Passage Read: Isaiah 47-50
Meditation Verses: 48:17-19
Thought
"If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea." It seems we are so rich and so blessed in America, but I wonder if we're not missing an even greater blessing because we seem only marginally concerned with what the Lord has called us to be and do. Are we enjoying the fullness of His reward? Is our peace like a river and our righteousness like the waves of the sea? Are they continuous and unrelenting? Do they wash over us continually? Do they cleanse the land before us? Are our children too many to count, like the sand of the beach or the grass of the Great Plains? Have we settled for trinkets when God offers real treasure? I can't help but think we're missing the real blessing of God, blinded by the meaningless treasures of this age.
Application
"If only you had paid attention to My commands." Israel enjoyed great wealth and success during Hezekiah's reign, Manasseh turned everything upside down, but surely their riches remained, lasted for a time. Surely they were not immediately impoverished. They still had slaves into Zedekiah's day! The wealthy, at least, seemed protected from privation. Were they blinded by their relative wealth to the warning of the prophets? Did they blow off the warnings because things still seemed pretty good for them? And is that what we're experiencing today? Because we are still so well-off, do we think we are blessed by the Lord and so unafraid that we might be missing some of His significant commands? The Church seems so lost and clueless, so blind to what the Lord desires, but filled with their every want and wish. I want to know the Word of the Lord and do it, not settle for something less. I want to see what peace and righteousness the Lord can truly bring in. I need to conform my own life further to His ways, and call others to greater repentance.