Our Lord is the most Majestic One of the universe.

November 3, 2013 - Isaiah 40:12-22

 ¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
   or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
   or weighed the mountains on the scales
   and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
   or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
   and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
   or showed him the path of understanding?

   ¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
   they are regarded as dust on the scales;
   he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
   nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
   they are regarded by him as worthless
   and less than nothing.

   ¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?
   To what image will you liken him?
¹⁹ As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
   and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
   and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering
   selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
   to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know? 
   Have you not heard? 
Has it not been told you from the beginning? 
   Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 
²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, 
   and its people are like grasshoppers. 
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, 
   and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 

Isaiah saw the vision that the hope of God's people comes from God who is the most Mighty One of the universe. His hand created the mountain and the earth. He is merely just like a giant compared to the earth. His hand holds the waters, measures the heavens, and lifts up the weight of the earth. He is the most wise One, and no one can fathom the Spirit or wisdom of the Lord. He alone is the Majestic One who sits enthroned above the earth, and no idol made by men can compared with Him. 

My most Majestic, Mighty, and Wise God who is also my Shepherd, may I lift up my spirit to worship and praise You in the early morning. The beginning of my life shall start with worship as You are my God whom no one or other idol can compare with. Whom should I fear of apart from You? What should I worry about? Worshiping my God and trusting my Mighty Shepherd is the only response to all circumstances of my life. My Lord, sharpen my heart with passion for loving You and shaping my life with Christ-likedness that I become a masterpiece of Your hand for Your Kingdom. 

Shout on the top of the mountain - here is God, our Shepherd.

November 2, 2013 - Isaiah 40:1-11

    ¹ Comfort, comfort my people,
   says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
   that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
   double for all her sins.

   ³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the LORD;
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
   and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

   ⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”
   And I said, “What shall I cry?”

   “All people are like grass,
   and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
   Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   but the word of our God endures forever.”

   ⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,
   go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
   lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
   say to the towns of Judah,
   “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
   and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
   and his recompense accompanies him.
¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
   He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
   he gently leads those that have young.

Prophet Isaiah saw the vision of God's comfort while God's people would be exiled very soon. Isaiah saw that people were like grass that withers and flowers that fall. But God's faithfulness and His words endure forever. Isaiah exhorts us to shout and lift up our voice on the top of mountain to proclaim the comfort message from God. Our God will prepare a highway, removing the obstacles and leveling the valley and the mountains, for all God's people to come to Him. God becomes the Shepherd for His people, tending the flock, gathering the lambs in His arms, carrying them close to His heart, and gently leading those that are young and weak. Isaiah served the Lord for more than 30 years after his calling from the Lord. Isaiah encourages us to rely on the Lord who also shepherded his whole life. Some recorded that Isaiah was sawed in two (Heb. 11:36-37) but he still spoke God's comfort message after his death. 

Here is our God who gives us hope and comfort in the midst of sadness and desperate conditions. He is our Shepherd; He forgives our sins; He prepares the way to lead us home; He tends us; and He is our God. Dear God, You are my Shepherd, I shall not want as I rely on Your faithfulness to walk faithfully on Your way in the rest of my life. 

Downfall of spiritual leaders.

November 1, 2013 - Isaiah 39

    ¹ At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. ² Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

   ³ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

   “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

   ⁴ The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

   “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

   ⁵ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: ⁶ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. ⁷ And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

   ⁸ “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

King Hezekiah experienced the miraculous healing of his life while he faced the imminent death. Nevertheless, this miraculous experience could not stop him from his spiritual downfall. Facing the impending attack from Assyria (701 B.C.), Hezekiah had not consulted God but rather sought for an allegiance with Babylon (712 B.C.). Spiritual leaders fall or slip away from God so easily while facing external pressures that come from works or people. Hezekiah fell and slipped away from reliance of God who delivered him from death but rather chose to rely on Babylon to resist against the invasion from Assyria. Isaiah brought the words of discipline from the Lord to the king but Hezekiah failed again to immediately repent and to pray for his nation. He failed again in his promise to teach his children the faithfulness of the Lord after he was delivered from death by the Lord. 

Dear Master Lord, deliver me as well from any self-reliance or dependence on people rather than on Your mercy and power. Spiritual leaders also failed unexpectedly while facing fear, burdens or stresses. Preserve my purity in trusting You no matter what crises I will face in the future. Not the army or gods of Babylon, military armies of any nation, or my own strength is to be relied on but only You Lord is the mighty One whom I trust each day. 

An earnest prayer while facing the imminent death.

October 31, 2013 - Isaiah 38

    ¹ In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

   ² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³ “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

   ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

   ⁷ “‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: ⁸ I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

   ⁹ A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

   ¹⁰ I said, “In the prime of my life
   must I go through the gates of death
   and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
¹¹ I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself
   in the land of the living;
no longer will I look on my fellow man,
   or be with those who now dwell in this world.
¹² Like a shepherd’s tent my house
   has been pulled down and taken from me.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life,
   and he has cut me off from the loom;
   day and night you made an end of me.
¹³ I waited patiently till dawn,
   but like a lion he broke all my bones;
   day and night you made an end of me.
¹⁴ I cried like a swift or thrush,
   I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.
   I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”

   ¹⁵ But what can I say?
   He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.
I will walk humbly all my years
   because of this anguish of my soul.
¹⁶ Lord, by such things people live;
   and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
   and let me live.
¹⁷ Surely it was for my benefit
   that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me
   from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins
   behind your back.
¹⁸ For the grave cannot praise you,
   death cannot sing your praise;
those who go down to the pit
   cannot hope for your faithfulness.
¹⁹ The living, the living—they praise you,
   as I am doing today;
parents tell their children
   about your faithfulness.

