August 31 ... Ezekiel 5 - 8 "Struggle in Confusion & Wait in Hope"

Ezekiel 5:7 God, the Master, says:   You've been more headstrong and willful than any of the nations around you.  ...  I'm going to do something to you that I've never done before and will never do again: turn families into cannibals—parents eating children, children eating parents! ...  . Then you'll know that I was serious about this that I'm a jealous God and not to be trifled with.  Epidemic disease, unrestrained murder, death—and I will have sent it! I, God, have spoken."

Ezekiel 6:8  Every place where you've lived, the towns will be torn down and the pagan shrines demolished. Corpses everywhere you look! Then you'll know that I am God. ... This is what God, the Master, says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, yell out, "No, no, no!" because of all the evil obscenities rife in Israel. They're going to be killed, dying of hunger, dying of disease—death everywhere you look.  Because I am angry, furiously angry. They'll realize that I am God...

Ezekiel 7:2 The end of business as usual for everyone. It's all over. I'll make you pay and you'll realize that I am God.' It is I, God, Who have hit you.

Ezekiel 8: 1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month and the fifth day, while I was sitting at home meeting with the leaders of Judah, it happened that the hand of my Master, God, gripped me.  HE said: "They can shout all they want, but I'm not listening."

So, am I listening to God where I am this day?  I wonder what is happening in the Unseen World of our United States of America?  The Unseen World of the Brandon household?    If we could really see and listen, we would be filled with such hope and courage.  But, this is frightening.  The people of Ezekiel's day never realized that God was God.  God made them pay.  We must ask every question that comes to mind as we read the horror of what God did to make these people cannibals.  So what is God's response?  I hit them with this terror for not listening to Me.  What will He do to our family and friends this day who choose not to follow Him?  All I know is that we must first look within and pay whatever price to follow Him and tremble before a Holy God and learn so much more to wait in our emptiness for His Plan A.  "Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence."  66 LL.  Isaiah 30:15.

August 30 ... Ezekiel 1 - 4 "Grieved by the Raw Evil of Self-Obsession~"

Ezekiel 1:2 - God's Hand came upon Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 2:1  "Son of man, stand up. I have something to say to you." The moment I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet. As he spoke to me, I listened ...Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. They're hardened rebels."  Ezekiel 2:10 - "Son of man, get all these words that I'm giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, 'This is the Message of God, the Master.' Speak your piece, whether they listen or not."  You are a watchman.  God changed this captive man into a prophet who saw his own sin first.

"Only when you are so grievd by the raw evil of your ongoing self-obsession that My Glory overwhelms you with desire to love like My Son will you deeply change.  Only then will the incomparable beauty of His Character become visible in the way you relate."  66 LL.  Ezekiel got the Word inside him.  God did it during those five years of captivity.  May we become Ezekiels more aware of God's Glory than the depressing condition of our world. 

August 29 ... Lamentations 3:37 - 5 "Something Good Happens in Suffering that Cannot Happen in Pleasure"

Based on reading 66 LL on Lamentations, I have to ask myself these questions this Sunday of my life:
Is the Holy Spirit speaking through my conscience?  Is my mind focusing more on where I am wrong than where I am scared?  Is my mind focusing more on the evil in my own heart than the fear in my stomach? 

"Every moment of suffering represents a strident but merciful call to repent.  And every moment of suffering presents a painful opportunity to hope." 

Look at how the prophet responded to suffering.  When all that he had hoped from Me was gone, a different, truer hope was aroused when he called my character to mind, when he returned to his right mind."  Lamentations 3:17-18, 21.

"Something good happens in suffering that cannot happen in pleasure."  66 LL.   "You fall into a ditch of deceit and deny that there are desires in your heart that the good things of life can never staisfy.  You do not recognize the ugliness in your soul, the arrogant passion that leads you to judge others more harsly than yourself." 

"You foolishly believe the wrong-minded and proud idea that you should be able to define what is good and bad for you and then live, with My cooperation, to gain the good and avoid the bad.  Suffering lifts your denial of both desire and arrogance and opens your eyes to see that you are lying helpless in a ditch of your own making.  When every good thing in life is either removed or exposed as unsatisfying, you discover your craving for the best thing in life, relationship with Me...on My terms.  And you recognize your inexcusable and hideous arrogance that thinks I exist to give you what you believe is good, a proud arrogance that assumes you have the wisdom needed to discern what is good for your soul and what is lethal."

"Do not live to arrange for your own satisfaction.  Confess the evil of your arrogance.  Repent of your self-provision.  Trust Me, in every moment of suffering."

 Lamentations 3   Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under God. Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven: "We've been contrary and willful ...  Lamentations 3:41.

Lamentations 4  Oh.  Oh.  Oh.  Destroyed in a flash.  God held nothing back from some kind people too. May be kind but are we holy?  Lamentations 4:22 He'll punish your evil life and put all your sins on display. 

Lamentations 5  All the joy gone from our hearts.  Would that we had never sinned.  Why dump us and leave us. 

May we all take a good look at the way we are living and reorder our lives under God.  Am I defining what is good and bad for my life and living to gain the good and avoid the bad?

August 28 ... Lamentations 1 - 3:36 "The Worst is Never the Worst"

Lamentations 1 1:1 - How empty the city, once teeming with people...1:8 - Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world is an outcast.  1:9 - She played fast and lose with life; she never considered tomorrow.  1:16 She weeps buckets of tears and not one person cares for her soul.  What are her tears for?  What are my tears for this evening as I sit at a Starbucks contemplating my future?  Are they for myself?  If so, I will think no one cares for my soul.  It's just not true because of Lamentations 3. 2:19 - Get up each watch night and pour out your heart face-to-face with the Master.  Lift up your hands.  Lift up your head.




Lamentations 3  - God poured on the trouble and hard times.  He locked me up in deep darkness.   He's got me cornered.  BUT, there's one other thing I am remembering that gives me a grip on hope:  God's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning.  How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).  He's all I've got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times. When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.  Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. God's got my back.     

