Category: “Listening to God” Devotional

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+011

 

Chapter 11 (ESV)

¹ There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
² And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

⁶ The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
⁹ They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read the passage slowly, noting how natural enemies are coexisting side by side (wolf and lamb, cow and bear, young child and serpent). This passage gives us a vivid picture of the kingdom of God as it will exist in the future.  What a different place it will be!
2. With this image in mind, consider the following:
• What would you like best about such a peaceable world – filled with the knowledge of the Lord? What feelings would be present for these creatures to exist this way?
• Name your own enemies and imagine them standing beside you, with you, for you. What will that be like for you?
• Who might perceive you as an enemy or a threat? How can you become at peace with them?
3. Share with God how you feel about such a peaceable world and what you think such a world would show you about God.

 

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:

All Creatures Of Our God And King – youtu.be/wSFK7UiH5Us

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+010

 

Chapter 10 (ESV)

¹² When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³ For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴ My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵ Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶ Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
¹⁷ The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.
¹⁸ The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹ The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Use imagination to read this passage with the appropriate tone of voice and attitude of God and Assyrian King respectively.
2. Assyrian King’s problem is that he did not respect the limits or the intention of God and acted in arrogance, as though God were not the source of its might. In another word, he has taken the credit for what was really God’s work.  Therefore, Assyria is not being punished for having the power God gave, but for its pride and misuse of God-given power.
3. Have you ever taken the credit for what was really God’s work in which you were merely an instrument? How do you actually practice giving credit where credit is due?

 

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:

Build This House – youtu.be/vcco3LFoIhM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+009

 

Chapter 9 (ESV)

¹ But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

² The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
³ You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
⁴ For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
⁵ For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read this passage with excitement and anticipation. King Ahaz has refused to listen to and obey God, but a greater king is coming to put things right.
2. The birth of a child will produce illumination which is a great light to the darkened people.
3. Which of these titles—”Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”—particularly describes God as you have known Him during a time of difficulty? Recall the situation and continue meditate on that name.  Converse with God.

 

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:

Wonderful Counsellor – youtu.be/ixoeH-1SRJU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+008

 

Chapter 8 (ESV)

¹⁹ And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. ²¹ They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²² And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Judah had turned away from the light into the dark: from turning to God for help and forgiveness and heeding His law, to mediums and spiritists, to ghosts that whisper and mutter.
2. Think of a time when you have been overwhelmed with the reality of the darkness and evil which is present in our world. How did you find comfort?
3. If you have ever sought guidance through fortune-telling, divination, witchcraft, evil spirits, or ancestral worship rituals in the past, and have never confessed this to God, please now ask Him for forgiveness. Pray that He will remove any place in your life where demons may have gained control, and ask for His protection and blessing. It is best to share your experience with a pastor or a mature Christian leader, such as a small group leader, and ask them to pray for you. From this point on, break free from Satan’s authority and enter into God’s light and holiness, becoming a victorious and joyful Christian—a follower of Jesus.

 

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask You to reveal to me any involvement I have had—knowingly or unknowingly—with cults, witchcraft, or teachings and activities of other religions. I now renounce all of these in order to experience the freedom that is found in You. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

HYMN:

Christ Be Our Light – youtu.be/caA4sIXkD44

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+007

 

Chapter 7 (ESV)

¹ In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. ² When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³ And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. ⁴ And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. ⁵ Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” ⁷ thus says the Lord God:

“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
⁸ For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
⁹ And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”

 

REFLECTION:

1. King Ahaz of Judah missed a crucial opportunity to trust God in troubled times. He was too frightened to trust God and too vain or proud to ask for the offered sign (v14). Ahaz’s leadership can be summarized in this way: “Faith played no part in his religion or his politics”.
2. When have you found verse 9—”If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all”— to be true for you? Recall the situation and your response.
3. Have a conversation with God about how you can better prepare to meet some real or imagined crisis. Pray that you will not lose heart.

