Christ Church Daily Devotion Feb 26 2024

God's instructions to Isaiah are difficult to accept. He is told to go to the people, but they will not understand or repent. This is because it is too late for the southern kingdom of Judah, and punishment is imminent. However, there is hope for restoration after the exile. God will eventually restore the faithful remnant. We should pray that we listen to God's will and live according to the way of Christ. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for February 26, 2024. Today we will be reading from Isaiah chapter 6, verses 8 through 10. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I, send me. He said, Go and tell this people. Be ever hearing, but never understanding. Be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused. Make their ears dull, and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turned, and be healed. God's instructions here to Isaiah are hard for us to hear, and even harder to believe. We often read verse 8 with God's call for a prophet and Isaiah's beautiful response, Here I am, send me, and stop. Verses 9 and 10 have God telling Isaiah to go to the people with words they will not understand, because they are not to repent. Wait, what? That seems totally out of character for the God we love and worship. The sad truth is that it was too late for repentance for the southern kingdom of Judah. God had reached out to the people, sending other prophets in an attempt to lead the people to repentance. They had not listened, and now God was preparing to punish them. We think of the writings of Isaiah as words of hope, and indeed they are. But the hope will come with restoration after the punishment. The exile to Babylon. If we continue reading in chapter 6, we see God saying to Isaiah that, like great felled trees whose seeds are in the stumps, the hope for the people will be in the aftermath of their punishment. See, God is pointing out a great divide here between the rebellious people to whom Isaiah will speak, and the faithful remnant whom God will later restore. Your personal worship option today is to pray today that we will listen as the church for God's will for us and the way we are to live and serve in our world. Pray also that each of us will be among those who obey God and live according to the way of Christ.