August 27 ... Jeremiah 51 - 52 "Nothing Comes of Ambition"

Jeremiah 51

 In Jeremiah 51: 1, God says more: "Watch this:    I'm whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—'Hurricane Persia'— against all who live in that perverse land.  But if we surrender and ask God to walk with us…then… 51:10 - God has set everything right for us.  We have a story that God has always been about setting everything right for us, even in the midst of conflict. 
Babylon was “stale smoke.”  “When the smoke clears, they are g-o-n-e.  But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing.  Our God puts the whole universe together.  Blow the shofar (51:27) and deal with our unholiness at whatever cost to me is required.  Our God is stepping in and saying:  'I'm on your side, taking up your cause. I'm your Avenger.  Let go of ambition.  51:58 – “The harder you work at this empty life, the less you are. Nothing comes of ambition like Babylon but ashes.”

Jeremiah 52

The summary murder of his sons was the last thing Zedekiah saw, for they then blinded him. They took this prophet's eyes out.  Jeremiah, the prophet, was Zedekiah's counselor but I don't think Zedekiah ended his life turning to God.  The king of Babylon killed all the officials of Judah. Securely handcuffed, Zedekiah was hauled off to Babylon. The king of Babylon threw him in prison, where he stayed until the day he died.  How could Zedekiah witness his sons murdered, have his eyes gouged out, and spend the rest of his days in prisoon without recalling to mind the words of Jeremiah?  What words do we recall in our mind in the midst of our dilemmas of life?

August 26 ... Jeremiah 49 - 50 "Walking & Weeping, Seek God." (50:4)

Jeremiah 49:4  Why do you brag of your once-famous strength? You're a broken-down has-been, a castoff who fondles his trophies and dreams of glory days and vainly thinks, 'No one can lay a hand on me.' Well, think again. It's time to settle accounts.

Jeremiah 49:16  Edom, you think you're so great—strutting across the stage of history, I'll bring you crashing to the ground." God's Decree.

Jeremiah 50:4-5 "Walking and weeping, they will seek Me, their God.  They'll ask directions to Zion and set their faces.  They'll come and hold tight to God, bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget.  No more losing track of home.

Jeremiah 50:20 The remnant that God spares will start out with a clean slate!  Babylon never knew what hit them. 50:25 - Caught and held in the steel grip of a trap by a Sovereign God!  That's what they get for taking on God.  Babylon 's down.

This is not good news for Babylon.  What happened when they were confronted with Isaiah 30:11, the Holy One of Israel?  They took Him on.  In what ways do I take on God when things don't go my way and I think they should?  It's amazing God does anything for us.  We can demand nothing.  Walk and Weep, o my soul; Seek and hold on tight to a very Good God, bound in a covenant with you.  What steel grip am I holding on to this night?  What would it take for me to "let go?"  Walk.  Weep.  Seek.

August 25 ... Jeremiah 46 - 48 "Trust in Your Deeds & Riches---You'll be Taken Captive"

Jeremiah 46:12 - Nothing will be able to cure what ails you if you are in the wrong place. 
Jeremiah 48:7 "You trusted in thick walls and big money, but it won't help you now."   "Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you will be taken captive."

Jeremiah 48:14 "How can you say , 'We are warriors, men valiant in battle?' "  You're fighting the wrong battle.  Defiantly Arrogant.

Jeremiah 48:18 "The destroyer of Moab will wreck your safe, secure houses."  Stand on the roadside and ask:  "What's happened.  And why?"

What things do we really trust in?  What keeps you awake at 2am?  Do I think I am being valiant?  Am I in the right battle?  Am I asking the right questions?  Am I in the right place?  I may be right, but it may be coming from the wrong place.  Wreck us for good, dear God.  Expose where our trust is in our good deeds, our deep pockets.

August 24 ... Jeremiah 42 - 45 "Do Not Seek Great Things for Yourself"

Jeremiah 42: 1 The army officers asked Jeremiah to pray that his God would tell them the way that they should go and what they should do...and they said that God count on them to do it!  In Jeremiah 42:15, Jeremiah warns them not to determine in their hearts to go where it is safe and peaceful and make that their home---Egypt---the very thing you fear will catch up with them and track them down in Egypt.  But they wouldn't listen!  Let's go back to Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 31:1 - "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots, and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek help from the LORD."  The people didn't obey a single word of God's Message through Jeremiah.  Fast forward to today.  Are we obeying the Message of God from our modern-day prophets and preachers?  Are we looking to the Holy One?  Whom did you go to today for help?  I walked beyond the uber expanse of skies this day with a moon and sun tucked behind a veil, and I asked for help from the Holy One in the midst of my current challenges.  Expose my foolish heart of determining what is the safest place for me to pursue while wild lions, so to speak, hunt me down.  My God is My Shelter.  My God is My Refuge.  My God is My Strength.  My God is My Help.  

God will make my mountains come down low and my valleys raise up in order that I may know Him better.  Isaiah 40:4  May HE glorify Himself.  He is not lowering my mountains to make life better for me.  It could get a whole worse than it is.  In Jeremiah 45:5, God's Message to Baruch: 
"Things are going to get worse before they get better."  Do not seek great things for yourself.  God is the One adding sorrow to my pain.  Don't sit around planning how you can make a huge impact.  Baruch says that God is piling on the pain.  His Plan will not be thwarted.

Meanwhile back to Jeremiah 43, the army officers call Jeremiah a "liar."  And Jeremiah responds in Jer 44:7  "This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: 'So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves from life, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected?  Is God speaking to our lives today?  How are we isolating ourselves from others in the name of religion?  How are we disconnected from our husbands, our children, our friends?

August 23 ... Jeremiah 38 - 41 "Miserable Life/ Ministry Failure"

"Jeremiah's personal life was miserable, his ministry a total failure."  66 LL.  I wonder if Jeremiah would say that about his life so far?  How does God measure our success in ministry?  How do we begin to understand what God is doing in the midst of personal misery and personal loss caused by others? 

Jeremiah 38:4 These officials told the king, "Please, kill this man. He's got to go! He's ruining the resolve of the soldiers who are still left in the city, as well as the people themselves, by spreading these words. This man isn't looking after the good of this people. He's trying to ruin us!" The king caved in:  "You're too much for me, Jeremiah."  They threw him into a cistern with no water.

