Sunday 7 Sep 2014

September 7: Isaiah 31:1-3

Key Verse: Isaiah 31:3
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out His hand, Both he who helps will fall, And he who is helped will fall down; They all will perish together.

Devotion:
When we read through what the prophets were told by God we sometimes see a very different picture than the picture of Christ most people like to paint. Many will paint a picture of God as being an all loving God who bends over backward to make sure we can survive just about anything! Well, that He is. He is an Awesome God who does and has done so very much for us all that we would be forgiven for seeing Him in that light.

What the prophets were not afraid of doing was telling the truth about what happens to those people who go against God! When we live our lives for the world and not for God we are saying to God that we can do it by ourselves and that we don’t need Him! I don’t think I want to be the one standing next to you when you declare that the world’s way is better than God’s way; and we have to be very careful when we do go forward in our own strength because we may just be rejecting God instead of embracing Him and His strength.

I am not saying that God is going to strike you down with a bolt of lightning when you stand up and say that you can do it; but I am saying that God will have something to say about you going off by yourself. Isaiah warned that the Egyptians were on a very slippery slope because they took their own kind to be gods amongst the people and they promoted worshipping others gods instead of our God in heaven. That is just not going to work because God wants people to see that He is all powerful and all knowing. Enough said?

I guess not because we still go out and try to do things by ourselves. We still think that we can do things better because we have done so for such a long time! I know I have been doing youth work for God for many years, but I also know that I have to depend on Him for the wisdom to continue that work. I know that I have to spend time alone with Him to listen to what He has in store for me. I know He loves me and wants me to succeed. But I also know that if I run off and do things they will most likely fall flat on their face because I have not lifted up God as God of all!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like to succeed?

Do you listen to God?