August 2022 – Page 3 of 3 – Sonshine's Journal

August 10, 2022August 10, 2022

Why do we recall what God has forgiven?

The clouds tell a story: you are forgiven

Isaiah 43-45 Defeat Satan—Recall God Promises

One of the enemy’s tactics is to recall to our mind our past sins to distract us. It is one of his “deadly d’s,” and he is proficient in this regard. Perhaps the Jerusalemites were in this state of mind, so Isaiah comes to them to say: “Don’t remember these earlier events; don’t recall these former events.” [Is 43:18] and “your sins I do not remember.” [Is 43:25] and “I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,” [Is 44:22] What a perfect visual image! As the clouds move across the sky remember this promise: “As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us.” [Ps 103:12]

Satan’s ploy is this; he doesn’t want you to recall these promises but wants you to set your mind on your past sins. Don’t let him get a foot in the door of your heart. Instead, do as Jesus did: “Get thee behind me Satan.”

Concentrate on the promises of God! He forgives and does not remember our past, so why do we?

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022

God is always there!

Isaiah 40-41 We finally can rejoice with Isaiah as he shares the glory and majesty of our God to his people and us! When the Jerusalemites heard these words from Isaiah, can you imagine the joy, the hope? Even though they would have to face 70 yrs. of captivity for their sin, God’s promise was true and would be fulfilled. God always brings us a message of hope in times of hardship.

“Speak kindly to Jerusalem and tell her that her time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed.” [Is 40:2]

Completed! Yes, and Amen! Twice Isaiah reminds these precious souls in Jerusalem going through hard times: God’s righteous right hand would be there to assist them!

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you— yes, I help you— yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!” [Is 41:10]

This is my “go-to” verse when I go through hard times. What is yours?

August 8, 2022August 8, 2022

Trials and God

Isaiah 38-39, 2Kings 20 Trials

Hezekiah faced the trial of his life; how to handle an enemy sitting at the door of Jerusalem. When we face those trials, what do we do? Some of us scream and shout. Some of us weep. Some of us sit and pray. Some of us wring our hands and say oh, woe is me. Hezekiah took Sennacherib’s letter, went into the Temple, and laid it before the Lord. There was nothing else he could do, and that is where we sometimes find ourselves. We, like Hezekiah, feel like a failure to handle the enemy sitting at our door. Psalm 3 speaks to this time. David also felt like a failure, and he had no option other than to take it to God, which is what we must do. Some days are like that and are depressing because Satan is sitting at the door of our hearts screaming what a failure we are. “many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.” [Ps 3:2] It is then that we cry out to God: “salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people” [Ps 3:8]

And God heard, and God answered, and God took care of the problem. God sent His angels to show Hezekiah that He was in control. God send your angels this day so that we see Your power.

August 7, 2022August 7, 2022

God and Our Problems

Is 34-37 The Day I “Lost it”

I don’t know how I would have handled Sennacherib’s taunts, but I do know that when I am frustrated, I lose it and do it in spades, as I did today. Sennacherib is the king of Assyria, and he sent his right-hand man to taunt King Hezekiah. Wisely, Hezekiah kept his cool and did not answer him. Instead, he took the problem to God—I should take a page out of Hezekiah’s book.

Sennacherib had been successful up and down Israel, and he thought he could take one last prize in the city of Jerusalem. He tried to get Hezekiah to fumble the ball and give the victory to him, but he had no idea who he was dealing with! That is the way it is with unbelievers. Read Psalm 2 and see how God handles taunts! “the one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them,” Then he sends in the artillery and takes them down just like he did with Sennacherib when He sent an angel and took the lives of 185,000 of Sennacherib’s soldiers; sent him packing back to Assyria where he was killed by his own sons. What a tragic ending, all because he refused to honor God.

“Don’t mess with God!” was the message, and unbelievers and believers as well should take note. But, as Paul noted, the adversary blinds the minds. God allows a test to see how we will respond, and Hezekiah responded correctly, but this author did not!

We tend to make light of this story, but if truth be known, God uses things like this to get our attention. When Sennacherib taunted King Hezekiah, he took it to God and let God take care of the problem. We/I should do the same, but we/I often try to solve the problem using human methods. Take a lesson from Hezekiah and learn that God can better handle our adversaries than we can.

Stand still and see the salvation from the Lord. Did I learn yet what to do? Stay tuned, I am a work in progress A.G.A.I.N.!

August 6, 2022August 6, 2022

Ask, Seek, Knock…

Is 31-33 Ask, Seek, Knock, and the Door will be opened

Isaiah challenged his readers to listen and know the Lord. As we read and study the Word, we should consciously keep asking ourselves four things:

Where do I see God in this passage?
Where do I see Christ?
Where do I see myself?
What is my response?

“For the Lord, our ruler, the Lord, our commander, the Lord, our king” [Is 33:22]

Those who ask shall be given, those who seek shall find, and those that hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled. Isaiah reminds them that those who are righteous shall walk in His way. Isa 26:7 The way of the righteous is level; the path of the righteous that you prepare is straight.