Holiness doesn't ruin the resolve of the soldiers, UNLESS...you are promising what you cannot fulfill.  Protection fom Suffering in this world.  God doesn't promise to keep us from suffering.  HE promises the Energy, Col. 1:29, the Power, Eph. 3:19, to trust Him as a Good God and the hope that HE is working all things for our good, Rom 8:28.

I am so touched by the courage of Ebed-melek who went immediately from the palace to the king and said, "My master, O king—these men are committing a great crime in what they're doing, throwing Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve.  The King actually listened to Ebed---that is amazing.  Makes me so want to stand up for people being mistreated.  Our culture values kindness over ethics. 

Called to be advocates for those with no voice, no legs, no hands, no eyes.  Who is my advocate?  The Holy Spirit!  HE will keep my feet from falling off the narrow path.  Am I try to take John Bunyan's Bypath Meadow? 

August 22 ... Jeremiah 35 - 37 "The Slightest Twinge of Conscience"

God is emptying me of myself...enjoying ministry success more than my relationship with God.  May it never be.  When ministry is taken away, what does it do to my desires?  Do I have to have ministry success to be happy in life?  Is that what will bring me joy?  Absolutely not.  And no one can take away my relationship with my LORD.  This prophet, Jeremiah, enjoyed his relationship with God way more than any ministry success.  No clanging cymbal here.  Willing to be a voice.  Willing to be jailed.  Willing to be emptied.  Willing to speak the truth in love.  

Jeremiah 36:10  Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read out publicly the words of Jeremiah. The response of the government officials:  You and Jeremiah need to go into hiding.  Jer 36:23 With startling arrogance, the King read a portion of the scroll and would cut it off with his pocketknife and toss it into the fire, followed by reading a little more than tossing the scroll again into the flames until it was extinguished.   Jer 36:24 The King and his officials never showed "the slightest twinge of conscience."  What a scary face.  What a scary place.  

You know, you've never seen your face before.  Listen to those He has placed directly in your path.  Let them read your face and listen to the truth.  What is chaff is blown away.  Does my face show the slightest twinge of conscience?

August 21 ... Jeremiah 32 - 34 "God Has Set Things Right for Us"

BE PREPARED FOR HIM WHO KNOWS HOW TO ASK QUESTIONS -  T.S. Eliot

Jeremiah 32 - Jeremiah is locked up in jail for preaching about God's warning to repent.  And he knew it was God's Message to him to buy the field from his cousin.  So Jeremiah prays and God responds:  "Stay alert!  I AM the God of everything living.  Is there anything I can't do?  Jer 32:38 - "I'll make you of one mind and heart, always honoring Me---you and your children after you.  I'll be out for your good and fill your hearts with a deep respect for Me so you'll not even think of turning away from Me."  I promise. But He won't force us. You know, it is our decision what we do with the God Who is coming to meet us - Jer 31:3.  What we do with the One Who will know how to ask us questions One Day that we will have to answer.  We may skirt the issues today but all we face the Ultimate Questions from a Holy God coming to meet us in our wilderness today and bring us home. 

WHERE SHALL THE WORD BE FOUND, WHERE WILL THE WORD RESOUND?  NOT HERE, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SILENCE - T. S. Eliot 

Jeremiah 33 - Still locked up in jail, Jeremiah is given a second Word from God in Jer 33:3.  In the silence of a prison cell, Jeremiah listens and God speaks: "Call to Me and I will answer you.  I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.  I want to give thorough renovations, working a true healing inside and out, so that your motto is 'God has set things right for us.' "  My prayer for you:  Be silent, o my soul, that I may hear God's Message to me this day.  Wonder what God is saying to you?  Can you still your heart to silence?

August 20 ... Jeremiah 30 - 31 "Found Grace Out in the Desert"

DO I WALK ALONE IN THIS DARK NIGHT OF MY SOUL?
Jeremiah 30:3   Look. The time is coming when I will turn everything around for my people.  I, God, say so. I'll bring them back and Jer. 30:8 "I'll enter their darkness."  And we will enter His Presence, always invited (Jer 30:21).

WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR IN MY DESERT?  HOPING FOR WHAT?
Jer 31:2 They found grace out in the desert ... looking for a place to rest, they met God out looking for them!  God told them, "I've never quit loving you, never will.  Expect love, love, and more love!  And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again... The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of Ephraim: 'On your feet! Let's go to meet our God!"  I'll gather those who are blind, lame, limping.  You'll come weeping for joy, led along a smooth, uncluttered path, one day. Jer 31:14 - "I'll make sure my people have more than enough."  I always struggle with being "too much" and being "not enough" at the same time.  Jer 31:22 A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!"

WHAT WILL GOD DO WITH MY SIN? IS HE THINKING ABOUT MY SIN TODAY?
Jer 31:25 I'll refresh tired bodies; I'll restore tired souls.
Jer 31:33 - I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people.  They'll know me firsthand. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever sinned!   God's Decree.

"With consciousness of sin, the fire of purifying holiness will sustain your faith in My Goodness, your hope of a beter day, and your love for Me and for this God-forsaking world."  

Rescued from our greatest fear. 
Rescued from:
Faithless Unbelief
Hopeless Despair
Unloving Self-Obsession.
66 LL

August 19 ... Jeremiah 26 - 29 "I'll Turn Things Around For You"

Am I hearing God speak?  Am I listening obediently?  Jeremiah 26:8  When Jeremiah had finished his sermon, saying everything God had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and people all grabbed him and mobbed him in the temple, yelling, "Death! You're going to die for this! How dare you preach—and using God's name!—saying that this Temple will become a heap of rubble and this city be wiped out without a soul left in it!"  Jeremiah 26:12 - Jeremiah responded:  "God sent me to preach against both this Temple and city so do something about it!  Change the way you are living.  Listen obediently.  Maybe God will reconsider the disaster He has threatened.  You've been listening to God speak not Jeremiah.

Am I more serious about finding God and wanting Him more than anything else?  In Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah told prophet Hananiah that God never sent him.  "You've talked the country into believing a pack of lies!"   You claim to be sent...I'll send you right off the face of the earth.  God did.   Jeremiah 29: 9 - 11 talks about a bunch of liars preaching lies and claiming God sent them.  "I never sent them."  God's Decree!  This is God's word on the subject.  "As soon as Babylon's 70 years are up, I'll show up and take care of you and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out---plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  God's Decreee:  "I'll turn things around for you."  His definition of good is different than mine.  Consciousness of sin can draw me closer to God.  The nearness of God is my good not things on this earth making it a good life. 

