The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Isaiah 46-49, Psalm 135
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 7: Kings and Prophets: The southern kingdom as God’s people
Background Information: Isaiah 46-49, Psalm 135
The gods of mighty Babylon, Bel and Nebo, will someday be loaded up like firewood on pack animals. They will not save the rebellious nation; they can’t even save themselves. They can’t carry the burdens of people; they are burdens themselves to the beasts that carry them. Meanwhile, the everlasting God will sustain and carry his people from birth to old age. Remember, this is written as Babylon is ascendent, a rising superpower, but they are not yet who they will be. Isaiah is writing a hundred years before Israel will go as captives to Babylon, telling them of what is surely going to come. At that time, he knows that they will lose confidence in God. They will be tempted to believe that Babylon is stronger than God, thinking that “maybe their gods are real and our God has failed us.” Even as Isaiah tells of the future day when Babylon will rise, he is telling of yet another day when it will fall. How is it possible that this man could speak of events in the then-distance future? Events that in fact came to pass in human history? It is possible because he spoke for God, and God “declares the end from the beginning, from long ago what is not yet done.” (Isaiah 46:10). God’s plans from ages past will hold, and nothing can stop him from accomplishing his purposes. Yet if Israel had obeyed, none of this would have happened. This is that great biblical tension, that God is sovereign and humans are responsible. We are not to play the “what if” game. The past is the past; it is done. The future is fully in God’s hands. We are to repent of the past, but we must not live stuck in it. We don’t ask “what if,” instead we are to ask, “what now?” “What do I do today?” Because God is sovereign, we can trust him with the past and the future. Because we are responsible, we must obey him in the present. Live this tension faithfully. “Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Ask God to strengthen the Thailand team to finish well. Ask him to encourage the people that team partnered with in Thailand and pray that the gospel seeds sown would bear fruit.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.