December 15: Isaiah 48:20-22
Key Verse: Isaiah 48:22
‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’
Devotion:
Isaiah was fortunate enough to hear enough from God to make sure he did not get totally disheartened! It must have been very tough to tell the people of Israel about all the bad things which were going to happen with the Babylonians coming to destroy all they had built up. But those times came with a dire warning because the people had all but forgotten about God!
These few verses would give them something to hope for again – but only after they had turned their hearts around and started communing with God once again. God gives us so much, more than we ask for, so how do you think He feels when we turn our backs on Him after He has done so much for us?
God knew the people of Israel would end up coming back to Him, but He also hated the fact they were turning their backs on Him when they should have been praising Him and thanking Him for all they had accumulated. Don’t get me wrong, this was not God punishing them for turning their backs – this was God warning them things would not be comfortable when they turned their backs because the Babylonians wanted everything they had.
This was, in the end, the consequences of their own actions. This last verse says it all… there is no peace for the wicked… If we go down the path of the wicked, we should not expect God’s peace to follow us. Similarly when people work against us with wicked intentions, they should not expect to overcome us but for a little while...
Points to Ponder:
When do you give up hope – when you have it all, or when you have none?
Don’t give up on hope just because you think you don’t need it!