August 17 ... Jeremiah 18 - 22 "God's Word is Burning in my Bones"

HOW DO I WORSHIP THE BIG LIE?  Jeremiah 18:4 - Can't God do just as the potter does?  God would start over with you if you just repented for you have left Him to worship the Big Lie.  Jeremiah 19:11 I'll smash you like a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again.  You're set in your ways and won't budge.  

IS GOD'S WORD A FIRE INSIDE OF ME?  BURNING IN MY BONES?  Jeremiah 19:1  The priest himself hears Jeremiah preach a sermon about impending doom.  He beats him and puts Jeremiah in the stocks.  This is the priest!   Jeremiah 19:7 You pushed me into this, God, and I let you do it.You were too much for me. And now I'm a public joke. They all poke fun at me.,,,And all I get for my God-warnings are insults and contempt. But if I say, "Forget it---No more God-Messages from me!"  I can't! The words are fire in my belly,  a burning in my bones. I'm worn out trying to hold it in. Jeremiah 19:11 God, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.  Jeremiah 19:12  Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you. You see through everyone, everything. I want to see you pay them back for what they've done. Jeremiah 20:14  Curse the day I was born! Life's been nothing but trouble and tears, and what's coming is more of the same. 

WHAT DESIRES ARE STRONGEST IN MY LIFE THIS MOMENT?   One moment Jeremiah is complaining about being a public joke.  The next moment he is overwhelmed with the Most Fierce Warrior at his side, followed right by his cursing the day he was born.  There is that collision of two kingdoms.  God rescued Jeremiah six times.  He will rescue me from my worst fear of being I.N.V.I.S.I.B.L.E. not my fear of pain.  "And when the night is darkest is the Morning Star visible."  66 LL

August 16 ... Jeremiah 14 - 17 "Is My Confidence in Man or God"

This is a very sad time in our lives.  "It's precisely our consciousness of sin that can lead us nearer to God."  Closer, Our God, bring us closer as we deal with our own stuff.  So aware of the presence of a Good God in the midst of some confusion over here.  We don't understand but we trust.  We are in the dark night of the soul and pray we hold tight and remain faithful.   

 

Why are we acting like tourists?

Jeremiah 14:7 Drought...We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—but do something, God. We've betrayed God, Hope of Israel.  Our only Hope...14:9 - God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch.
Does God always listen when we pray?Jeremiah 14:11 God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them....their preachers are liars telling them that everything is going to be okay.  Oh my!  God's eyes pour out tears for the people while the preachers go about business as usual as though nothing happened. Don't break faith with us, God.

Does God ever give up on us?
 Jeremiah 15:1  "Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn't feel a thing for this people. They walked out on Me. ... Jeremiah 16:12 Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I'm getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart's content. Rest assured, I won't bother you anymore.'

Why this pain and no healing in sight?

 Jeremiah 15:15  Your Words showed up and I ate them....but why this pain and no healing in sight? You're nothing, God, but a mirage, a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!  This is how God answered me: "Take back those words, and I'll take you back.  Then you'll stand tall before me. Use words truly and well. Don't stoop to cheap whining. Then, but only then, you'll speak for me. Let your words change them. Don't change your words to suit them. I'll turn you into a steel wall, a thick steel wall, impregnable. They'll attack you but won't put a dent in you because I'm at your side, defending and delivering."

Is my confidence in the men I know and my success?
 Jeremiah 17:1 "Judah's sin is engraved with a steel chisel, engraved on their granite hearts.  Jeremiah 17:5 God's Message:  Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.  "But blessed is the man who trusts Me.  They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers— bearing fruit every season.  Jeremiah 17:9  "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be."
 

August 15 ... Jeremiah 10 - 13 "You Forgot About ME---God"

NOT ABOUT SELF-SUFFICIENCY.
Let God take charge.  I know, God, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life. So correct us, God, as you see best.  Jer 10:23


NOT JUST A SET OF RULES.
Obedience gives us access to the God of the Angel Armies.  "Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll be yours.”  Jer 11:4

NOT JUST WHEN WE HAVE A CRISIS.
God wants our attention all the time. And as for you, Jeremiah, I don't want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I'm not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers."  Jer 11:14

NOT JUST RELIGION AND GOING TO CHURCH.
God examines the heart. What business do the ones I love have figuring out how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship! Do you think making promises and devising pious programs will save you from doom? Do you think you can get out of this by becoming more religious?  Jer 11:15

NOT ABOUT ENDURANCE  God-of-the-Angel-Armies, you're a fair judge. You examine and cross-examine human actions and motives. Jer 11:20  Don’t put your trust in men.  “So, Jeremiah, if you're worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses?” Jer 12:5

NOT THE OLD WAYS BUT NEW LIVING
Either listen and change, or don’t. God tells us His Plan. Jeremiah 12:14-17 “Once I've pulled the bad neighbors out, I will relent and take them tenderly to my heart and put them back where they belong." Jer 12:14-17.  Not the old ways, but new righteous living in Light, while we still can.  Then I said, Listen. Listen carefully: Don't stay stuck in your ways! It's God's Message we're dealing with here. Let your lives glow bright before God before he turns out the lights.” Jer 13:15

NOT TO ASK "WHY ME?" BUT "WHY NOT ME?"
"What's going on here? Why me?" The answer's simple: You're guilty, hugely guilty. Jer 13:22

August 14 ... Jeremiah 7 - 9

August 13 ... Jeremiah 4 - 6 "They Don't Even Know How to Blush"

How telling of our generation that we don't even know how to blush.  But Kierkegaard wrote:  "It's precisely our consciousness of sin that can lead us nearer to God.  Without an ongoing consciousness of sin, any sense of nearness to Me is counterfeit.  But with consciousness of sin, the fire of purifying holiness will sustain your faith in My Goodness..."  There is great hope for our sin.

