Monday
ISAIAH 30:1-14
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Vv1-2: What was God’s complaint against Israel?
- Vv3-7: What kind of ally will Egypt prove to be?
- Vv8-11: How has Israel been treating God’s word?
- Vv12-14: What is the consequence of Israel’s sin?
- Is any of Israel’s conduct applicable to you?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Tuesday
ISAIAH 30:1-14
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?
- Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Wednesday
ISAIAH 30:15-18
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- V15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” To repent is to return to God; to honour and obey Him once again. Why does Isaiah add “rest, quietness and trust”? What do they imply? What do you think was the problem with Israel?
- Vv16-17: God counsels Israel to rest and trust. What did Israel prefer to do in response to her situation? Looking at this in the context of our spiritual struggles, what does the result tell us about our habit of depending on our strength and willpower?
- V18: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.” In spite of everything, God wants to show compassion towards Israel. We are the “new Israel” and we enjoy God’s love and compassion as well. How does this make you feel?
- Are you in a situation where you need to return to God? Is God calling you to rest, to be quiet and to trust?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Thursday
ISAIAH 30:15-18
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?
- Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Friday
ISAIAH 30:19-26
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Read the passage several times. It is a vivid description of God who loves and cares for his people if only they will turn to Him and seek Him. In this passage, what is your heart drawn to the most? Why?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Saturday
ISAIAH 30:19-26
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?
- Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?
- Write down a prayer in response.
Sunday
IN REPENTANCE AND REST IS YOUR SALVATION, IN QUIETNESS AND TRUST IS YOUR STRENGTH
Israel wanted to play political games. They wanted to sit with the big boys and so they made an alliance with Egypt. They don’t want to be told what to do. They want to make their own decisions. Of course they did not consult God.
“Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
In wanting to be adults, they behaved even more like children. And when things went wrong they tried to deal with the problems with their own meagre resources.
God does not react like another child. He is the loving parent, yearning to set things right. But not without a proper restoration of the relationship.
The truth is that God does not want us to be children either. And adults would know to ask, especially in situations that are new, unfamiliar and unpredictable. An adult would know to admit wrong and return from the wrong path.
But how will we know? In our Christian walk, it is in quietness and trust that is our strength. Not in busy activity and frantic efforts to overcome problems. The mature Christian knows his true strength is his God and will make time, effort and space to walk and talk with Him. And when we do so, that wonderful picture of God in Isaiah 30:19-26 will be our reality as well.
- Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.
- Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down in the past week. What conclusion can you draw from the passages of Scripture you have been considering? Is there anything that you need to respond to?
- Read the short sharing above. Does it add anything to your conclusion?
- Review the past week. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?
- Write down a prayer in response.