If you’re joining us in reading through Isaiah and Jeremiah today’s reading in Isaiah is chapter 23 and the devotion is taken from verse 9. “The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring low the pride of all glory and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.” In this chapter Isaiah takes a brief timeout and prophesies about the city of Tyre. Tyre was a major city in what is present day Lebanon. It really consisted of two distinct urban centers under one name. The first part of the city was on the mainland. Here ships could dock and unload their wares so they can be brought inland. But the wealth of the city and its main defense was on an island almost a mile from shore. When Shalmanezar V attacked and destroyed the land-based city in 722 BC the people moved to the island for protection. Because it was so far out in the harbor it seemed like it was impregnable and so rather than attempting to destroy it Shalmanezar made that city pay a tax to him every year so that it would continue to exist. The city existed like that until Alexander the Great use his ingenuity to attack the island in 332 BC. Alexander had an incredible idea. He took the stones of the buildings from the city on the shore and built a causeway out to the island. He then attacked it and overthrew it, completely destroying it. This was something Isaiah had prophesied almost 400 years previously. God is in control of history. God is not fooled by our actions or our choices. He knows what will happen and he has planned for it. We can rest and have comfort in the fact that God is the author of history. We can pray, as Jesus taught us, for God’s will to be done here on earth. We need to begin to trust God more as the author of our salvation. With all of the things that are happening here in the United States we need to rest in the fact that God knows what is going on. The evil in our society will be eventually judged. We need to rest in that fact and live our lives in a way that is glorifying God.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 10:00:00 +0000
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