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August 7 - Isaiah 17 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it is Sean here. It is a Monday.
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  It is the 7th of August. And I am delighted that you have
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  invited me into your day so that we can read the Bible together
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  and maybe we even get to do this every day this week together.
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  Wouldn't that be something? Well, I'll be here.
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  That's my commitment to you, if you'd like.
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  Let's do it. So this week we continue to read
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  through the book of Isaiah, and we are still in the section
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  where Isaiah is pronouncing God's judgment over the nations.
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  And this week we will hear that God is judging Damascus and
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  Ethiopia and Egypt, and it is not pretty if you are those
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  nations. But thankfully he is not talking
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  about Tasmania, so I'm OK And this is a while ago, so I think
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  you're all OK too, wherever you are.
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  But something also to keep in mind is that this all happens in
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  the context. I know we only get a chapter a
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  day and then it kind of wraps up before we reach the end of the
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  section. But this section is building to
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  God talking about how even though he will have to judge
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  these nations, there will be restoration.
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  So this is all part of a father saying you have been naughty and
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  this is what your punishment is before he gets to the end and
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  says, but I love you and you're still going to live in my home.
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  And we are going to spend our life together in relationship.
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  But we're not going to hear that part today.
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  We're just going to hear the doom and gloom.
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  So you just got to stick with it.
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  So that's probably enough. Let us read together.
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  Isaiah, Chapter 17. This message came to me
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  concerning Damascus. Look, the city of Damascus will
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  disappear. It will become a heap of ruins.
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  The towns of Aurora will be deserted.
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  Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with
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  no one to chase them away. The fortified towns of Israel
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  will also be destroyed and the royal power of Damascus will
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  end. All that remains of Syria will
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  share the fate of Israel's departed glory, declares the
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  Lord of Heaven's armies. In that day, Israel's glory will
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  grow dim. It's robust body will waste
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  away. The whole land will look like a
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  grain field. After the harvesters have
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  gathered the grain. It will be desolate like the
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  fields in the valley of Refaem. After the harvest, only a few of
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  its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree.
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  After the harvest, only two or three remain in the highest
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  branches, Four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,
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  declares the Lord the God of Israel.
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  Then at last, the people will look at their Creator and turn
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  their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
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  They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship
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  what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down
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  to their Asherapoles or worship at the Pagan shrines they have
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  built. Their largest cities will be
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  like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites
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  abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago.
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  It will be utterly desolate. Why?
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  Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
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  You have forgotten the rock who can hide you.
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  So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most
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  expensive seedlings. They may sprout on the day you
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  set them out. Yes, they may blossom on the
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  very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes
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  from them. Your only harvest will be a load
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  of grief and unrelieved pain. Listen, the armies of many
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  nations roar like the roaring of the sea.
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  Hear the Thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like
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  thundering waves. But though they Thunder like
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  Breakers on a beach, God will silence them and they will run
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  away. They will flee like chaff
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  scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a
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  storm. In the evening Israel waits in
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  terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead.
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  This is the just reward of those who plunder us, a fitting end
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  for those who destroy us. God, you are sovereign.
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  You rule in the heavens far above us, with your vantage
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  point of all eternity and space. Before you thank you that it's
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  with this might, this power, and this eternity that you choose to
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  see us and our plight today. God, thank you that in your
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  enormity you still bend your ear to hear our words and to hear
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  this prayer right now. Thank you that you love us.
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  You are our Father and we are your children.
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  We just claim that truth today as we Nestle under your wing and
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  your protection. We feel your love and we love
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  you and we worship you. It's in the name of Jesus that
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  we pray. Amen.