Devotions

last feast

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 21:1-5

¹ The oracle of seaside desert: Like storm winds passing over in the Negev, coming from a desert, from a dreadful land. ² A hard revelation is told to me; the treacherous deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Media! I am putting an end to all of her comfort. ³ For this reason my insides are filled with agony; pangs have seized me, like pangs of a woman giving birth. I am bent because of what I have heard, I am distraught because of what I have seen. ⁴ My heart staggers; fear terrifies me; the last chance to get what I want has disturbed me. ⁵Set out the table in order! Spread out the rugs. Eat! drink! Rise up, commanders; smear a shield with oil!

last feast

Isaiah describes the famous feast of Belshazzar, the events of which are recorded in Daniel 5. At the height of its opulence and pride, Babylon is struck down by the Medes and Persians. Isaiah saw it beforehand. He predicted a terrible night, which would begin with feasting, and would end with a call to prepare for battle. The commanders would leave the table and rush out to oil their shields. But oiling the shields was something that had to be done beforehand. The commanders have been caught unprepared for the battle that would end in the defeat of the empire.

Perhaps you are going from feast to feast right now. Do not think that your current comfort is evidence that the LORD approves of your life. Babylon went a long time going from table to table, never thinking that their time of comfort would come to an end. But on that fateful night, the LORD said enough is enough. He put an end to all her comfort. The attack came quickly and decisively, and before dawn, the great Babylonian empire was no more.

LORD, may our lives be lived for you, and your kingdom, not merely for our own enjoyment. Give us the wisdom to trust and serve Christ so that we have no fear of his coming judgment.

Posted in destruction in hell, future, judgment, wisdom | Tagged Isaiah 21 | Leave a comment

embarrassed by false hope

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 20:1-6

¹ The year the commander-in-chief came to Ashdod, after Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and he took it, ² during that time, Yahveh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go and take off the sackcloth from your loins, and remove each sandal from your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot. ³ Then Yahveh said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years — a sign and a warning against Egypt and Cush, ⁴ in the same way the king of Assyria will lead the captive of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, and bare of buttocks — the shame of Egypt. ⁵And they will be distressed, and they will be embarrassed because of Cush, their hope, and because of Egypt, their pride. ⁶And an inhabitant of the coastland will say this on that day: ‘Look! This, our hope, to whom we escaped for help, to be delivered from the face of the king of Assyria, and how will we escape now?'”

embarrassed by false hope

It would have been embarrassing to see the great prophet walking around naked and barefoot for three years. The people probably thought that he had finally lost it – that he had gone utterly mad. All this time they were thinking that God was going to rescue them from the Assyrian threat by means of Egypt and Cush. Then God tells them that it is this false hope that they should be ashamed of.

LORD, forgive us for putting our hope in flesh. It is hard to see your invisible hand, and it is easy to grasp at some other form of rescue, and assume that you are in it. May we put our hope in you alone.

LORD, may we who are being tempted to put our hope in the wrong place be reminded of your power and faithfulness.

Posted in ambition, future, shame | Tagged Isaiah 20 | Leave a comment

praying outside the box

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 19:23-25

²³ On that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt will worship together with Assyria. ²⁴ On that day, Israel will be third with Egypt and Assyria, one blessing in the midst of the land, ²⁵whom Yahveh of armies blessed, saying, “May Egypt my people be blessed, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and my inheritance, Israel.”

praying outside the box

When Isaiah chose to reveal that some day the nations would be unified under Yahveh, he chose two of Israel’s most hated and feared of enemies as examples of that unity. It was a challenge for the Israelites to see the potential for their enemies to become brothers. They believed that all things were possible for God, but they were skeptical that a world without enemies was possible for them. It was something they probably didn’t even think about or pray for.

Today’s challenge is for us to envision a life in which God actually answers our prayers, and makes changes. In fact, it is a challenge for us to imagine something so unimaginable that we are not in the habit of praying for it.

LORD, show us how to pray outside the box.