Jeremiah 4  PLOW YOUR UNPLOWED HEARTS
4:1  "If you want to come back, O Israel, you must really come back to me. You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernalia and not wander away from me anymore. ... God's Decree:  "Plow your unplowed fields, but then don't plant weeds in the soil! Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake. Plow your unplowed hearts.  So what's happened?  4:18 - It's the way you've lived that's brought all this on you. The bitter taste is from your evil life. That's what's piercing your heart."

Jeremiah 5  PEOPLE ARE BROKEN AND THEY PUT ON BAND-AIDS
Nothing bad will happen to us, neither famine nor war will come our way. The prophets are all windbags.
They speak nothing but nonsense...they are going to eat those words. Watch now! I'm putting my words as fire in your mouth. And the people are a pile of kindling ready to go up in flames.  It never occurs to them to say, 'How can we honor our God with our lives?  No. Jeremiah 5:13 - "Everyone's after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth. My people are broken—shattered!— and they put on Band-Aids, Saying, 'It's not so bad. You'll be just fine.' But things are not 'just fine'! Do you suppose they are embarrassed? They don't even know how to blush. There's no hope for them. They've hit bottom and there's no getting up.

Jeremiah 6  DISCOVER THE RIGHT ROUTE FOR YOUR SOUL
God's Message:  "Go stand at the crossroads and look around.  Ask for directions to the old road, The tried-and-true road. Then take it.  Discover the right route for your souls. God's verdict on your way of life:  Watch out! I'm putting roadblocks and barriers on the road you're taking. So what's their response:  We've heard the news about the invasion, and we're as limp as wet dishrags. We're paralyzed with fear.  Nothing can refine evil out of them.

Am I conscious of the sin in my life?  In my words or lack of words?  In my thoughts wanting others to be hurt?  Am I blushing?

August 12 ... Jeremiah 1 - 3 "A Collision of Two Kingdoms"

"I make no promise to protect you from sufferig in this world.  I do promise the Power to believe in My Goodness when bad things happen, the power to hope with confidence that a Good Plan is unfolding when nothing visible supports that hope, and the Power to reveal the Goodness of My Love no matter how distraught or empty you feel, even to those who cotribute to your distress ad emptiness.  That is the abundance I promise until you arrive at My Party."  So what does that stir in me?  What do I need to "let go" of to trust His Goodess? Where am I not "all in."

Jeremiah 1:5   AM I STANDING UP TO SAY THE WORDS GOD HAS GIVEN ME?
 God says:  "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you."  But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"  God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.' I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there. I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. Don't be afraid of a soul. I'll be right there, looking after you...Jeremiah 1:9 - I've put My Words in your mouth---hand delivered.  I'll make every Word I give you come true."  Jeremiah 1:17 - Stand up and say your piece.

Jeremiah 2:13  WHAT CISTERN HAVE I DUG TO MAKE MY LIFE WORK?
 God's Decree. "My people have committed a compound sin: they've walked out on me, the fountain Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns— cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves. 


Jeremiah 3:25   WHEN DID I BECOME A REBEL?
 "From the time we took our first steps, said our first words, we've been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God."

August 11 ... Isaiah 64 - 66 "Reverently Respond with a Quiet Heart"

The prophet Isaiah has disturbed us all and stirred such good things in our hearts.  What is one thought from the book of Isaiah that you walk away with?  For me, it is the unholiness that runs right through me.  Isaiah 30:11 ~ I have been confronted with the Holy One and I have so much hope! My ears have been opened and I'm so very grateful in the midst of my mess.  "No matter what is happening to you, your worst problem is in you.  And that problem is not how badly you feel, it is how poorly you love.  Your failure to love Me above all else and to love others at any cost to yourself defines your unholiness.  When you recognize your unholiness and own it without excuse, your ears will be opened to hear My words of comfort and hope.  And those words will set you on the narrow road to relating with holy love.  There is no other kind."  66 LL.

Isaiah 64:4 A GOD WHO WORKS FOR THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIM 
Since before time began no one has ever imagined, no ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work. But how angry you've been with us! We've sinned and kept at it so long!  Is there any hope for us? We're all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags.

Isaiah 65:1  HERE I AM FOR YOU EVEN IF YOU IGNORE ME
I've made myself available to those who haven't bothered to ask. I'm here, ready to be found by those who haven't bothered to look. I kept saying 'I'm here, I'm right here' to a nation that ignored me. I reached out day after day to a people who turned their backs on me.

Isaiah 65:17  YOUR TROUBLES AND PAIN ARE THINGS OF THE PAST
I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy.

Isaiah 66:  2   GOD IS LOOKING FOR QUIET HEARTS who REVERENTLY RESPOND

God's Decree ~  There is something I'm looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say. But, your acts of worship are acts of sin: ... Well, I choose to expose your nonsense and let you realize your worst fears.  But listen to what God has to say to you who reverently respond to his Word: "Your own families hate you and turn you out because of me. They taunt you, 'Let us see God's glory! If God's so great, why aren't you happy?'   

August 10 ... Isaiah 59 - 63 "Love Pays Any Price to Bless Another"

"I do not cure your unholiness by overlooking or understanding it.  To overlook it would be to miss the spot on the x-ray that will destroy you.  To understand it in light of what you've suffered would be to excuse it.  I do not heal your selfishness by affirming your value.  I solve your deepest problem with My self-sacrificing, reconciling embrace that forgives all that is unholy within you."  What hope is given by the prophet Isaiah!  Faith to believe God is good in any circumstance. Love that pays any price to bless another both spring from hope.  66 LL

Isaiah 59:1-2  WRONGHEADED LIVES CAUSED THE SPLIT
God's arm is not too short.  God's ears are not stopped up.  There's nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you.  Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God....59:12 - Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse us...Good is MIA, missing in action.

But You issue a decree in v. 20:  I'll arrive as Redeemer to those who leave their sins.  

 

Isaiah 60:2  GOD RISES ON YOU AT THE RIGHT TIME
God rises on you, His sunrise glory breaks over you. ... I've put you on your feet, towering and grand forever, a joy to look at! ...The runt will become a great tribe, the weakling become a strong nation. I am God.  At the right time I'll make it happen."


