Isaiah 48 (HCSB)
Israel Must Leave Babylon
1 “Listen to this, house of Jacob—those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and declare the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness.
2 For they are named after the Holy City, and lean on the God of Israel; His name is Yahweh of Hosts.
3 I declared the past events long ago; they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.
4 Because I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is iron and your forehead bronze,
5 therefore I declared to you long ago. I announced it to you before it occurred, so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them; my carved image and cast idol control them.’
6 You have heard it. Observe it all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will announce new things to you, hidden things that you have not known.
7 They have been created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today, so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’
8 You have never heard; you have never known; For a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew that you were very treacherous, and were known as a rebel from birth.
9 I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise, so that you will not be destroyed.
10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.
12 “Listen to Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also the last.
13 My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together.
14 All of you, assemble and listen! Who among the idols has declared these things? The Lord loves him; he will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I—I have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.
16 Approach Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there.” And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit.
17 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:
I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had paid attention to My commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from My presence.
20 Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 18): Father, You say that if I were to just listen to You that my peace would flow like a river. Forgive me for failing to listen to You far too often, Father. Forgive me for listening to myself and the world in place of You. Help me to remember that Your words are better than my own and the world’s always.
PROMISE (verses 16-17): You promise us that You do not speak in secret and never have from the beginning. You assure us that ALL of Your teachings are for our benefit and that You will only lead us in the way we should be going. Help me, Father, to embrace this promise so that I lean on Your teachings for everything and not the world’s.
ATTITUDE (verses 18, 22): Father, please help me to grasp onto the peace that You provide so that it overflows out of me. Help me to change my default attitude of anger and irritability so that Your peaceful nature becomes my default attitude on a daily basis, Father.
COMMAND (verses 14, 16, 18): Once again, Father, You find it necessary to repeat Yourself, which means what You’re saying must be really important for a stubborn person like me. You again say to listen to You and to pay attention to You, Father. Help me to live in this command so that I am always listening to You and not the enemy, the world, or my own selfish ways.
EXAMPLE (verses 1, 8, 14, 17-18, 22): You give us so many examples to live by in this Scripture, Father. The core example to live by is to listen to You and live in Your peace and Your righteousness. Help me to follow this example in my life, Father, so that Your will is done and not my own. Help me to live in Your peace, Father, so that my current default of anger and irritability goes away so that Your peace overflows through me.
*DAILY NOTE: You keep telling me to listen to You, Father. You would think after all these years of you telling me to listen to You that I would actually have that as my focus. Unfortunately, I mess up so often by not listening to You. Please remind me, Father, during those times that I do not want to listen that Your truth and Your way is always the best approach. If I do not listen to You, then I am just setting myself up for a worldly failure.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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