Isaiah 30:12-33:9, Galatians 5:1-12, Psalms 63:1-11, Proverbs 23:22
Today is the 19th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s wonderful to be here with you today as we find our places around the Global Campfire together and relax for a few minutes, just tune our attention to the Scriptures allow them to speak to us and then move back into our day. And, so, it’s wonderful that we have this little place every day. And I am profoundly grateful to be here with you today for the next step forward. And that next step leads us back into the book of Isaiah…Isaiah…to Isaiah, and that today we’ll read chapters chapter…maybe I should just start this whole thing over. Maybe I’m gonna make all kinds of mistakes in the reading today. I don’t know. Seems like my tongue is tied. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 12 through 33 verse 9 today. Maybe I just need to slow down and pay attention to what I’m saying. So, here we go. Isaiah.
Commentary:
Okay. Let’s think about it for a second. Would you prefer to walk a path that leads to quiet confidence and strength, or would you prefer to be running and chased and hunted down? Because that is the crossroads sort of the paths that we are presented in the book of Isaiah today. And again, we’re moving through a prophetic book, the book of Isaiah. And many scholars believe there are multiple voices in the book of Isaiah, and that this is a collection. Other people think it’s, you know, from one person named Isaiah. Nevertheless, it’s not linear narrative form its utterances spoken on behalf of God at different times through this time period. And, so, without really exhaustively going into it and really connecting the time period to this particular Oracle from God, etc. etc. it’s really easy for us to get lost just trying to read it in a narrative form because it feels like it’s jumping all over the place because it is. And even though it is jumping all over the place there’s still an arc. There’s this kind of woe and doom and then the ark shifts to hope, and restoration and we got to experience some of that shift today. And, so, in Isaiah we read, “you will be delivered by returning and resting. Your strength will lie in quiet confidence.” So, that is a path we can walk and choose, but there is an alternative path to that. And we continue on in Isaiah. “You say no. We will escape on horses, we will ride on fast horses, but those who pursue you will be faster.” So, we have two paths here. If we want to walk the path of quiet strength then we are told, basically look return to God, calm down from being overwhelmed and find rest and in that rest we will find our strength. That sounds awesome. That sounds like the life we are wanting to live. And here’s the recipe. Calm down, return to God, find rest, and in that rest find your strength. The other chaotic path that is put before us today leaves us running and running and running while we’re being chased down by something that is faster than we are. That may sound awfully familiar. That’s how it feels a lot of the time. We’re running and running to outpace whatever is going to catch up to us, but it's…it’s gaining. If we want to stay on that path we’re allowed to stay on that path and we’re allowed to feel overwhelmed as if we’re doing nothing but falling further and further behind. In fact, Isaiah describes that feeling. “1000 will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five you will flee until you remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.” That’s a lonely picture. Up on arise there’s a flagpole stuck in the ground with a torn banner waving in the wind. The only evidence of anyone ever being there. Solitary. Alone. That’s where the path leads when we try to do things in our own strength by our own effort. This is where the road leads; however, we’re also given a vivid picture of what it might look like to be on the path that seeks quiet confidence and strength in God. And I quote from Isaiah. “And whenever you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear this command behind you, this is the way, walk in it. Then you will defile your silver-plated idols in your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths and call them filth”, right? So, it’s like our eyes open up, and we realize that we have been chasing after idols. We have put our trust and faith in ourselves and in things that we believe will either bring us life or security only to find out that we’re just running and running and running trying to accomplish security and arrange for life and its fleeting and we end up feeling like we’re running as fast as we can, and everything is catching up with us. Isaiah’s says when we look at that scenario, and our eyes are opened to the alternative path of quiet strength our eyes will be opened and we will see things for what they are and will consider our own way of doing things, like used menstrual objects. The apostle Paul uses the same kind of analogy of his awakening and that all of the effort that he had put into his religious upbringing he considered as filthy rags as well. So, we’ve been given two different pictures of two different paths. Which path do we want to walk? Are we on the path that we want to walk? And assuming that we would like to walk the path of quiet strength and confidence, if we’re not on that path, then we need to return to God and calm down. Some things to give attention to today as we move through.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into that. What path in these examples today from Isaiah, what are…what path are we walking on? Where is this road going? Is…are we on the path that leads us to quiet confidence and strength or are we on the path that leads us to a lonely flagpole all by itself on a forgotten Hill. Holy Spirit reveal this to us and show us the way that we should go. And as the book of Isaiah says, may we hear You behind us saying, “this is the way walk in it.” And may we obey You, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is a home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, certainly check it out.
Check out the different sections like the Community section. This is where you can get connected on social media, different links of the social media channels that we participate in are, but it is also the home of the Prayer Wall which is one of the most beautiful things. That’s just a resource that is there and it’s always there and always available. And, so, there’s never a time then, there’s never a time that we can’t reach out for prayer. There’s never a time that we can’t reach out and share what’s going on. But that also means there’s never a time that we can’t go and pray. So, like sleepless nights, early mornings, lunch breaks, the times that we’re feeling really really low, and we need to turn our focus and our attention outward and on to somebody else instead of like kind of swirling in the…the vortex that is our problems…are our problems. It helps to turn outward. It helps to understand that everybody’s going through something and sometimes we can’t go through it alone and sometimes we need each other to kind of lift one another up, carry each other for the little space in front of us and help…help each other get down the road together. That’s the Prayer Wall, praying for each other and letting each other know that were praying. And, so, certainly check that out. That’s in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com. It’s in the Community section in the Daily Audio Bible app as well. Just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and that’ll open it up and you’ll see Community and you’ll find Prayer Wall in there. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. So, thank you. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app no matter where you are in the world and share from there or you can dial 877-942-4253.
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:
Love you DAB family, traveling and on the road. I’ll post community prayer and praise later today when I’m settled in…