Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+033

 
Chapter 33 (ESV)

¹ Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.

² O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
³ At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
⁴ and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

⁵ The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
⁶ and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.

 

REFLECTION:

1. God is a sure foundation for every time, “a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge” (v.6 NIV). But we must use a key to open that storehouse, to enjoy its bounty.  Verse 6 says, “The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure”.
2. The “fear” of God is a reverential awe that keeps us aware of Him at all times. Our awareness that God is powerful, and that He is sovereign, gives us confidence even in the most uncertain of times.
3. Do you “fear” God? How has your attitude of God impacted your life lately?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Behold Our God – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqrli3Lkf58

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+032

 
Chapter 32 (ESV)

¹⁵ until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷ And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
¹⁸ My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹ And it will hail when the forest falls down,
and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰ Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

 

REFLECTION:

1. God has promised again after so much judgment and punishment, that the ultimate outcome for God’s people will be justice and righteousness and peace. The people of God are urged to have confidence to wait for the good gifts that God will yet give in the future.
2. What does it mean for righteousness to result in quietness? Close your eyes.  Picture the complete quietness of your soul.  Feel the peace settling over you, a glimpse of the kingdom to come.  How can you better cultivate quietness?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) – youtu.be/mq59iE3MhXM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+031

 
Chapter 31 (ESV)

¹ Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
² And yet he is wise and brings disaster;
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
³ The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read the passages four or five times. Don’t rush through it.  Get familiar with it.
2. We don’t count on horses and chariots to protect us today like in ancient times. But there are countless things we put our trust in.
3. Consider the circumstances in your life when you have depended on something or someone other than God. If God and God alone provides ultimate security and comfort, why do you think we turn to Him for help only as a last resort?  If we truly understood God’s power and control – His sovereignty – how might that change how we live?
4. Spend a few minutes in quiet and solitude. Use the time to seek out the dark corners of your life.  Whisper, “What do I put my trust in”?  Allow the Spirit to do his work.  Don’t rush the process, but simply wait for Him to reveal the horses and chariots you depend on.  When you see them clearly, confess them to God immediately.  Be assured that He hears your prayers and forgives you graciously.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

In God We Trust – youtu.be/tY9Tylmulrc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+030

 
Chapter 30 (ESV)

¹⁵ For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, ¹⁶ and you said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
¹⁷ A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.

¹⁸ Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Verse 15 urges Judah to rely on God completely as the alternative to frantic, anxious military and political manoeuvrings. Isaiah believes that trust in Jehovah God is the foundation of security.  All trust in armaments and alliances, is an act of mistrust and idolatry that will only lead to destruction.
2. The assurance of faith is the conviction that anxious self-securing does not work in the real world. God is calling us to “repent and rest, be quiet and trust” in order to be safe and well in the world.
3. Recall a time when you have experienced the kind of contentment verse 15 promises. Thank God for that gift, and pray that he will renew contentment in you.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

In Quietness and Trust – youtu.be/SNOupeb9se4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+029

 
Chapter 29 (ESV)

¹³ And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
¹⁴ therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵ Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
¹⁶ You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

 

REFLECTION:

1. The words in verse 13 are powerful. Each of us has sat in church with our mind far from God or prayed a familiar prayer with our lips and not our heart.  Familiarity is important, but it can also lead to boredom or, worse, contempt.
2. Worship means to pay honour to God or to show great love and devotion. Has your worship routine grown stagnant?  How can you refresh it and make it meaningful and truthful? You may begin by praying that each time you worship, you would experience and know God in a new way.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

The Heart of Worship – youtu.be/P-Zp586pvZg

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+028

 
Chapter 28 (ESV)

⁵ In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
⁶ and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
⁸ For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.

⁹ “To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”

¹¹ For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
¹²  to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
¹³ And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.

 

REFLECTION:

1. The priests and the false prophets in Judah were so drunk that they vomited all over the tables. Isaiah chose repeated words to mimic the staggering and stumbling of the drunkards: “do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule”.
2. Yet these drunken leaders mocked Isaiah for the simplicity and repetition with which he presented the Lord’s messages. So, God determined that the Assyrians would speak in a language God’s people could not mistake – the language of sword, fire, devastation and misery.
3. If we do not listen to God’s quiet, loving voice, he remains capable of grabbing us by the shoulders and shaking us until we pay attention!
4. What have you listened to God’s voice lately? And how did you respond?

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Speak O Lord – youtu.be/ubRlJj8xkds

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+027

 
Chapter 27 (ESV)

¹ In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

² In that day,
“A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!
³     I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest anyone punish it,
I keep it night and day;
⁴     I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
⁵ Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me.”

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read the passage slowly and with imagination. Picture everything vividly, as if you were a child reading a story with beautiful, lifelike illustrations.
2. What do you notice about the way God interacts with “Leviathan the serpent”? With “the vine”?  What is He like?  Now put yourself in the scene.  What part do you play?  How do you feel?
3. Picture God turning to you and inviting you to talk with Him about what you are feeling and thinking. Does He ever seem angry to you, or uncaring?  What’s it like for you to hear Him say otherwise?  Share with Him your thoughts and feelings and allow the conversation to unfold.

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Who Am I – youtu.be/3rT8Re1EIQc

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+026

 
Chapter 26 (ESV)

¹⁶ O Lord, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
¹⁷ Like a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
¹⁸  we were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
¹⁹ Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read slowly this short passage a few times.
2. The prayer described in these verses is one of pain, the desperate prayer of last resort offered when things have gotten so bad God is the only one left to turn to.
3. Were there times in your life when you found yourself offering this prayer?
4. Reflect on the role of God in your life’s sufferings. Converse with God and listen to his response.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

When I Cry – youtu.be/m153dXFIHV4

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+025

 
Chapter 25 (ESV)

¹ O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
² For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴ For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
⁵  like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.

⁶ On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
⁷ And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
⁸  He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.
¹¹ And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.
¹² And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This simple song expresses the hope of oppressed, exploited and downtrodden people. Here we read of Israel’s joy at the downfall of God’s enemies, the end of death itself and God’s final victory.
2. Recall an experience you have had in driving rain, a snowstorm or some other tough situations in which you knew that God was present with you.
3. Pray or write your own song of praise to God for the “wonderful things” he has planned (v. 1) for your life.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Still – youtu.be/z3wwWFsSlNQ

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+024

 
Chapter 24 (ESV)

⁴ The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵ The earth lies defiled
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
⁷ The wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸ The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹ No more do they drink wine with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The wasted city is broken down;
every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹ There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
all joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹² Desolation is left in the city;
the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³ For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Isaiah announced that the whole world will be punished. No class of people will escape, for earth’s inhabitants have “broken the everlasting covenant”.  These verses presuppose a close connection between the earth itself, the land and its inhabitants.
2. What problems or crises are we facing on the physical world today?
3. As a Christian, a child of God, what do you believe is your responsibility to the earth? Ask God to teach you about your responsibility in caring for His creation.  In your cell group, bring this up and see if you can decide on one specific way to encourage one another to do in caring for the earth.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Steward Of His Creation – youtu.be/Os7X0N2iOHU