Isaiah 61:1  ANNOUNCING THE YEAR OF HIS GRACE
The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace—and to comfort all who mourn, To care for the needs of all who mourn,give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory.  

Isaiah 62  A BRAND NEW NAME:  DELIGHT NOT REJECTED
You'll get a brand-new name straight from the mouth of God. You'll be a stunning crown in the palm of God's hand, a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God. No more will anyone call you Rejected, and your country will no more be called Ruined. You'll be called Hephzibah (My Delight), and your land Beulah (Married), Because God delights in you and your land will be like a wedding celebration.
 

Isaiah 63:8  RESCUED AND CARRIED IN ALL MY TROUBLES
In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time.

August 9 ... Isaiah 54 - 58 "We May Cry in Heartache but we live in Hope"

Look at how many times the prophet says that this is what God says.  A message from the Holy One. God, the Son, is saying:  "I am coming soon."  Until He comes, His Grace is with us, even in exile, in all our suffering.  We may cry in HEARTACHE, but we live in HOPE."  66 LL

Isaiah 54:6  ENORMOUS COMPASSION IS ON YOU EVEN IF YOUR MOUNTAINS WALK AWAY
For your Maker is your bridegroom, his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel.. You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief,  and God welcomed you back. Your Redeemer says:  "I left you, but only for a moment. Now, with enormous compassion, I'm bringing you back. 54:10 - "For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, My love won't walk away from you, My covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart." The God who has compassion on you says so.  54:12 - All your children will have God for their teacher.

Isaiah 55:6  \MY WORDS WILL NOT COME BACK EMPTY HANDED
Seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand. 55:8 - God says:  "I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work."
    My Decree to you:  The words that come out of my mouth will not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.
 
Isaiah 57:15  I PUT A NEW SPIRIT IN THE SPIRIT-CRUSHED, THE LOW-SPIRITED
A Message from the One Whose Name is Holy:  "I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again. For I'm not going to haul people into court endlessly, 

Isaiah 58:2 - 9    BUSY BUSY BUSY V. BEING AVAILABLE TO YOUR FAMILIES
Face my family with their sins! They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side. But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' "Well, here's why: "The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.  "This is the kind of fast day I'm after:  to break the chains of injustice,free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is:  sharing your food with the hungry, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. ... You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'  58:9 - I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places...You'll be like a well-watered garden...If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— Then you'll be free to enjoy God!
 

August 8 ...Isaiah 49 - 53 "God is Moving in my Troubles RIGHT ON TIME"

I'm so stirred by the call to radical repentance.  What are my motives?  What is going on inside of my heart?  God has put me in touch at the beach for 2 weeks with what I was most afraid of.  HE made me for 2 reasons:  communion with Him and conformity to His Image.  What about me doesn't look like Him in what I face?  Change me, O God.  My motives, my thoughts, my intentions.  Only You can.  It's not about what 'I think' but it is all about what the Holy One thinks.  What is alive in Me this day?  What are you saying?

Isaiah 49:6-8 - OUR HIGH CALLING IS A PRIVILEGE
Because God should be my strength, He says: It's not a big enough job to be content with little. I'm setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global. It is our high calling, our immense privilege, to be used by Him to advance His Kingdom, in His Ways, not mine.  God says: "When the time's ripe, I answer you. When victory's due, I help you. I form you and use you."

Isaiah 49:13 - 15 - NAMES WRITTEN ON THE BACKS OF HIS HANDS
Awake the dead! God has comforted his people. He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people. Has God forgotten me? "Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I'd never forget you—never. Look, I've written your names on the backs of my hands.

Isaiah 50:5-  SET FACE LIKE FLINT

He wakes me up in the morning, Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The Master, God, opened my ears, and the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I'm not disgraced. Therefore I set my face like flint, confident that I'll never regret this. My champion is right here. Let's take our stand together! Who dares bring suit against me? ... Lean on your God! But if all you're after is making trouble, playing with fire, Go ahead and see where it gets you. Set your fires, stir people up, blow on the flames, But don't expect me to just stand there and watch. I'll hold your feet to those flames.

Isaiah 51: 1-4 - GOD'S WORK IN ME IS RIGHT ON TIME

"Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking God. Ponder the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug. Yes, ponder Abraham and Sarah. I'll transform you to a place of exuberance, laughter, gratitude, and song"...Revelation flows from Me; my salvation right on time. I'll bring justice...You made the bottom of the ocean a road for the redeemed to walk across? In the same way God's ransomed will come back, cheering, shouting. Joy eternal wreathing their heads, exuberant ecstasies transporting them— and not a sign of moans or groans.

Isaiah 51:12  I WATCH OVER YOUR DOUBLE DOSE OF TROUBLE
I'm the One comforting you. What are you afraid of? Man who dies? You've forgotten Me Who made you. 51:16 I teach you how to talk, word by word, and personally watch over you, Even while I'm unfurling the skies, setting earth on solid foundations 51:20 -You've been hit with a double dose of trouble—does anyone care? Assault and battery, hunger and death—will anyone comfort? "Look, I've taken back the drink that sent you reeling. God has something to say: "No more drinking from that jug of my anger! I've passed it over to your abusers to drink, those who ordered you, 'Down on the ground so we can walk all over you!"

Isaiah 52:7 PURIFY YOURSELVES/ YOU'RE NOT RUNNING....GOD IS LEADING YOU OUT OF HERE.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news, Breaking the news that all's well, proclaiming good times, announcing salvation, telling Zion, "Your God reigns!"...52:11 - Purify yourselves.  You're not running from anybody! God is leading you out of here, and the God of Israel is also your rear guard.

Isaiah 53:6

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us, and that made us whole. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on Him.

August 7 ... Isaiah 45 - 48 "Hate my Unholiness More Than Pain"

A couple of thoughts linger as I read today's readings. 

Isaiah 45---STIRRED BY MY CALLING OR BY MY PAIN?

 "I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work."  Am I more stirred this day by my high calling or by the pain in my life?  Verse 11: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?"  Radical Repentance needed to respond to the truth of the Gospel to advance His Kingdom.

Isaiah 46:  3 - 6. GOD WILL NEVER STOP DOING ME GOD                                                        I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. I've done it and will keep on doing it.  So why do I act like the center of the universe is me, sometimes?

