Thursday 18 Nov 2021

November 18: Isaiah 10:33-34

Key Verse: Isaiah 10:34
He will cut down the forest thickets with an axe; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

Devotion:
If you read these verses by themselves, what would your conclusion be? Would you be thinking God was going to level the people like lumberjacks would level a forest? Would you be thinking God had given the people a death sentence? Or would you be comparing people and trees and come to the conclusion God was going to cut down all the people who had grown up to big for their boots?

If we read the verses before these and the verses after these we begin to get a better picture of what’s going on. The prophet is trying to convey a whole history to the people instead of just what we read here. God wanted the people to think about their history and to see where they were currently headed. He wanted them to compare that with how a forest takes many years to grow, but can be cut down in a matter of days!

But He also wanted the people to know why! God wanted the people to know just how wide spread the problem was… When we allow things to go too far in our lives, it takes a long time to recover and a lot of hard work to bring things back in line. When some people turned away from God, other would follow because they heard things and they did not see God punishing them… God was waiting for them to help the others back in line…

We need to take note of what people are doing around us and to try to help people when we see things going wrong. This may take us out of our comfort zones, may take us away from our ‘successful lives’ and may take us toward our enemies… But, unless we are willing to listen to God and hear what He wants in full, then we are not getting the whole picture!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you make your mind up before the results come in?

Are you making your mind up for your own life before God’s results come in?