The Lord will repay them with fire and destroy those who have opposed God and His people. (Isaiah 66:15-16) God promises that those who love Him and Jerusalem will find joy and satisfaction when God delivers Jerusalem and brings in the age of peace! (Isaiah 66:10-12) They will enjoy a “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 66:22) that will endure forever along with the righteous and their descendants! When God’s people tremble at His word, it brings confidence and assurance. It enables them to wait on the Lord to bring it to pass and to live quiet and godly lives of faith. (Isaiah 30:15) (Isaiah 40: 31) Their strength is renewed and they can finish their race with joy and expectation!
The last words of Isaiah’s prophesy tell the final punishment of the wicked. “And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against Me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66:24) I am so thankful that through faith in Jesus Christ, I am now “highly esteemed” by God! What a blessing it is that Jesus was broken and contrite and trembled at the Word of God! He perfectly kept His Father’s Word and offered His life for mine so I can escape this punishment! May God esteem our spirits today as we marvel in awe at His Word!
Standing before kings
Scripture reading for May 10th: Acts 25
Key Scriptures: Acts 25:9-12 “But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.””
Paul had been in Roman custody for over two years. A new governor, Festus, came into power and wanted to get on the good side of the Jews and sought to arrange a trial for Paul in Jerusalem. The Jews there were still wanting to kill Paul and had plotted how they would if he came back to Jerusalem. Paul was a Roman citizen and when asked where he wanted tried, asked to continue his trial under Roman jurisdiction, even appealing to Caesar himself. This was all part of God’s plan to have Paul stand before Roman authorities and to preach in Rome, transported there at government expense. It is not always our way of accomplishing God’s will, like Paul, we must be open to unusual routes and ways to witness of Jesus before those God is desiring to reach!
Mark 13:9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, to bear witness before them.”
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, Your ways are above our ways. You always prepare Your followers for what will come and make a way for them to accomplish Your work of witness to all the lost. Make me bold today and attentive to Your thoughts and ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”