Today’s Reading:

Read Isaiah 31:1-3; Isaiah 32:17-20; Isaiah 33:2; Isaiah 35

If I eat too many cookies, what might happen? If I play in the rain, what might happen? The reality is eating too many cookies may have the initial consequence of making you happy.  However, in the end, it could also make you sick.  Playing in the rain will most definitely get you wet!  That’s a real consequence of playing in the rain.  Sometimes we can have positive consequences and sometimes the consequences are negative.  

The message that Isaiah had for the people was probably hard for them to hear.  The consequences for their actions were going to be challenging.  However, Isaiah’s message was not just about the bad stuff that was going to happen!  Isaiah also brought a message that let the people know that God was not leaving them.  He had a plan to help them walk through the difficult days.  And Isaiah promised that better days were coming. 

Isaiah challenged the people to remember that trusting in people or things was the wrong thing to do.  They had to trust in God. Isaiah helped the people understand that because of God’s faithfulness to do what He said He would do when they disobeyed, He was also faithful to do what He said he would do when they were obedient.  They could trust Him. 

Many of Isaiah’s messages were about times of unrest when things would seem out of control.  God used Isaiah to remind the people that “the result of righteousness would be peace.” (Isa. 32:17). God’s promise was that his people would eventually dwell in a “peaceful place.” (Isa 32:18). Isaiah used a word picture to help the people understand what God’s plan for them was.  In Isaiah 35, Isaiah described a wilderness or a desert that was once dry and without life that became beautiful and blossomed abundantly.  Isaiah encouraged the people that although they had experienced hard times when God seemed far away, they would one day experience beautiful days where they felt God’s presence and saw all that He had done for them. 

Application/Prayer:

As a family, pray the prayer in Isaiah 33:2 

“Lord, be gracious to us!  We wait for you!  Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.” 

Thank God that he is your strength and salvation! 

July Memory Verse:

“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.”