9th November
Read Psalm 134
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
Looking at this Psalm I remembered that 20 years ago I memorised it at a study leave course part of which included scripture memorisation. On coming home, I taught the evening service people to do the same, which they all did admirably well. It is a Psalm about praising God in the evening and it can be done easily using kinetic memory – standing, sitting, raising hands etc. Try it. Go and memorise some Bible passage this evening.
As you read the Bible Stop; Read; Ponder; and Pray.
Monday Isaiah 2:1-5
This well known passage has been the ground for hymns such as “Behold the Mountains of the Lord in latter days shall rise”. The mountain that is spoken of is it the City of Jerusalem which is the home of the Lord in the sense of being the seat of the Temple. These verses tell of a time in the future where Jerusalem will be seen as the centre of the Kingdom of God on Earth to which nations everywhere will come for the settling of disputes and which will be seen as the centre of peace making (v4) among the peoples.
It is a prophetic vision of the future which believers see as focussing on Christ and his kingdom and in v6 Isaiah calls his countrymen to come and walk in the light of the Lord. This vision still remains with the people of God today and these verses are wonderful summons to come and worship.
Tuesday Isaiah 2:6-22
Moving from a great prophesy of the future, Isaiah turns to the current position of the people and it is dire. He prays “Lord, you have abandoned your people” yet the following verses show that the principle cause is that the people abandoned God. They had wealth but they followed the ways of the nations around in idol making and worshipping. At verse 10 he tells the people to go and hide under rocks because God will judge them; God has a day in store for all the proud and lofty (v12) and the arrogance of man will be brought low whereas the Lord alone will be exalted (v17,18). In verses 19-21 he speaks of a day when the presence of God will be seen and the people judged and he tells the people to stop putting their trust in humans who just live while they breathe.
Wednesday Isaiah 3:1-7
In chapter 3 God tells of how he will judge the people because of their wandering from him. He was going to remove their supply and support, in other words in modern terms, he was going to sanction Israel. Supplies of food and water were going to be hit (v1). The people looked around them and saw wealthy nations and thought they would get wealthy like them but God tells them No, but more, he is going to remove any decent leadership from them and they will end up with youths as their officials.
One of the internal results of a country like this is anger and annoyance with each other where oppression will become par for the course. The people will end up wanting to grab any Tom, Dick or Harry to lead them but they will just say, “I have no remedy”. The saying that a country gets the leaders it deserves can be seen in thie judgement of God. Someone once said that if a people doesn’t believe in God it is not that they believe in nothing but that they will believe in anything. Do we see that in our country? Is there a need for a return?
Thursday Isaiah 3:8-4:1
In the next verses the Prophet says that the people parade their sin like Sodom which means they are not ashamed of their behaviour but actually parade it openly, rejoicing in it. We can see that happening in our Western society. The word pride which was used of shameful self centredness, is now used as word of rejoicing. He returns again to the subject of the people ruling over them and setting the tone in their society having become those who ought not to be the leaders (v12)
God says he will enter the seat of judgement against those leaders and he says a lot about the haughty women who make much of themselves in dress and behaviour and he says that he will bring them down, instead of fragrant wealth they will end up in poverty pleading with men to become their protectors. How sad, how tragic.
Friday Isaiah 4:2-6
The prophetic vision changes now and as at the beginning of chapter 2 we are seeing a bright future in a messianic time. The Branch of the Lord is the image spoken about the Messiah who will spring from the ruinous tree of the corrupt people. The tree in the gap at Hadian’s wall which was cruelly cut down has now begun to develop shoots with a hope for the future; that is the vision of the new King (and new Kingdom) springing from the desolation of the people of Israel in the time of the prophets. We shall see it repeated in Chapter 11 – There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. Later on we shall see Jeremiah proclaiming the same thing “ I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (Jer 22:5).
Another image is given which points backwards to the time of the Exodus as verse 5 speaks of a cloud of smoke and pillar of fire, the visible symbols of the presence of God with the people during their wilderness wanderings.
Saturday Isaiah 5:1-8
In Chapter 5 we see God telling a tale of a man planting a vineyard. He starts it from scratch, clearing the ground, planting the vines, protecting it from invaders and in due time he goes to look for a crop of good grapes. Instead he finds its produce bad. It is of course a parable of his creating and protecting of the people of Israel and its failure to produce a good crop. He asks the people what should he do and then tells them what he will do and it is a plan of pulling down and leaving the ground prey to the natural results of wind and weather.
In case the tale of the vintner gets missed v7 explains quite clearly what the implication and characters are.