Isaiah 8:1-9:21, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Psalms 55:1-23, Proverbs 23:4-5
Today is the 11th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue the journey forward step-by-step day by day just consistently takin’ the next step forward in its leading us into the inner workings of our hearts as the Bible does but it’s also giving us wisdom and advice and encouragement for the journey that we are on this journey called life. And what a joy that we can share this stretch of road together as we as…we move through the Scriptures. So, we’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Today, Isaiah chapters 8 and 9.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the book of Psalms today we came across a very, very, very, very famous passage of Scripture, “cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; he will never allow the righteous to be shaken”, right? You may quote that every day. Every time that we find ourselves suffering in some sort of way, this is the kind of passage that we turn to for encouragement to ourselves or this is the kinds of passage that we quote while handing it to somebody else who’s facing difficulty. So, how does this work? What’s going on here? First of all, we see that David in this Psalm has been betrayed by a friend. Okay. So, that brings things close. Like, somebody really, really trusted has betrayed him. And, so, he’s angry, but he’s also broken very, very hurt. And, so, we can see both of those kinds of emotions mixed in with this psalm – very very human outburst, very very human way to feel and think about this. And he’s just looking at all the things, all of the difficulties of life, all the hardships and he says something that we probably all feel or have felt, “I wish I had…I wish I could fly away like a bird”, right, “if only I had wings like a dove I would fly away and find rest. I would flee far away. I would stay in the wilderness.” “I”, basically, “I would get to a solitary place away from all of this all-consuming difficulty.” Man…I just…I mean…I don’t even know how many thousands of times I’ve felt that way of my life, right? Haven’t you? Like, “O…if I could just fly away from this all.” So, for David to sort of conclude with an encouragement to himself, “cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will and never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Indeed, that’s very encouraging. So, it’s very encouraging when we are reminded of it by someone. It’s very encouraging we remind ourselves of it. It’s even very encouraging when were able to encourage another with this passage of Scripture. But I gotta tell you something about this passage of Scripture, it’s not going to work if you say it. I know that’s crazy. It’s not gonna work even if you memorize it. It’s a short one so you can memorize it by the end of the day and then you could say it 100 times as a mantra and it’s still not gonna work. Knowing it, saying it, that’s just reciting words, that doesn’t do anything. To enjoy what David is encouraging himself and us with we have to engage and do what it says. Normally what happens is that…I mean like there are three lines in this piece of poem that we’re reading today and we skip the first one and then just hear, “he will sustain you, he will never allow the righteous to be shaken” and take that as an encouragement when the first part is an invitation to collaborate in this thing, “cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you, he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” You can say that a thousand times, until you cast your burden on the Lord nothing’s gonna happen. Are you with me on this? I…like…I know I’m like being right up in our face today but, kinda being up in my own face today. We can’t carry the burdens around and then complain about how God’s not sustaining us. He was willing to carry it all if we had been willing to cast it on him. And casting it on him isn’t like, “hey Jesus, my shoulders are weighed down with anxiety today could you carry this backpack of pain and suffering for me for the next, I don’t know, quarter of mile, and then I’ll pick it back up and take it.” Like that doesn’t lead to freedom. The invitation here is…and man…David’s talking about a pretty grievance, the betrayal of a friend. So, this is a deep-rooted pain that he’s saying like, “cast this on the Lord and he will sustain you. H won’t allow you to be shaken.” So, one thing that we are told here pretty explicitly is that we are…that we must be involved in engaging this, but also that we are not just helpless. When we are facing whatever it is that seems to be overwhelming us there is an out, there is an escape hatch, cast it on the Lord. Man…if just for one day let’s practice that today. Like it’s like so many of the other instructions that we come to in the Bible that are stark, especially when they’re famous passages. We can live into this today. What do we have to lose? We can carry the backpack of stress and anxiety, all of the poison that’s in that backpack, we can carry that heavy burden around or we can cast it on the Lord and see what happens. What is there to lose? If we really can’t part with that anxiety then I guess we could go collect it back, but wouldn’t it be nice to be free. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in collaboration with God, knowing that he will sustain us if we cast our burdens upon Him.
Prayer:
Father, what a gift you are offering. Like, what and immeasurably loving thing to say, that we can come and cast these things off that are killing us inside giving them to you knowing that you will sustain us and lead us forward if we will pay attention, if we will have eyes to see and ears to hear. And, so, our eyes are open and we’re gonna walk into this and live into this day and we invite your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey this is just a shout out to Brian, Jill, Ezekiel, China, all the DABbers. Some mornings I wake up and I’m grumpy and groggy and just feel overly unhappy and then I think about going and having my coffee and listening to Daily Audio Bible and taking in Scripture and my prayer time and it totally lifts my spirits. It’s something to look forward to in the mornings. I love that. So, thank you for providing this. It’s such a beautiful thing. Every morning it gives me this warm feeling like I’m going to the table, I’m going to the campfire to be with my people. And I don’t know, never has there been an app that comes with such a personality and has such a connection to other people. I really feel like I’m taking part in something with many other people. That’s a special thing. Love you guys.