Isaiah 48 -  AM I LISTENING TO GOD WHAT IT MEANS TO "MOVE IN" TO LOVE TO THOSE DIFFICULT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE?   
You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; you act as though you lean on the God of Israel, named God-of-the-Angel-Armies. You've never been good listeners to me. You have a history of ignoring me,    I've refined you, but not without fire. I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.  Come close, listen carefully:   I've always been present with you."

In 66 LL, the author writes about a friend of his who thinks God's Love is all about the spiritual highs he sometimes expreriences when he sobs over how empty he feels.  But those "Divine Encounters" with Your Love don't seem to be freeing him to better love his difficult wife.  He backs away from her so he can experience Your Love without interruption.  As I stood on the beach as daybreak, and watched the Morning Star open its corridor, there was the sprinkle of rain and the surreal experience of singing the Doxology alone on a pristine island beach. Just happened to be the next song on the Ipod.  In the midst of my pain, I could have burst open, I was so "taken" with the God of the Universe Who walked with me on the succulent sultry sparkling saturated sand!  What is most alive in me this day?  Am I more alive with other people who are "safe" and backing away from those closest to me?  Heaven forbid.  What does love look like today toward those in my life who are difficult to read and dismissive in actions toward me?  "Only those who know they are unholy, who hate their unholiness more than their pain and emptiness, experience the transforming power of My Love!"  66 LL.  That's what God is saying to me this day.  

August 6 .. Isaiah 42 - 44 "God is About To Do Something Brand-New

Is it truth alone that changes us?  What causes real change in our hearts?  How many sermons have you heard in your lifetime?  Did they change you?  How many times have you read Isaiah 42 and 43 and 44...God is about to do something new for you...did we really believe it?  I think most people do not think deeply about what changes them.  They are not aware of what is alive in their hearts as they walk through this day---and I mean alive, good and bad.  Did what happen to you last night or this morning cause joy or fear or judgment or sorrow?  We take so little time to wrestle with the deep things that stir in our heart.  What do these verses stir in you?  I am asking God this day to open my eyes to see what is alive in you and me as we face this day.  These chapters are ones that have meant so much to me in the past years and speak so deeply to me this day.  It stirs in my heart and the place where I am a resolve to be holy and not live in fear of man.

Isaiah 42
2 He'll set everything right among the nations. ...He won't brush aside the bruised and the hurt and he won't disregard the small and insignificant, but he'll steadily and firmly set things right. 5-9  The God Who makes us alive wiith his own life: "I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons. I am God. That's my name.  11 - I will take the hand of those who don't know the way, who can't see where they're going. I'll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I'll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall into the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them— sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute." 18 -Open your eyes! Are you blind? You're my servant, and you're not looking! You're my messenger, and you're not listening! The very people I depended upon, servants of God, blind as a bat—willfully blind! ... Is anyone paying attention to what's coming? ... Their whole world collapsed but they still didn't get it; their life is in ruins but they don't take it to heart.

Isaiah 43
2 - "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end— Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: ...That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you. 7"So don't be afraid: I'm with you. I'll round up all your scattered children, pull them in from east and west. I'll send orders north and south: "You're my handpicked servant So that you'll come to know and trust me, understand both that I am and who I am. 16 -21This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, Who carves a path through pounding waves, The God who summons horses and chariots and armies— they lie down and then can't get up; y're snuffed out like so many candles: "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.  But you didn't even do the minimum— so stingy with me, so closefisted. Yet you haven't been stingy with your sins. You've been plenty generous with them—and I'm fed up.  25 I am the one Who takes care of your sins—that's what I do. I don't keep a list of your sins.
26 -"So, make your case against me. Let's have this out. Make your arguments. Prove you're in the right. 

Isaiah 44
2 God who made you has something to say to you; the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you. Don't be afraid...20  This lover of emptiness, of nothing, is so out of touch with reality, O Israel, I'll never forget you. I've wiped the slate of all your wrongdoings. There's nothing left of your sins. Come back to me, come back. I've redeemed you."  ... I will raise you up!

August 5 ... Isaiah 36 - 41 "In the Battle for your Soul"

I AM IN THE BATTLE FOR YOUR SOUL Isaiah 37 may have been written thousand of years ago, but this chapter about a prophet and a king deeply stirs places in my heart this day, this moment.  In verse 1, King Hezekiah hears the threatening report and goes into the sanctuary of his God.  He sends his administrators to the prophet to ask for prayer.  Prophet Isaiah responds with God's Message:  "I personally will take care of your enemy."  Isaiah was in the battle for Hezekiah's soul.  Am I in the battle for my children's souls, my friends' souls?  A letter arrives in verse 14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.  This verse means much to me.  I have thought about it hundreds of times in my life.  God marked these words.  In verse 26, God said:  "Haven'you gotten the news that I've been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine.  Can I see that what happens in my life is always God's Plan A?  How I love the ending in verse 35 "I've got My Hand on this city.  I've got My Hand on your life!  And the next verse is the verdict...The Angel of God arrived and struck the Assyrian camp— 185,000 Assyrians died.  Then Sennacharib was murdered by his own sons.  Unbelievable.

IT IS GOOD FOR ME TO BE AFFLICTED
In Isaiah 38, God said:  You're going to die.  You're not going to get well."  Hezekiah turned to God:  Please, I beg you.  Hezekiah wept as he prayed---painful tears.  Remember me.  God said through the prophet:  "I've heard your prayer.  I've seen your tears.  I'll add 15 years to your life.  I have My Hand on this city."  Whatever time I have left, it seems it was good for me to go through all those troubles. Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. But my sins you let go of,
threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!

GOD WILL LIFT UP OUR VALLEYS AND LOWER OUR MOUNTAINS
Isaiah 40: 3 -5  Another verse that has meant so much to me:  Thunder in the desert. Prepare for God's arrival.  God will make the way straight and smooth.  God will fill in the valleys, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God's bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Here is a promise that our God will lift up our valleys and lower our mountains so that life will be straight and smooth for us?  No.  He will do this that we may know His Bright Glory.  Like a Shepherd, He will care for us, gather us in His arms, carry us close, and lead us to a good place....Young folk in their prime, stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.