Posted in prayer, sovereignty of God | Tagged Isaiah 19 | 1 Comment

Egypt will know Yahveh

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 19:16-22

¹⁶ On that day, Egypt will be like women, and will tremble and be afraid before the waving hand of Yahveh of armies that he waves against it. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt, everyone who hears mention of it will be inwardly afraid because of the plan of Yahveh of armies that he plans against him. ¹⁸ On that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language Canaan speaks, and they will swear an oath to Yahveh of armies. One will be called “City of the Sun.” ¹⁹ On that day, the middle of the land of Egypt will be an altar for Yahveh, and a stone pillar for Yahveh will be at her border. ²⁰ And it will be a sign and a witness to Yahveh of armies in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to Yahveh because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and a contender and he will deliver them. ²¹ And Yahveh will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know Yahveh on that day, and they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make a vow to Yahveh, and they will fulfill it. ²²And Yahveh will strike Egypt, striking and healing; and they will return to Yahveh, and he will respond to their prayer, and he will heal them.

Egypt will know Yahveh

Isaiah speaks to his nation, but envisions a time when their old enemy, after being stricken in judgment by Yahveh, turns to him and is healed. The LORD brings a deliverer, who will not rescue his people from Egypt – as Moses did. Instead, the new deliverer will rescue God’s people in Egypt. That is new covenant deliverance.

Perhaps you are an enemy to God and his kingdom. Maybe you read these words as a skeptic and cynical of all things religious and spiritual. Know this, God loves you. He wants to heal you. He is willing to strike you in judgment, but what he really wants is to hear your cry for help, and restore your life. Let him do that.

LORD, deliver us; heal our enmity. Rescue us from ourselves.

Posted in deliverance, dependence upon God, judgment | Tagged Isaiah 19 | Leave a comment

a wind of confusion

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 19:9-15

⁹ And artisans of combed flax will be ashamed, and those who weave white linen. ¹⁰ And her weavers will be crushed; all workers for wage grieved of heart. ¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are stupid; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh counsel senseless things. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I myself, a son of sages, a son of ancient kings”? ¹² Where are your sages? Let them tell you now, and let them understand what Yahveh of armies has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The princes at Zoan have become stupid; the princes at Memphis are deceived; the leaders of her tribes have led Egypt astray. ¹⁴ Yahveh has mixed a wind of confusion into her midst, and they have caused Egypt to stumble in all of its doings, like the stumbling of a drunkard into his vomit. ¹⁵ And Egypt will be unable to do anything about it, head or tail, palm branch or reed.

a wind of confusion

How do societies fall apart and become dysfunctional? This is how it was going to happen in Egypt as Isaiah saw it. The princes from the different districts would be influenced by a wind of confusion from Yahveh. The disunity of the leaders would make the nation stumble in all its doings. Without a clear vision and objective from the leaders, no action would be successful.

It is the same for families and churches as well. It is not always a direct judgment from God when disunity leads to dysfunction, but it can be. When we find that happening to our families and churches, we need to humbly seek God, and not blindly follow one leader, and gang up on the others. The wind of confusion is intended to disorient and divide. The only hope for unity and peace is to reconnect with the LORD.

LORD, forgive us for stumbling around in confusion. Reorient us, so that we follow you and your word, rather than those who are set against others.

Posted in divisions, humility, leadership, unity | Tagged Isaiah 19 | Leave a comment

I will consume his plan

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 19:1-8

¹ An oracle about Egypt: See! Yahveh, riding on a swift cloud and arriving in Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble in front of him, and the heart of Egypt melts in his inner parts. ² “And I will stir up Egypt against Egypt and each one will fight against his brother and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³ And the spirit of Egypt will be disturbed within him, and I will consume his plan, and they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, and the specialists and the spiritists. ⁴And I will hand over Egypt to a hand of a hard master, and a powerful king will rule over them,” – a declaration of the Lord Yahveh of armies. ⁵ And water will be dried up from the sea, and river will be parched and dry. ⁶ And rivers will become foul-smelling; the branches of the Nile of Egypt will become little and dry up; reed and rush will wither. ⁷Bare places by the Nile will be dried up, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown land beside the Nile; it will be pushed about, and there is none of it. ⁸And the fishermen will mourn, and all of those who cast a fishhook in the Nile will lament, and those who spread out a net on the water’s face will suffer.

I will consume his plan

Isaiah describes with perfection what was going to happen to Egypt as a result of God’s judgment. That great society which was held together by pride and power unraveled and dried up, as if the Nile itself had ceased to sustain it. The master plan that the Egyptians were living by was being consumed by the judgment of Yahveh.