Hello, my DAB family this is Mark Street from Sydney Australia today’s Friday the 5th of September and I just want to call in to say how grateful I am to God and this community. There’s so much love, God’s love flowing to this community. I should’ve been writing everybody’s name down who’s dialed a prayer request for me but I haven’t been doing it so instead of mentioning anybody’s name, you know you called in for me and I have listened and I’m up today and I’ve heard your messages to me and I just want to say how grateful I am for your love and God’s love and I just want to pray to…to God to say thank you. Heavenly Father…and just a quick update first. I am recovering very well. I do have to have some heart surgery in about five weeks-time, and I’ll let you know prior to that but I just want to thank God. Heavenly Father I come to You and say thank you to everyone in this community Lord, not just the people who pray for each other but also the people that are paying in the background. Also, the people that are hurting Lord. Lord this community is so wonderful. Your love is expressed so wonderful in this community Lord and I…I am in awe of Your presence in this community Lord. And Lord I ask You to extend Your blessing to everybody in this community, show them Your love in Your personal way in their lives Lord and as You have in me as well Lord. Lord I thank You for Brian and his whole family for listening to You and presenting this program for everybody to love each other through You Lord. In Your name I thank You Lord. And I love you family and once again…
This is Ricky from Louisiana first-time caller I’ve been listening to my DAB family since October last year. I’m calling in with a prayer request. I have a request for my son, my 25-year-old son who has been recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He was a two-time all-state and one-time all-American football…football defensive back in high school. Now he is unable to walk at all. He’s unable to bathe himself. Initially when he was diagnosed, he was able to…he went to the hospital, he did not…he wasn’t able to walk and then he got better. He was able to walk with the use of a cane but now it has…his condition has deteriorated. So, I’m calling in to ask my prayer warriors to lift him up in prayer. He’s my namesake, Ricky Junior. Thank you in advance for your prayers and we continue to give God the glory, the praise, and the owner for what Je’s going to do.
Yes, I am Alicia Hansen I just wanted to pray for what’s going on in the world. I’ve been listening to your devotional and I really love it. I know I’m going above and beyond 365 day. I’m trying to read it all and I’m just addicted to it. It’s is a wonderful book and I want to pray for all the strife that is going on in this world right now, all of the anger, the loss of jobs, the plague, the pestilence. We were told that it will happen, and it is happening, and you can see it clear as day. I am a blind person. I see only darkness all the time but yet my eyes are open and I see what is happening to our society and I just would like to ask that we all join hands and we pray to Jesus and God the Father almighty that he may rescue us and that He may show us the light and lead us to the land that He promised. And I just…I give my prayers and I ask that only the Lord and Jesus Christ let the words come from my mouth because a tongue is a double edge sword. It can hurt and it can make you feel good. You need to choose your words and your actions wisely. I’m sitting in a small town in South Carolina and it’s been hot here but it’s pretty …
Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Abigail from California I’m just listening on the way into work as I do some days through __ my workdays. I work at a group home for teens in crisis and I just want to share…I know it’s been a while since…I believe it was Angel…was your name…you called in about your daughter. I just wanted you to know that I pray for you every morning and I pray for your daughter every morning on my way into work as I just think about our youth in America and just…they’re going through a lot. So, I just wanted to pray with you guys for…for our kids. Dear God, I’m just so thankful for Your provision and that You do have resources and prayer and…and Your hands on these kids. God I just pray…I just break the bondage of depression and anxiety over these kids. I pray that Your hand would be on the Lord, that in Your name, Jesus, these chains would be broken, that…that they would not have to struggle with this. I just pray for myself and those who work in homes for teens, God that You would just be with us, that You would fill us with peace and joy and patience …
Hello, my fellow DABbers first-time caller Chris from Minnesota beloved son of an affectionate father. I also go by rompin stompin dynamite. I am so grateful my fiancé Dawn also known as bouncing poucin love and joy called in a while back and asked that you pray for my son Gabriel whom I haven’t spoken to in five months. He did three tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine in the infantry. The day Dawn’s prayer aired is the day one of my other sons said, “dad Gabe is going to be coming to the wedding.” And thank you so much to Lisa the Encourager who let us all at a very specific heartfelt prayer. The day her prayer aired was the day my son called me to apologize for cutting me off. There has been an amazing change in his art. On a more corporate note I have been listening for five years and my heart cries out and my holy ambition is to pray for those who are going through or face divorce. I did face the destruction that divorce can unleash on a family, but I do know there’s life in through and on the other side of this tragedy. Let me encourage you that our life is not defined by our failures or accomplishments. Our identity is found in whose I am and who I belong to. One of my favorite portion of description is when the Father gives to Jesus the one thing we all want to hear, “this is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased in whom my favor rests.” My prayer for us all, no matter how good our lives are or the struggles we go through, this is your identity. You are a beloved son. You are a beloved daughter of an affectionate father. This is Chris from Minnesota.
Good
evening DABbers this is Running Desperately to Jesus a.k.a. Staying Desperately
Connected to Jesus. That’s from kingdom seeker Daniel. We just finished reading
September 4th Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and I am so blown away. I want
my DABbers to know I have not been with the guy that I openly was transparent
that I fornicated with. I have not been with him and I feel a weight has been
lifted off. I feel clear. I haven’t been with him now for several weeks and I
made that decision. Initially it was…I gave all other kind of reasons but
finally I gave the right reason to him, which was I was disrespecting and doing
something against God. One of the things that I thank God for and Brian everything
that you said in Ecclesiastes about godly sorrow and sorrow is exactly what I
felt. Thank God for the godly sorrow or the sensation of conviction. I felt
convicted the whole time I was with this person and I regret it. I feel
ashamed. I’m angry with him. I’m angry with myself even more. But I thank God
for the conviction for the godly sorrow that has led me back to say, “God I
repent for my actions that were against you and your word.” Running Desperately
to Jesus. Also known as Staying Desperately Connected to Jesus.