   ²⁰ The LORD will save me,
   and we will sing with stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
   in the temple of the LORD.

   ²¹ Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

   ²² Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?”

Hezekiah prayed and wept bitterly before the Lord while he was sick to the point of death. He prayed from the bottom of his heart while he was facing the end of his life. He recalled how he had been faithfully and wholeheartedly walked before the Lord. He earnestly asked for God's healing in the most desperate situation of his life. Hezekiah prayed; and he prayed without any pretense of words or rituals; he prayed to the Lord who had been His Lord of his life. God saved; and He saved out of His mercy; and He saved Hezekiah miraculously. The Lord gave Hezekiah a longer life span of fifteen years. He even gave a sign that the sun went back ten steps as His affirmation to the king. Hezekiah was delivered by the Lord again and he started praising the Lord again and promised to tell his children about God's faithfulness. 

Dear Lord, I know that one day I will face death like Hezekiah did before. Preserve my faithfulness and wholeheartedness like that of Hezekiah. I may be very sad and weeping bitterly but draw me to pray to You from the bottom of my heart. I know that You are the living God. I may not experience God's miraculous healing as that of Hezekiah. But You are my God no matter I am living or I am entering into eternity after my physical life. Pray to You. You are my Lord. Praise You. You are the shepherd of my life. 

The zeal of the Lord will defeat our greatest enemy for His glory.

October 30, 2013 - Isaiah 37:21-38

    ²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:

   “Virgin Daughter Zion
   despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
   tosses her head as you flee.
²³ Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
   Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
   Against the Holy One of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers
   you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
   ‘With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
   the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
   the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest heights,
   the finest of its forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign lands
   and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
   I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

   ²⁶ “Have you not heard?
   Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
   now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
   into piles of stone.
²⁷ Their people, drained of power,
   are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
   like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
   scorched before it grows up.

   ²⁸ “But I know where you are
   and when you come and go
   and how you rage against me.
²⁹ Because you rage against me
   and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
   and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
   by the way you came.

   ³⁰ “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:

   “This year you will eat what grows by itself,
   and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
   plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
³¹ Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
   will take root below and bear fruit above.
³² For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
   and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

   ³³ “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:

   “He will not enter this city
   or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
   or build a siege ramp against it.
³⁴ By the way that he came he will return;
   he will not enter this city,” declares the LORD.
³⁵ “I will defend this city and save it,
   for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

   ³⁶ Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

   ³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Isaiah prophesied the final defeat of the most powerful enemy of God's people, king Sennacherib. He was not merely the enemy of God's people but the enemy of God. The zeal of the Lord accomplished the defeat of the enemy by sending His angel to kill 185,000 soldiers of king Sennacherib within a night. People opposed the Lord in vain as they are merely human. But the Lord loved His people and protected His remnant. He preserved His remnant and promised that they will take root below and bear fruit above. 

Dear Master Lord, You are the Mighty and Sovereign King of the earth. All enemies ahead of us are merely humans and mortal. The Lord's zeal will accomplish His glory through us as we faithfully follow and trust His will. We are God's remnant and He is our God. Let's praise Him, taking root below in His love and power, and bearing fruit above for witnessing His Name. 

Our God, manifest Yourself to be the only God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

October 29, 2013 - Isaiah 37:1-20

    ¹ When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. ² He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴ It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

   ⁵ When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷ Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”

   ⁸ When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

   ⁹ Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰ “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

    ¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶ “LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

   ¹⁸ “It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. ¹⁹They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ²⁰ Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.”

King Hezekiah faced the most critical crisis of his life. His country was attacked by Sennacherib who was the most powerful nation on the earth at this time and had indeed destroyed numerous nations as he was proud of. Nevertheless, Hezekiah could still resort to the Prophet Isaiah and His Lord. He received affirmation from the Lord through the prophecy of Isaiah. And Hezekiah also brought the crisis to the temple, praying to the Lord from the bottom of his heart. He prayed for the deliverance from the Lord; he prayed for the manifestation of the Lord's glory among the kingdoms of the earth as he believed that the Lord God was the only God on earth; he prayed in trusting the Lord alone. 

Dear Lord, the enemy wants to bring us down in crisis, but the Lord strengthens our faith instead. He reveals to us that He is Lord, He shatters our self-reliance, and He alone receives glory from us. My Lord, You are the Living God and I want to see Your face, to hear Your words, and to witness the works of Your hands as You manifest Yourself and Your glory as I pray to You. 

On whom are you depending in the crisis of your life?

October 28, 2013 - Isaiah 36

    ¹ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, ³ Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.

   ⁴ The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

   “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ⁵ You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ⁶ Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ⁷ But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?

   ⁸ “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ⁹ How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

   ¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

   ¹² But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

   ¹³ Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! ¹⁵ Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

   ¹⁶ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

   ¹⁸ “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? ²⁰Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

   ²¹ But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

   ²² Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

Prophet Isaiah not only saw the vision of the future works of the Lord, he also witnessed how the Lord humbled the proud of the nations and delivered His people from the danger. The king of Assyria Sennacherib confronted Hezekiah about his dependence on the Lord for His delivery. He listed out various kings or nations who depended on their gods and had been ultimately defeated by him. God's people faced a serious crisis in their lives and had to make decision regarding on if they should still trust their Lord or give in to their enemy's threatening. 

On whom are we depending? My Lord, this is always the question we are asked to respond when we face crisis of our life. I know my own lack of faith but I have no hesitation to shout to You for Your help and strengthening. Because You are the only God on earth and also the One I trust. On the Lord, my Jesus Christ who delivers me from the power of sin and death, I depended in the past, I am depending now, and I will depend in the future.