Year 6, Day 1: Isaiah 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

Isaiah 16 reads as a relatively sad chapter.  In this chapter we have a continuation of the outpouring of emotion for Moab.  God continues to care for the Moabites.  God continues to desire that they turn away from their arrogance and their pride and turn to God.  That’s the challenge for the Moabites to grow.

In fact, God feels such deep compassion for the Moabites that He stops the oracle for a few verses.  In the midst of this oracle to Moab, God gives a directive through Isaiah to the Hebrew people.  God tells His people to embrace them. He tells the Hebrew people to welcome them.  He tells the Hebrew people to protect them.  God knows that He can be the salvation of both the Hebrew people in Judah as well as the Moabites in Moab if they will only rise up to the challenge of letting go of their pride and arrogance.

Unfortunately, God knows the truth.  There will be no turning away from their pride.  The Moabites will refuse.  They will be swallowed up in their arrogance.

This is a good warning for us to heed.  It is easy to feel as though we are in control.  It is easy for us to feel like we are in charge.  It is easy for us to think that we are the most powerful things in our life.  But pride leads to a fall.  Arrogance creates a false sense of security.  When God reaches out to challenge us to be humble, we really should learn to listen.

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