Today’s Reading:
Read Isaiah 1:1-6; 2:1-11; 3:1-5,13-15; 4:2; 5-6
Imagine having a trip to Disney World planned for your family. It would be a lot of fun, I’m sure. Now imagine that Disney World decided to close their doors and your trip gets cancelled! That would be very disappointing, wouldn’t it? Disappointment happens when what we are expecting to happen and looking forward to happening doesn’t happen. It’s not a very fun feeling, is it?
Isaiah was a prophet, who like Amos, Jonah and Hosea, had a message for God’s chosen people. Specifically, Isaiah’s message was for the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. And, unfortunately, Isaiah’s message for the people was that God was disappointed with their choices. God knew that they had turned their back on Him. He knew that as they worshiped and sacrificed, their hearts were not sincere. Their prayers were empty, hollow and useless because they were not just praying to God, they were praying to false gods. They worshiped idols. They trusted in wealth and success and not in God! God was very unhappy with their choices.
Even though God was disappointed in the people of Judah, He still loved them very much. Isaiah told the people that God was going to send a “branch of the Lord” who would make it possible for God’s presence to return. The “branch of the Lord” was Jesus. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Remember God gave prophets special messages to tell the people about. Even though a lot of what Isaiah told the people was bad news, there was always a promise of hope and restoration.
Application/Prayer:
Do you think you ever make choices that disappoint God? That’s sad to think about, isn’t it. The good news is that while God does not like the sin that we commit, He never stops loving us. Just like he had a plan of HOPE for the people of Judah, God has that same plan of hope and forgiveness for us. Ask God to forgive you for the times you have made choices that would disappoint Him and ask Him to help you not make those choices again!
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.”
Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:
- Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
- Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
- After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
- Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
- There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.
Other Resources:
July memory verse coloring sheet
July Fill-in the blank activity