Isaiah 30:1-2
1“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Isaiah 31:1-3
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and who depend on horses!
They trust in the abundance of chariots
and in the large number of horsemen.
They do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
and they do not seek the Lord.
2 But he also is wise and brings disaster.
He does not go back on what he says;
he will rise up against the house of the wicked
and against the allies of evildoers.
3 Egyptians are men, not God;
their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the Lord raises his hand to strike,
the helper will stumble
and the one who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.
Isaiah 30:15-19
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.
HEAR:
We see here in this text that the leaders of Jerusalem, under threat from Assyria, form an alliance with Egypt. God had already promised to defend his people time and time again and He knows Egypt offers only death to His people. In spite of that, the leaders of Jerusalem still choose to go back to what is familiar to them instead of trusting in God.
Take this time to listen to the Holy Spirit and pray. Specifically, think about the following:
Where in your life have you longed for protection and familiarity over God’s presence? Ask God to reveal these things to you.
Are there areas of your life where your goal is right but your motives are impure? It wasn’t wrong for Jerusalem to want protection, it was that they took matters into their own hands.
Do you have a right view of God? Ask God to reveal Himself as the loving father that he is.
Read through Luke 15:11-32 (you can also go to other passages of scripture) and ask the Lord to highlight a specific word, phrase, or verse to you. Ask God to speak to you and meditate upon the text
RESPOND:
We see in Isaiah 30:18 that God waits patiently to show His people mercy. This story is just one of many stories where God’s infinite patience is on display. Like the father awaiting the prodigal son in Luke 15, God is always waiting patiently for us to return to Him to pour out his love.
Use this time to respond to God:
Spend time thanking God for his endless mercy. Thank Him for remaining faithful to us even when we’re unfaithful.
Intercede on behalf of Boston - pray that we would be a city that carries out the Lord’s plan and not our own.
Pray that God would bring the lost to himself. Pray that those who don’t know Jesus will see God as a loving father for the first time.
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