DON'T PANIC; I HAVE A FIRM GRIP ON YOU
Isaiah 41:12   Sit down and rest, everyone. Recover your strength. Gather around me. Say what's on your heart.  You, Israel, are my servant, serving on my side.  I've picked you.  Don't panic.  I'm with you.  There's no need to fear for I'm your God.  I'll give you strength.  I'll help you.  I'll hold you steady, keeping a firm grip on you.   Again, I have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go.  I'm telling you, 'Don't panic.'  I'm right here to help you.

August 4 ... Isaiah 31 - 35 "Sorrows and Sighs Scurry into the Night"

AM I AWED BY SUCCESS?  AWED BY THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO RESPOND TO ME?  Isaiah 31: 1-3  Doom to those who go off to Egypt thinking that horses can help them, Impressed by military mathematics, awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders— And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance,
not so much as a prayer to God. Still, he must be reckoned with, a most wise God who knows what he's doing. He can call down catastrophe. He's a God who does what he says.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I REPENTED TODAY?
Isaiah 31:6 -7  Repent, return, dear Israel, to the One you so cruelly abandoned. On the day you return, you'll throw away—every last one of you—the no-gods your sinful hands made from metal and wood.

DO I BELIEVE HE IS DOING ME GOOD?
Isaiah 32:20  But you will enjoy a blessed life, planting well-watered fields and gardens,

WHAT IS STIRRING INSIDE OF ME AS I READ THIS CHAPTER?
Isaiah 33:22  No more pulling up stakes and moving on, no more patched-together lean-tos. Instead, God! God majestic, God Himself! ... God is our King.  God runs this place and He will keep us safe. ... And you will live guilt free!  Isaiah 34:8 It's God's scheduled time for vengeance.

DO I NAME THE EVIL IN ME?
Isaiah 34: 16 -17  Get and read God's book: None of this is going away, this breeding, brooding evil. God has personally commanded it all.  His Spirit set it in motion. God has assigned them their place, decreed their fate in detail. This is permanent— generation after generation.

DO I BELIEVE THAT I WILL SING EVEN WHEN I HAVE NO VOICE?
Isaiah 35: 1 -2 Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower— Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color.  ... God's resplendent glory, fully on display. God awesome, God majestic. Isaiah 35: 3 -7  Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, "Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!"  Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, Lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly.

CAN I TRUST A GOOD GOD THAT ONE DAY OUR SIGHS & SORROWS WILL BE NO MORE? ISAIAH 35: 8 -10  There will be a highway called the Holy Road. No rude or rebellious people here.  It's for God's people exclusively— impossible to get lost on this road...Only the redeemed will walk on it. The people God has ransomed will come back on this road. They'll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
unfading halos of joy encircling their heads, Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

August 3 ... Isaiah 28 - 30 "Confront Us with the Holy One of Israel"

Isaiah 28:8 Woe to: parodies of a proud and handsome past. 

Isaiah 28:21 – The LORD will rise up; He will rouse Himself to do His Work, His Strange Work.

Isaiah 29:13 – These people come near to me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.  Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men…I will astound them with Wonder upon Wonder.”  They wanted to hear what would make them feel better. 

Isaiah 30:1  “Woe to those who carry out plans that are not mine, frming an alliance.  Who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help. 

Isaiah 30:11 “Get off this path and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.”  Tell us what makes us feel better. 

Isaiah 30:15  “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel says:  In repentance and Rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."  Your strength will come from settling down in deep dependence."

Isaiah 30:18  “The LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for Him!”  God's not finished!

Isaiah 30:20  “Althought the LORD gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more….whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you, saying:  “This is the way, walk in it.”

What is stirring inside of me as I read the words of this prophet, Isaiah?  Is my desire for holiness stronger than my desire to smooth over my situation, solve my problem, or saturate my day with what works?  We have been confronted with the Holy One.  HE is rousing Himself on our behalf.  HE will show up today!

August 2 ... Isaiah 23 - 27 "God's Hand Rests on Me"

Isaiah 25:6  But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will throw a feast for all the people of the world, A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines, a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts  Yes, he'll banish death forever. And God will wipe the tears from every face.  He'll remove every sign of disgrace From his people, wherever they are. Yes! God says so!  As I type these words, I have tears flowing down my face from the depths of my heart.  It's a dark night of the soul for me.  I am aware of my pain much more than I am aware of my sin.  Oh my God, forgive me.  What do I value more than the glory of my God?  I can't flesh this one out in Florida.  My terror is that I am invisible.  Don't count for much.  I must stay in the dark night of my soul and be faithful.  Surrendered.  When you walk in the dark and have no light, you must trust, o my soul.  And along comes verses 9 and 10:  This is our God!  We waited for Him and He showed up and saved us!  This God, the One we waited for!  Let's celebrate, sing the joys of His salvation.  God's Hand rests on this mountain.  Oh God, I am just weeping.  Would you rest your Hand on my invisible life?   


Isaiah 26:3   People with their minds set on You, You keep completely whole. Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit. Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing. 

Isaiah 26:7-10  The path of right-living people is level  The Leveler evens the road for the right-living. We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want. Through the night my soul longs for you.  Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you.

Isaiah 27:3  I, God, tend to you.  I keep you well-watered.  I keep careful watch over you so that no one can damage you.  I'm not angry.  I care...find a good and whole life with me.  (paraphrased) 

August 1 ... Isaiah 18 - 21 "The Master's calling for a Day of Repentant Tears"

Isaiah 19:19 God has scrambled their brains.  I wonder if God is doing that work this day?

Isaiah 21:1  Baffled by what I hear, undone by what I see. Absolutely stunned, horror-stricken ... my evening has turned into a nightmare.

Isaiah 21:3  You Looked, but You Never Looked to Him... and in the midst of the shouting, you said:  'Let me alone.'  'Let me grieve by myself.  Don't tell me it's going to be allright."  You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.

Isaiah 21:13 The Master called for a day of repentant tears.

"My failure to 'get it' troubles me.  Others' failure to 'get it' troubles me.  That's good.  Untroubled people have closed ears.  Only troubled people hear My Story of Love.  Repentant tears.  Lifestyle repentance.  When was the last time I repented?