I follow a daily devotional that gets sent directly to my inbox every morning at 4 am, complete with scripture references to meditate on and then a comprehensive devotional of the “takeaways” from that particular lesson or topic in scripture. For me personally, I have found this to be a wonderful way to be reminded to be in the Word daily. Sometimes, I begin my day with this devotional, other times I crack open my Bible into the afternoon between classes, and other times I end my day diving into Scripture. No matter when I do this devotional, it always provides with amazing insight on Bible truths I know, a new or renewed perspective on the familiar, and comfort in His everlasting truths and promises.
For the season of Lent, this particular devotional guided me to work my way through the book of Isaiah with some supporting Scripture references to further support and explain Isaiah’s message. And I’ll be honest with you, when the email first introduced that we’d be reading through the entirety of Isaiah in just over a month, I felt a little overwhelmed. It seemed to be a daunting task that would be extensive and at times, difficult. What I found during my Lenten study was that it certainly was a difficult and time consuming task, but such an important and joyful one. Isaiah so encapsulates God’s divine nature: His anger and jealousy but also His patience, compassion, and abounding love.
Here are a few of my takeaways from reading the book of Isaiah:
1. Israel is rebellious
From my experience with the book of Isaiah, I’m always amazed at Israel’s rebelliousness. Seriously, they can never seem to get it right and it’s beyond frustrating watching them mess up time and time again. God created them, brought them up, and guided them all throughout their lives and yet they distrusted Him. All the while, God still continued to call them His people. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to hear God’s chosen nation doubt Him time and time again. Take Isaiah 1:2,3 for example, “Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Even though they constantly turn their backs on God, refuse to seek Him for help, and even form their own idols to praise, worship, and seek guidance (see Isaiah 1:4, 2:8), God still calls them His own.
While this is incredibly frustrating to read, I found myself caught in the trap of thinking, “Come on, Israel, stop rebelling and turn to your God. He loves you and His way is right- why can’t you just see that?” But reflecting on that statement allowed me to think more critically about myself- how often do I remain rebellious and turn from the Lord? Why don’t I just turn from my wickedness and turn to God and His everlasting love and promises? Why can’t I just see that?
Our God is truly a jealous God (See 9:17,21). In Isaiah 42:8 he states, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Of course God would call out His people for their sin--for both their sake and His glory. However, He could’ve just called them out, disowned them, and made a new creation. He is omnipotent. When we sin, He could just find someone better to call His child, but He doesn’t. He wants Israel and He wants you. Israel remains His chosen people after their continuous sin and rebellion. And He calls us His own after we constantly do the same thing, too.
Reading through Isaiah was humbling and made me realize that I’m not too unlike Israel. However luckily for Israel and for you and I, there is hope for the situation. Even though we, at times, give up on God, He will never give up on us.
2. God is persistent
Even though Israel remains rebellious, God continues to pursue them again and again. He created them, guided them throughout their lives, and even in their rebellion, He continued to call for their repentance again and again.
Throughout the book of Isaiah we see the Lord’s faithful persistence play out. Just take a look at Isaiah 1:16-20, While God certainly calls out their sin in His persistence, His love still shines through. We need both the law and the gospel, just like Israel, in order to fully understand His plea and promise of deliverance.
His plea for Israel is the same plea He has for us today: repent and turn to Me. He asks us to turn from our wickedness to the goodness of His grace and forgiveness. And His call remains persistent to us, even today.
3. God is faithful and keeps His promises, both good and bad
God promised destruction and captivity for Israel, (see Isaiah 9:8-12) however, He also promised a Savior from their suffering and sin (see Isaiah 7:14). He promised that, “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). God is compassionate. God is love.
His promises and love remain true and intact for us still today. Take a look at Isaiah 57:15-21, God promises to be with us, revive us, heal us, guide us, restore us, and comfort us. Both Israel and we have disobeyed the Lord again and again and He sees this (Isaiah 57:18). Regardless, He promises to heal us.
God remains faithful throughout the book of Isaiah and throughout our lives as well. In Isaiah chapter one, He already promises Zion’s deliverance (verse 27). And He promises us the final and most amazing deliverance possible in the final pages of this book, “See, I will create a new heaven and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).
Hold out hope in God’s faithfulness across generations; praise Him during your destruction and captivity, knowing that it’s for your good and for His plan, and praise Him in His compassionate deliverance, knowing that He is just, faithful, and true.
