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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Short Reflection from Isaiah 11-23

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (LRAU) as a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible]

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™:๐Ÿ™๐Ÿž

"And there will be a highway from Assyria For the ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ž๐•Ÿ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•ฅ of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt."

God saved only the remnants. There arenโ€™t many who are faithful, only a few. The Bible is about remnants. Narrow Gate, Narrow Way!

Even, there are few faithful Bible readers in this world, in our churches, even in this group! While it is not a sufficient indicator of our salvation or even spiritual discipline, it corroborates the truth that there are only a few faithful people.

Btw, even the world knows that the top of the ladder is never crowded!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿš:๐Ÿ™

"Then you will say on that day, โ€˜I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.โ€™"

Every night I get to sleep and every morning I get to wake up, it's the sure testimony that God has turned away His wrath upon me, for I don't deserve forgiveness to sleep and to have a new day. But God.

Blessed be His name!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ›:๐Ÿ™๐Ÿš

"I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir."

I would be perishing in this declaration had the Lord not rescued me! The world is complaining about population! A day will come when people will be fewer than gold! Even now in a peaceful time, birth rates are decreasing, and infertility, selfishness, and abortions are knocking off. Diseases can wipe off the population. War can. Natural Disasters can. God shall fulfill what He promised!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿœ:๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ˜

"They will all respond and say to you, โ€˜Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us.โ€™"

One of the scariest comments in the Bible. The mighty become like the weak. The "pseudo-godly" perishing with the wicked. The rulers suffer with the oppressed.

This is what God will do to the ones who do not fear Him!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ:๐Ÿ

"My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin."

Oh! Who will cry for these sinners around: for the Hindus, for the persecutors, or for the homeless beggars in prayer for they are lost and without hope?

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿž:๐Ÿž

"We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false."

God really hates pride. No matter what your assessment is, all sinners are proud ones. In the truest sense, the most prideful Christian is more humble than any unrepentant sinner, be Gandhiji, or whoever!

As long as we are not glorified, we shall still struggle with pride. We are to battle pride every day!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐ŸŸ:๐ŸŸ

"In that day man will have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel."

Those who are disappointed, angry, and upset with God do not really know the judgment of God.

I have learned from history and my own experience that as long as we complain, we still have strength in our body. When we are too weak, or too afraid, or too desperate, we have no complaints, we want only deliverance.

God's judgment will be so severe that the people will seek God's intervention.

If you are still complaining in life, I have bad news and good news: worse things will come to you, will beat you black and blue; but the good news is that you will learn to be grateful, and when you do that, you will see the abundant grace of God.

God won't surrender, it's we who have (and will be brought) to surrender. Recall the story of Job.

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ :๐Ÿœ

โ€œFor thus the LORD has told me, 'I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.'โ€

Wow! What a picture!

Two comforting truths concerning God:

1. God is not sleeping. He is watching over us.

2. God is not panicking. He is watching us quietly because everything is under His grand plan!

Let's learn to wait on God!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿก:๐Ÿš๐Ÿœ-๐Ÿš๐Ÿ

"In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.'"

God shall judge everyone accordingly. Those who fear Him will be made to worship Him, to be His people.

Those who neglect Him shall be removed, replaced, and be in ruin!

May we be those who fear Him, who delight in Him!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿš๐Ÿ˜:๐Ÿ›

"And the LORD said, 'Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush'"

How many of us would like to be mightily used by God? We are inclined to think of it in positive (famous, powerful) terms. What about, like Isaiah, to live like a beggar? No sandals, no pants for 3 years!

When I signed up for (responded to the call of) the Gospel Ministry 10 years ago, I said yes! But I told God that my wife and children (if I ever get married) might not cope with me like that.

Well, I still haven't heard any answer yet๐Ÿ™‚๐Ÿ˜‚ but definitely Psalm 37:23-26 say, "Do not fret!"

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿš๐Ÿ™:๐Ÿก

"Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs. And one said, โ€˜Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.โ€™"

A time will come when all the gods and goddesses of all the human civilizations will be shattered as they were of Babylon, as it was of the Philistines. God shall be exalted above all names, powers, and thrones!

How blessed to be His people!

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿš๐Ÿš:๐Ÿ™๐Ÿš-๐Ÿ™๐Ÿœ

"Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die." But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, "Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts."

Instead of crying in repentance, they were enjoying self-indulgence. This is what sinners do. The godly weep over their sins and cry out for mercy.

The joy of the Lord is not found in partying. Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking. Joy in the Lord is walking with the Lord, obedient to all His teachings. That's also the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20.

 

๐•€๐•ค๐•’๐•š๐•’๐•™ ๐Ÿš๐Ÿ›

โ„๐•ž๐•ž! ๐™ธ ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐š—'๐š ๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐šข ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐šœ๐š๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šœ ๐š˜๐šž๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐š–๐šŽ ๐š’๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐šœ ๐šŒ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š™๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š๐šŠ๐šข!

๐“–๐“พ๐”‚๐“ผ, ๐“ผ๐“ธ๐“ถ๐“ฎ๐“ฝ๐“ฒ๐“ถ๐“ฎ๐“ผ, ๐“ฒ๐“ฝ'๐“ผ ๐“ธ๐“ด๐“ช๐”‚ ๐“ฝ๐“ธ ๐“ป๐“ฎ๐“ช๐“ญ ๐“‘๐“ฒ๐“ซ๐“ต๐“ฎ ๐“ช๐“ท๐“ญ ๐“ท๐“ธ๐“ฝ ๐“พ๐“ท๐“ญ๐“ฎ๐“ป๐“ผ๐“ฝ๐“ช๐“ท๐“ญ ๐“ช๐“ท๐”‚๐“ฝ๐“ฑ๐“ฒ๐“ท๐“ฐ! ๐“ฃ๐“ฑ๐“ช๐“ฝ'๐“ผ ๐“ถ๐”‚ ๐“ป๐“ฎ๐“ฏ๐“ต๐“ฎ๐“ฌ๐“ฝ๐“ฒ๐“ธ๐“ท ๐“ฏ๐“ธ๐“ป ๐“ฝ๐“ธ๐“ญ๐“ช๐”‚. ๐“—๐“ธ๐”€๐“ฎ๐“ฟ๐“ฎ๐“ป, ๐”€๐“ฎ ๐“ถ๐“พ๐“ผ๐“ฝ ๐“ด๐“ฎ๐“ฎ๐“น ๐“ธ๐“ท ๐“ป๐“ฎ๐“ช๐“ญ๐“ฒ๐“ท๐“ฐ ๐“ช๐“ผ ๐“ช ๐“ผ๐“น๐“ฒ๐“ป๐“ฒ๐“ฝ๐“พ๐“ช๐“ต ๐“ญ๐“ฒ๐“ผ๐“ฌ๐“ฒ๐“น๐“ต๐“ฒ๐“ท๐“ฎ. ๐“˜ ๐“ฑ๐“ธ๐“น๐“ฎ ๐“ฒ๐“ฝ'๐“ผ ๐“ฎ๐“ท๐“ฌ๐“ธ๐“พ๐“ป๐“ช๐“ฐ๐“ฒ๐“ท๐“ฐ ๐“ฝ๐“ธ ๐“ช๐“ต๐“ต ๐“ฒ๐“ท ๐“ช ๐“ฟ๐“ฎ๐“ป๐”‚ ๐“พ๐“ท๐“ฒ๐“บ๐“พ๐“ฎ ๐”€๐“ช๐”‚! ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ‘