Are you still asking, seeking, and knocking? Are you hungering and thirsting for God? Look at your path. Is it straight or crooked?

August 5, 2022August 5, 2022

The Simple Gospel

Isaiah 28-30 Isaiah is challenging his readers to see the true source of God’s way. He exposes the folly of the leaders of the northern kingdom as well as the southern kingdom; therefore, God would allow them to fail but save a remnant to lead His faithful people. God would become “a beautiful crown and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.” [Is 28:5]

Why does he do that? Because they are only hearing meaningless gibberish, much like our sing-song childhood of “ring around the rosies.” They needed the meat of the Word, but their hearts were hard, and they refused to listen. How like today! They wanted Isaiah to not “relate messages of what is right but tell us nice things.” [Is 30:10] They wanted to hear you are ok, just as you are. How foolish. We need to know that we are sinners in need of salvation. Isaiah’s words seemed too simple, and like many today they wanted to go deeper, but in reality, it is the simple message of the gospel that brings us to the foot of the cross where we see our need for the cleansing of our sin.

Come and hear the simple message of the gospel: you are cleansed not by works but by faith.

August 4, 2022August 4, 2022

God’s Perfect Peace

Isaiah 26 Imagine yourself in Jerusalem at the time that the nation is reeling from adversaries. Today, like then, we are reeling from adversaries brandishing their swords through flyovers and words. Isaiah’s time may have been long ago, but the scene is still the same. When enemies come to taunt, what do you do? Isaiah retreated to the Lord and wrote: Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. (Is 26:3KJV)

The word “stayed” is the same word “lean” as in Prov 3:5 trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. The enemy of our souls wants us to lean this way or that. James pictures it as a wave of the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed. Paul reminded the Corinthians to remain steadfast, immovable. That is how we gain perfect peace.

The lyrics of an old hymn echo that same refrain: “stayed upon Jehovah: “Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace, Over all victorious, in its bright increase; Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day, Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.”

Are you at perfect peace today? Is your mind wavering or steadfast?

August 3, 2022August 3, 2022

Which peg is yours?

Isaiah 22 As God’s spokesperson, Isaiah prophesies the end of Shebna and Eliakim’s rise; each had been part of King Hezekiah’s royal administrators. The peg illustration explains the safety or warning to the reader. Today we “hang” our most precious things in a lock box or a safety box with a key, but in Isaiah’s time, each home had a wall of pegs on which they hung the most precious things. These were the untouchables except for the most authorized person. Isaiah says Shebna’s pride and position on the “peg” led him to build a tomb to elevate himself and the monies he had set aside for the people he used instead to build an elaborate tomb. Perhaps Jesus recalled that story when he told the parable of the rich fool who built barns only to hear from heaven: thou fool, tonight thy soul will be required of thee. Shebna died not in Jerusalem but in exile and was never buried in that expensive tomb. Eliakim was given the keys to the king’s riches and the elevation to a prominent position in his place; he was given the prominence of the king’s “peg.”

Shebna’s family was disgraced, while Eliakim’s family was elevated and given blessings.

The point of Isaiah’s discourse is for us to ask ourselves which person we most equate to and whether we are “hung” on the most precious peg of all: Jesus Christ. Is your name on Jesus’ peg?

August 2, 2022August 2, 2022

What God has spoken, will happen.

Where do you turn in the storms of life?

Is 19-21 Listen up! The Lord has spoken!

The lands of Egypt, Philistia, Assyria, Babylon, listen: The Lord has spoken, and it will come to pass.

To whom do you listen when the storms of life are on the horizon, when the economy is faltering, or when the gas lines are long? To whom or where do you go for relief? Will your idols offer relief? Will your false prophets offer words of wisdom? God says they will not, and you who cling to their words and their ways are fools. When you ignore God’s perfect plan, there will not be relief but only pain.

Return to me says the Lord and I will heal your land and bless you, but just as then, today they will not. People of long ago and people today are slow to heed the words of the Lord. Men say there must be a better way than God; there must be a better solution. Learn at the feet of Isaiah: there is no better way than God. There is no solution other than God. If you want to be blessed, return to Him, for He has spoken, and it will come to pass.

August 1, 2022August 1, 2022

Pride vs. Compassion

Is 16-18 The Sin of Pride

They say there are two sides to every coin, which is true in these chapters. Isaiah the prophet reminds Moab and others of the consequences of pride. God will be patient just so long; then He brings about perfect justice, for He is the Lord God Almighty, and He will not share His glory with another.

There is a second lesson to glean from these chapters: Do we see the fallen and feel compassion, or do we gloat and say that they “got what they deserved.” Isaiah reminds us that to do so is also the sin of pride because we elevate ourselves to think this will not happen to us.

As Isaiah weeps for those who face God’s hand, we must remember that Jesus wept over the sin of pride in Israel and that He weeps over our sin’s consequences. God has spoken: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride and the evil way and perverse utterances.” [Pro 8:13]