Isaiah 33:7-12

⁷ Watch! Their heroes cry out from the street; those who were messengers of peace now weep bitterly. ⁸ Highways are deserted; the road traveller ceases. Someone breaks a treaty, he ignores witnesses; he does not hold man in high regard. ⁹ The land mourns; it languishes. Lebanon feels embarrassed; it withers. Sharon is like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves. ¹⁰ “Now I will get up,” says Yahveh. “Now I will raise myself up proudly; now I will lift myself. ¹¹ You conceive dry straw, you bring forth stubble; your breath is like a fire; it will consume you. ¹² And peoples will be to burn to lime– they are thorns burned that have been cut down for the fire.

birthing dry straw

It looked like there was no hope for Jerusalem. The Assyrians were coming, and had surrounded the city. Then God got up. 185,000 dead soldiers later, the king of Assyria changed his mind. Isaiah predicted that event here. He described the Assyrian threat as a pregnant woman who gives birth to dry straw, and then sets it on fire with her fiery breath. What does Isaiah tell Jerusalem to do? Just watch. God will protect his people. Just watch.

We don’t always experience deliverance like that. But we should always be praying and watching for God to surprise us with an unqualified miraculous rescue. Because that is the kind of God he is.

LORD, we are watching, and we trust you to rescue us, no matter how dire the circumstances.