Isaiah 30:12-33:9, Galatians 5:1-12, Psalm 63:1-11, Proverbs 23:22
Today is the 19th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is, as always, fantastic to be here together with you today and for these moments that we have around the Global Campfire together. This is my favorite place to be. So, it is wonderful to be here with you because being here alone isn’t my favorite place to be, being here together is, as we take another step forward together. And our next step leads us back into the book of Isaiah and at this point we will reach chapter 33, that’s the center of the book of Isaiah. So, today we will reach essentially the halfway point. So, let’s dive in, Isaiah chapter 30 verse 12 through 33 verse 9.
Commentary:
Okay, so, we’ve talked about this before with Isaiah, it can feel difficult to follow because it’s not just this one cohesive narrative story. So, it seems like the book is jumping all over the place, that’s because it’s not a single narrative story. It’s a collection of the utterances of God, that Isaiah spoke, and they didn’t all happen at the same time, they didn’t all happen for the same reason, and they weren’t all spoken to the same people. So, we can find frustration in trying to follow along with what’s happening. But if we step back though, we see a prophetic arc. Like, we may see trouble and even doom forecast in the words of Isaiah. But as these prophetic messages go, there’s an alternative, there’s a way to turn toward hope. There is a way to move toward restoration and at sometimes Isaiah’s prophesying like, you’re gonna actually like, it’s gone too far. So, you will reap what you’ve sown because you’ve sown it and it’s harvest time. You…you will have to go through a season of correction, your enemies will be upon you, you set this up. On the other side of that, I will still be waiting for you. Like, I will never stop working toward your restoration. And we saw some of that, we saw some of that shift in what we were reading today as we reached the center of the book. And in truth what Isaiah is saying in our reading today is not something that we can go okay, that gives me some context for the ancient people, it’s something we can take right now into our hearts and lives. So, I quote from Isaiah, “you will be delivered by returning and resting. Your strength will lie in quiet confidence.” Think about those words for a moment, those may be the words that we have been searching to hear. They may be the counsel that is exactly right for this moment. Isaiah’s saying, calm down, return to God and find rest. And from that place of rest, you will rediscover strength. I’m taking that one on board, like I’m, I’m taking that one into my heart right now, because Isaiah gives us the alternative. And I quote, “you say, no. We will escape on horses. Therefore, you will escape, and we will ride on fast horses. But those who pursue you will be faster.” Okay, so, we’re sitting here at a crossroads. There is a path that would lead to quiet confidence and strength in the Almighty and there is a path that would rely on our own strength, and we will run, that’s what we will do, we will run, trying to outrun whatever is chasing us. But whatever is chasing us will be faster than we can be in our own strength. Oh, guys like, do we not already know this to be true, just by the example of our own existence. But if we’re convinced that we’re stronger than God, and then we got this and that He’s not really paying attention to the minute details and the nuances that we are, and so, we have to do this ourselves then Isaiah says where it goes. And I quote, “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.” Right, a single solitary waving flag, the only thing that’s left.