(Isaiah 8:1-22) Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,6 “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates River,
That is, the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
8 Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the expanse of your land, Immanuel.
9 “Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
Get ready, yet be shattered;
Get ready, yet be shattered.
10 Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a proposal, but it will not stand,
For God is with us.”
11 For so the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 It is the Lord of armies whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14 Then He will become a sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who dwells on Mount Zion.
19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not consult their God? Should they consult the dead in behalf of the living? 20 To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Behold - take note - if you think that you can fend for yourself against God or without God, you will fail. There is only anguish and darkness without God, without His love, and without loving His word. Listen and be ready! The only way to escape God's wrath is to have a broken heart, which is to humbly look to Him for His salvation and His guidance.
Do not be like the world and think that it will be helpful to consult the dead! First of all, it is impossible to speak with any deceased person, therefore one is only getting cleverly made up responses by a medium. Secondly, if anyone should hear something, it will be a demon impersonating someone from the dead, and we know that Satan and his demons are liars and manipulators.
Because God loves us, He came in flesh to die on the cross for all our sins, and then He rose again to have victory over death... so that we can have victory over death. Why would we not, then, want to consult the living God!!! We can most certainly call on Him, wait on Him, and trust in Him, knowing that even though we may not sense His presence, He is without a doubt very present!
All those who have gone to the Lord for His salvation, can know with confidence that because we are on the Lord's side, the Lord is with us. Because we have been adopted into God's family, we have Him as our almighty, heavenly Father, forever. We have His indwelling Holy Spirit of promise in our soul, working within us to heal, change and guide us. So we can go straight to the living God who is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent - and pray - talk to Him - pour out our thoughts, feelings, questions and requests. And we can go straight to God's word, which is infallible, valuable and relevant. The Lord and His word is a lamp to our feet, guiding us towards truth, joy, fulfillment and purpose.
The Lord is holy, and is more powerful than all powers put together. He is our sanctuary. So in our relationship with the Lord, mightily and awesomely respecting Him and all that He is able to do, we do not have to fear anyone or anything!!!
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