I must return to my readings – Old Testament – Isaiah – and wow there is so much relevant to today’s times – and to old times – and to our perception which is never complete because ONLY GOD can be the biggest picture of understanding.

We have to take a moment to step back and look at the BIG PICTURE – God is saving His people in Israel for His Reasons.

God has saved us too – and yet we are not to boast in our abilities and our salvation – only boast in God and be thankful for what He has brought us through. Our humbleness can make it easier to see HIS GLORY – which is always going to be our reason to praise.

Isaiah was telling the current Isrealites that they had to get out of their exile – and return to Jerusalem – and return to listening to God.

Now that is universal – God wants us to listen because He IS the most faithful. God has already won our war – so we need to not knock the battles – we need to continue looking up and God does not change therefore we need to pay attention to His Direction – which will always be better for us than we can imagine.

I had a great opportunity to listen to a sermonist recently speaking of God’s patterns – especially when Moses disobeyed and didn’t give God the credit let alone let God be the generous one without Moses tainting the message due to his tiredness and anger and frustration. The pattern for God is to have already “hit the rock” – and already let water flow from it – already bless the people. So let us not get clouded by current strife and keep giving it our all.  Yes, we need to look at today’s events within God’s patterns – of Him wanting us to depend upon Him – of not letting our frustration get the best of us – of taking the LONG VIEW… God has the LONGEST VIEW – let us let HIM focus our attention.

AMEN

Here is that sermon link: https://resources.ccphilly.org/G775

And here is Isaiah starting to warn Israel (and us) again to be paying attention to God. AND HOW HE PROVIDED THAT WATER FROM THE ROCK!!!!

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Isaiah 48 NIV – Stubborn Israel

“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth or righteousness— you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel— the Lord Almighty is his name: I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’ You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.’ You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. for my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

Israel Freed

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together. “Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The Lord’s chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission. “Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.”

And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit. This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”

Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.” They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out. “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”