I love the portion in Isaiah 37 were God refers to the great Assyrian king as an underling who dares to blaspheme His name, and then prepares to annihilate them. This is a good thing. We should be zealous about God receiving glory. But we need to be careful that it doesn't lead to self-righteousness which it so easily can. But for the grace of God, we are the blasphemers. We need to rejoice in God's grace and not become proud in our status as His children but rather grateful for all He has done for us, and filled with compassion for those still blinded by sin.
The disciples let their pride get them as they argued over who was the greatest. Thankfully, they were ashamed of their argument and didn't want to tell Jesus about it. Guilt it a tool used by God to drive us to Him to admit our sin and ask for His forgiveness in order to restore our relationship with Him.
This verse stood out to me as well....
Isaiah 38:19b fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.
We need to be diligent and purposeful about teaching our children about God and His faithfulness to us and to them. There are no spiritual grandchildren - everyone has to decide for themselves to become a child of God.
Nathan and I are leaving on holidays tomorrow and will be back on the 14th. We have done all our posts and set them up to post on the correct day, but will be unable to comment on any of your posts until we're back.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Isaiah 39-40, Mark 10:1-31
3 comments:
One of my favourite miracles takes place in Isaiah 38:7-8, where God turns back time. This is incredible, and shows the awesome power of our God.
Mark 9:42-50 talks about how crucial it is to serve the Lord. Even to the point of cutting off our limbs if they cause us to sin, which it reminds us is better than going to Hell with them. A good reminder of what's important in life - having God first in our lives.
In Isaiah's reading, God once again demonstrates His power as no previous earthly king was able to do - defeat the king of Assyria and its army!
A great verse to stand out to you Tammy. Today, people are happy to raise their kids to be well mannered and to have good morals. Good qualities to have, but that is not enough to walk on the streets of gold in Heaven.
The same passage in Mark stood out to me too Nathan. I think sometimes we down play how bad our sins are. In this passage, Jesus heightens the point by saying we need to take drastic measures to stop sinning!
Hezekiah begged God to spare his life and God added 15 years to it.
I found this:
Later, Hezekiah became very sick. Isaiah told him to set things in order and prepare to die (2 Kings 20:1). But Hezekiah prayed, beseeching God to be merciful and to remember all the good he had done. Before Isaiah had even left the king’s house, God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that his prayer had been heard and that his life would be extended fifteen years. Isaiah applied a poultice, and Hezekiah was healed (2 Kings 20:5–7).
However, soon after his healing, Hezekiah made a serious mistake. The Babylonians sent a gift to Hezekiah, for they had heard Hezekiah had been sick. In foolish pride, Hezekiah showed the Babylonians all of his treasures, all the silver and gold, and everything in his arsenal. There was nothing Hezekiah did not parade in front of them. Isaiah rebuked Hezekiah for this act and prophesied that all the king had shown the Babylonians would one day be taken to Babylon—along with Hezekiah’s own descendants.
During the years following his illness, Hezekiah fathered the heir to Judah’s throne, Manasseh, who would turn out to be the evilest king ever to reign in Judah (2 Kings 18—20; 2 Chronicles 29—32; Isaiah 36—39). Tradition has it that Manasseh is the one who murdered Hezekiah’s friend, Isaiah.
Hezekiah’s life is, for the most part, a model of faithfulness and trust in the Lord. His faith was more than superficial, as his bold reforms show. Hezekiah’s trust in the Lord was rewarded with answered prayer, successful endeavors, and miraculous victory over his enemies. When faced with an impossible situation, surrounded by the dreadful and determined Assyrian army, Hezekiah did exactly the right thing—he prayed. And God answered.
Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/life-Hezekiah.html#ixzz3QvoDzyQN
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