Isaiah 59 (HCSB)
Sin and Redemption
1 Indeed, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear.
2 But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide His face from you so that He does not listen.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.
4 No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.
7 Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.
8 They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night.
10 We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy.
11 We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions have multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
13 transgression and deception against the Lord, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered.
The Lord saw that there was no justice, and He was offended.
16 He saw that there was no man—He was amazed that there was no one interceding; so His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness supported Him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 So He will repay according to their deeds:
fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and He will repay the coastlands.
19 They will fear the name of Yahweh in the west and His glory in the east; for He will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the Lord.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 2): Father, for a long time I have put up barriers. Some I’ve known that I put up intentionally and some were unknown. The vast majority of these barriers were not for Your will, but for my own selfish ways. Barriers against loving my wife in Your way, barriers against raising my children in Your way, barriers against doing the things I know You want me to do yet the world and my flesh think it’s unnecessary or too difficult. So many barriers have been put up that are not justified in my faith journey with You, Father. I’ve lacked in putting up proper barriers; barriers that protect me from my sinful ways. Barriers that would have prevented me from making the many mistakes I’ve made in the past. Help me to understand and develop proper barriers, Father. Help me to destroy the barriers that hinder me from Your will and Your love. Help me to put up barriers that keep me from giving into my sinful ways and the ways of this world. Help me to walk like Jesus, Father, so that Your kingdom will be glorified in everything I do.
PROMISE (verse 20): Although this Scripture has a lot of promises that lead up to this one verse, I do feel this verse is the most amazing promise You have given us. You promise of the eventual return, when our Redeemer returns to save us all from this broken world and the Kingdom of God reigns on earth! Thank You so much for this promise, Father, as it tells us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this broken world. This helps when I see so much brokenness and suffering in this world to know that one day You will return and everything will be perfect on earth as it is in Heaven. Thank You, Father!
ATTITUDE (verses 3-4, 7-8): Such a long list of attitudes I must work on changing from this Scripture, Father. These 4 verses spoke the loudest to me, so I will focus on these the best I can. I often speak words that do not glorify You, Father; giving into my own flesh weaknesses of pride, anger, and irritability as well as my “need” to be right all the time. This often leads to very sinful thoughts and me walking a path that is not even remotely a peaceful one. Please help me to change this frequent attitude of mine, Father, so that I may lean on Your peace and Your humbleness. Help me to use kind words more often, but especially to embody a more humble attitude so that I do not always have to be right and don’t get offended so easily. Work in me, Father, so that my attitudes and ways put me on Your path of peace and not my own path of wickedness.
COMMAND (verse 21): Quite a simple command, Father, yet this has been a difficult one for me to follow throughout my faith journey with You. I am horrible at memorizing things, but at the same time I’ve also been lazy and procrastinated on memorizing Your words, Father. I have gotten better lately, but here You command us to not let Your words depart from our mouths and our children’s mouths. I have not been the greatest at living in Your word daily over the years, but also I have not been very good at relaying Your word properly, frequently, and consistently to my children. Please help me to follow Your commands for myself first and foremost, Father, so that I have the knowledge, wisdom, and ability to relay all of it to my children for good teaching.
EXAMPLE (verse 17): In this one verse, Father, You give us a preview of the Armor of God. You show us an example of how You put on Your armor as it relates to the fruits of the Spirit. Help me to also wear Your armor, Father, on my daily walk. Remind me daily to wear Your breastplate of righteousness, Your helmet of salvation, Your garments of vengeance, and Your cloak of zeal. Help me to learn about these fruits more, Father, so that when I do try to put on Your armor, I know I am wearing it the way You want me to wear it and not my own way.
*DAILY NOTE: I have so much to work on in becoming a good man in general, let alone a God-driven and righteous man. This Scripture speaks to me so loudly on a few of the things I need to improve upon to eventually get to being a righteous follower of You, Father, but it’s going to take a lot of work on my part and I know that. Please help me to not be discouraged and lazy as I continue in this journey of faith, Father. Remind me of what greatness You bring through Your word and Your will for me. Remind me that it’s not about me, but about You through this journey. Remind me that the Armor of God is always there for me, I just need to learn to put it on and keep it in good condition. Thank You, Father, for providing this to me as I definitely need it.
*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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