18th January
Read Psalm 144
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
In this Psalm we find David praising God for training him in the art of battle. David had to defend the people of God from those enemies who wanted to snuff them out. We have to be trained in the spiritual realm on how to fight against the forces of evil who would try to snuff out our life of faith in God. The apostle Paul lists our weapons in Ephesians 6:10-20
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Isaiah 41:1-29
In Chapter 1 God summons the nations before him and challenges them to say what world events are about. He asks them who has stirred up one from the East who has subdued Kings before him and the setting seems to fit Cyrus who overthrew the Babylonians. The nations who were under the cosh of Cyrus now, after the experience of the Assyrians and Babylonians, try to encourage each other with idol crafting and building seeking deliverance. All of that would be to no avail.
In v8 God’s word turns to Israel and he tells them that he has chosen them and speaks of calling them from the ends of the Earth and not rejecting them. Having been exiled from their land he tells them he will bring them back. The chapter is a great prophesy of redemption and reconciliation between God and his people. In the middle of this chapter there is a great verse, one which can apply to all whom God has called, he says, “I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (V13). Perhaps that is a message for you today.
Tuesday Isaiah 42:1-9
In this chapter we meet with a prophecy which points clearly to Jesus as the servant whom God chooses and on whom he puts his Spirit. Mathew recites a whole lot of this chapter in Matt 12:17-21 referring it to Jesus. Jesus fulfils this declaration of the Servant of the Lord and we need to read down the verses to see how they apply.
Though God has chosen Jacob (Israel) and his sons it is one son in particular who brings the servanthood to fruition and who does what the Father requires being a sacrifice, a Priest and a King. Through the Spirt he becomes the New Covenant for the people and also light for the Gentiles. There is so much in this chapter that preachers and commentators down the years have mined for the true message of God. As Verse 9 says before the new things spring into being God announces them to the people through Isaiah. This is pure prophecy which speaks to us as well as to Isaiah’s contemporaries.
Wednesday Isaiah 42:10-25
In these verses the prophet summons all to, “sing to the Lord a new son” (v10)and he summons people from different areas to give glory to the Lord. He will lead the blind and turn darkness into light and repeating that he will not forsake them but those whose trust in in idols will be shamed (v17). He speaks of the people being handed over as loot to their plunderers and that it was none other than the Lord who did this because they would not heed his law or follow in his ways. People often do not realise that the troubles in their lives can come from God himself because of their blindness and deafness to his will. The writer of the Proverbs says well that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”
Thursday Isaiah 43:1-13
After the condemnation of his people’s blindness and the folly of their ways, chapter 43 begins with a word of encouragement, “Do not fear for I have redeemed you” (v1), The following verses contain promise after promise of God’s protection of them telling them not to be afraid “for I am with you” (v5).
As far as the nations round are concerned he challenges them to tell which of their gods predicted these things and tells them that there is no God but him (v10,11). It may seem odd to us but perhaps we do need to remember it that there is only one God and iy is him with whom we have to deal through Jesus.
Friday Isaiah 43:14-15
God does not stop telling them that he is their redeemer, the one who buys them out of slavery and death. They do know their past, the way God delivered them from Egypt and brought them into the promised land but through their sin they were overrun first by the Assyrians then by the Babylonians. God tells them that he does and will redeem them from their predicament, he will “blot out their transgressions and remember their sin no more” (v25).
God’s word to the ancient Israelites is a word also for us present day sinners. If we turn to him he will do the same for us, blotting out our sins and transgressions and giving us a new life with him.
Saturday Isaiah 44:1-23
In this chapter God promises to to pour out his spirit on the descendants of the people of Israel (v3) and they will all declare in various ways that they belong to the Lord (v5)
Then he embarks on a long diatribe against those who make idols. In v6 he declares that he alone is God and that there is no other and then looks at the creation of idols speaking of the metal workers, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, the forestry workers and mocks them all for making the thing that they end up worshipping, Half of the wood of the idol maker he uses for a fire to cook his dinner on and keep warm and when he has eaten it the worships the idol he made from the rest. How ridiculous he says, they have no intelligence. And on the contrary he asks his people to take note and not be swept away by the stupidity of those others. He beckons the people to return to him for he has redeemed them, bought them back from such stupidity.