 

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:

I Have Decided To Follow Jesus – www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7XHeCZB5KU

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+006

 

Chapter 6 (ESV)

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read this passage, paying attention to the dialogue between the angels and Isaiah.
2. As God’s mouthpiece to the nations, Isaiah experienced this unforgettable encounter with the Lord at the outset of his ministry. An angel-seraph flew down to Isaiah and touched his mouth with a burning coal.
3. The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. Explore your spiritual life to identify sensitive areas that would hurt deeply at God’s touch.  Why are these areas the most sensitive?  Consider what your relationship with God might look like, now and in the long term, if He purified these areas of your life.
4. Invite God to burn these sensitive areas of your life so you can serve him more effectively. Ask two people who are close to you what they believe to be areas of your life in need of refining of God’s touch.  Be prepared to consider answers that may be hard to hear but are beneficial.

 

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:

Make Me Holy – youtu.be/YR0QKyKNgZw

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+005

 

Chapter 5 (ESV)

¹ Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
² He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?

⁵ And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
⁶ I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!

 

REFLECTION:

1. Read this passage slowly as if you were with the owner in the vineyard. Notice the care that was lavished on the vineyard, the sweat, the hard labour, and the anticipation.  Then go with the owner at harvest time, and observe the owner’s dismay when the product was only evil-smelling, bitter, wild grapes.
2. In which ways has God lavished his care on you? Was it a bumper crop?  Or a bitter harvest?  How is God’s work in you similar to that of the vineyard owner?
3. God calls you to respond to Him. Pray for one specific sweet fruit to grow in 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:

More Like Jesus – youtu.be/chbMVsgGbgs

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+004

 

Chapter 4 (ESV)

² In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. ³ And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴ when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. ⁵ Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. ⁶ There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This chapter issues the hope for those survive God’s punishment upon Judah and Jerusalem. For after God’s judgment has removed sinners and purified survivors, a cleansed and holy Jerusalem will serve as a shelter and shade for people.
2. But this will only be accomplished by a person called “the Branch of the Lord’. This is referred to Messiah who is to come from David’s family line and to accomplish the ultimate deliverance of the Jews and all humankind.
3. Therefore, God’s ideal surely will be achieved but it is more than we can accomplish in our own strength. God Himself has acted in Christ to make it possible for you and me to walk in the light of the Lord.  We are His new creation.  All we can do is to honour the Lord by living righteous lives, however dark the ways of this present world.

 

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 Power Of The Cross – youtu.be/uS7fc7VTJZs

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+003

 

Chapter 3 (ESV)

¹⁶ The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet,
¹⁷ therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
the heads of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; ¹⁹ the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰ the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹ the signet rings and nose rings; ²² the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³ the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;
and branding instead of beauty.
²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn;
empty, she shall sit on the ground.

 

REFLECTION:

1. This passage describes vividly the dismay and demise that come when life is out of sync with the will of the sovereign God. It reminds us that people who refuse to walk in the light of the Lord will not prosper.
2. How do you see the haughty, self-centered attitudes reflected in men and women around you? How does their idea of beauty compare with that of 1 Peter 3:3-4?  Do you think such inner beauty applies to men, as well?
3. How have you tried to develop this inner beauty on your own? How has God’s discipline of you led to growth and purity?

 

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:

Change My Heart O God – youtu.be/OyhM4KapVDM

 

Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+002

 

Chapter 2  (ESV)

¹⁰ Enter into the rock
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
¹¹ The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

¹² For the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
¹³ against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴ against all the lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;
¹⁵ against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
¹⁶ against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
¹⁷ And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
¹⁸ And the idols shall utterly pass away.
¹⁹ And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.

²⁰ In that day mankind will cast away
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the bats,
²¹ to enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
²² Stop regarding man
in whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?

 

REFLECTION:

1. This passage mentions a number of great things (natural or human-made) which the Israelites must have been boastful of. Yet, Isaiah warned his fellow countrymen that God would act to judge the arrogant people by bringing low these great things among them in the day when the splendor of God’s majesty is revealed.
2. Isaiah prophesied that on the Day of the Lord, the pride of men will be no more. We know that arrogance is not a desirable trait, yet many of us fall victim to our own arrogance.
3. Ask God to teach you what it means to stop trusting in humanity (v22) and to only rely on God.

 

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/Uy2EtG3UkL8