The oracle explains what happens in any society where God and his word do not take first place. The things that hold that society together eventually begin to stop working. Defenses cease to protect. Collaboration and cooperation turn into competition and antagonism. People begin to ask all kinds of experts why things are happening, because they do not understand. Hard masters take over the leadership, and make things worse for those who still want to be led. Resources dry up, and mourning, lamenting and suffering are all that is left.

Perhaps you feel that you are part of a society that is experiencing those kinds of things today. Is there any hope for your nation, your family, or your church? Know this: God’s judgment is real, and if you are experiencing it, no artificial solution will help. God is the judge, and only he can rescue those whom he has condemned. Seek him, and turn back to his truth, and walk in his ways.

LORD, forgive us for relying on a plan which did not put your will at its heart and center. Restore us by your grace.

Posted in judgment, pride, prophecy | Tagged Isaiah 19 | Leave a comment

you must look, you must listen

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 18:1-7

¹ Oy! land of whirring of wings, who sits beyond the rivers of Cush, ² who sends messengers by the sea and in vessels of papyrus on the water’s surface! Go, swift messengers, to a stretched out and smooth-skinned nation, to a people feared from this and beyond — a mighty, mighty and trampling nation, whose land rivers divide. ³ All world inhabitants and land dwellers, when a signal flag is raised on the mountains, you must look, and when a trumpet is blown you must listen! ⁴Because Yahveh said this to me: “I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like clear heat because of light — like a cloud of dew in harvest heat.” ⁵Because before harvest, when the blossom is complete and a blossom becomes ripening fruit, and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and one removes, tears away the tendrils. ⁶ They will be left together for a mountain bird of prey and for the land animal. And the bird of prey will pass the summer on it, and every animal of the land will winter on it. ⁷At that time, a gift will be brought to Yahveh of armies — a stretched out and smooth-skinned people, and from a people feared near and far, a mighty, mighty and trampling nation, whose land rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahveh of armies, the mountain of Zion.

you must look, you must listen

In the midst of this prophecy about Ethiopia, Isaiah pauses and addresses all the nations and peoples of the world, telling them to pay attention to what is happening. I sense the frustration of a servant of God who has been called upon to tell a dying world that there is hope of eternal life, if they would only look and listen to what God is doing and saying. But the world is looking elsewhere, and listening to itself, and not its creator.

God is doing something today, and we can discern it. But his acts and words are wrapped up in the revealed word. We cannot hope to discern subjectively the plan of the LORD if we refuse to study and meditate on his objectively revealed truth. All of the prophets, the apostles, historians and poets of scripture call on us to stop looking elsewhere and pay attention to what he has said. The signal flag has been raised, and the trumpet has blown.

LORD, give us the wisdom to pay attention to your written word. Discipline us if we stray from it, and keep us from being distracted by other things – even “good” things.

Posted in discernment, discipleship, scriptures | Tagged Isaiah 18 | Leave a comment

chased like chaff off mountains

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 17:7-14

⁷ On that day, the man will look upon his maker, and his eyes will look to the holy one of Israel; ⁸ he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not see what his fingers made and the poles of Asherah worship and the incense altars. ⁹ On that day, the cities he trusted in will be like the abandoned high woods of the Amorites which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and they will be desolate. ¹⁰Because you have forgotten the God who saved you, and you have not remembered the rock you took refuge in; therefore you plant plants to please yourself, and you plant it like a vine of a foreigner. ¹¹On your planting day you make it grow, and in the morning, by your sowing you bring it into bloom, but the harvest will flee in a day — sickness and incurable pain. ¹² Oy! a noise of many peoples, they make a noise like a noise of seas! And a roar of nations, they roar like strong water roars! ¹³ People may roar like much water roars, but he will rebuke him, and he will flee far away. And they will be chased like chaff off mountains in the face of a wind and like tumbleweed in the face of a storm. ¹⁴Towards evening time, and see, terror! Before morning he is no more. This is the fate of those who plunder us and the destiny of those who plunder us.

chased like chaff off mountains

Confession time. I have an irrational quirk, a preference that I cannot explain. I like the sound of rushing water, but I dislike the sound of rushing wind. Don’t ask me to explain the difference, because to me they sound similar, but I enjoy waterfalls and crashing waves, but I cannot stand it when a car window is opened while I’m riding in the car.

Both sounds are mentioned in today’s text. The LORD tells humanity that no matter how much of a roar we make, he will have the last say. He will sweep the arrogant and noisy oppressors away from the mountain like he blows the chaff off the mountain with his rushing wind. It is amazing how efficient the wind is at clearing a mountain of everything, leaving the bare trees until springtime.

Isaiah’s point is that those who are being plundered can rest assured that God will deal with their plunderers. No matter how loud their waterfall roars, God’s rushing wind can sweep them away in judgment.

LORD, when we are being wrongly treated by your enemies, remind us of the power of your mighty wind to chase the chaff off the mountains.

Posted in deliverance, destruction in hell, judgment, wrath of God | Tagged Isaiah 17 | Leave a comment

God takes left-overs

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 17:1-6

¹ An oracle of Damascus: “See! Damascus stops being a city and becomes a pile of ruins. ² The cities of Aroer will be deserted; they will be for the flocks,[1] and they will lie down and there is not one who disturbs them. ³And any fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and kingdom from Damascus; and the left over of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel,” — a declaration of Yahveh of armies. ⁴ “And this is going to happen: On that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will become lean. ⁵ And it will be like a reaper’s gathering of standing grain and he reaps grain by his arm, and it will be like one who gathers ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim. ⁶ And gleanings will be left over in it, like after beating an olive tree: two or three ripe olive berries atop a branch, four or five on its productive branches,” — a declaration of Yahveh, the God of Israel.

God takes left-overs

The northern kingdom had formed an alliance with Syria, whose capital was Damascus. Isaiah predicts that the alliance would not save them from judgment. The coming army would swoop down, destroy Damascus, and decimate Israel as well. Damascus will be left so wiped out that shepherds can let their flocks graze there, with no fear of them (that is, the flocks) being disturbed by the presence of any people. Israel will be so wiped out it will be like a crop that has been harvested, with only a very few left-overs remaining.

When I was a child, my family raised chickens – 30,000 at a time. After the harvesters came and took the mature chickens to the plant to be processed, there were always about five or six birds per house that were left behind. We took those left-over birds and put them in a separate pen. We raised them to produce eggs for our household. As a boy, I can remember being happy for those left-overs, because it meant more eggs.

God’s promise of left-overs for Israel meant that he still had a plan for the nation – beyond judgment. The judgment would be real, and most would be lost, but a few would be saved. Jesus said that the final judgment would be similar. While destruction is coming, a few will be saved by grace. God takes left-overs.

LORD, we cling to Christ, and trust that we will be among your left-overs, saved from judgment by faith in him.

[1] The first four words of this verse begin with the Hebrew letter ayin.

Posted in deliverance, grace, judgment | Tagged Isaiah 17 | Leave a comment

years of a hired worker

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Isaiah 16:12-14

¹²And this is going to happen: when Moab appears, when he is tired at the high place and he comes to his temple to pray, he will not prevail. ¹³ This was the former word that Yahveh spoke to Moab. ¹⁴But now Yahveh speaks, saying, “In three years, like years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become shameful, with all of the large crowd, and whoever is left will be few, small, not strong.

years of a hired worker

As it happens, I am contemplating the last three (or so) years of my life today. On one hand, I have accomplished a great deal, and I am grateful for that. On the other hand, those years seem to have flown by, and I am left wondering how eternally significant they have been. I wonder if I will think that of my entire life some day. I do not want that to happen.

Moab was at the height of its greatness, but its days were numbered. Isaiah had previously warned them that when the LORD came in judgment, their prayers at their temple would avail for nothing. Now, he says that this coming judgment will happen within three years. That was the typical amount of time a temporary worker was hired for. That is not much time to affect a change.

Time has a way of deceiving us. We get bored so easily, and we entertain the illusion that our days and years are long. They are not. All our lives are like a breath. Breathe in, breathe out. That is it. We really do not know how much time we have until the wages of Adam’s sin have to be paid up. It is in our best interest to make good use of this fleeting gift.

LORD, teach us to number our days, and years. Help us to renounce the sin of wasting our lives on the frivolous and useless things that preoccupy. Make our lives count for you.

Posted in commitment, judgment, time | Tagged Isaiah 16 | Leave a comment