Today’s passage: Isaiah 46

Helpful thoughts:

• Bel and Nebo are names of false gods from Babylon.
• It is perfectly logical to be amazed by and submit to God…
  • All other gods are fake.
  • God is holy, righteous and sovereign.  Even the birds go where He tells them (Verse 11).
• …and yet, righteousness and salvation have to come to His people against their stubbornness (Verse 12)!  There will only be salvation and righteousness given to people because God has decreed it so.
  • Romans 3:10-12

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it right to believe and obey God?  Why are you glad to be a Christian?
2. What are some of the “gods” of our culture?  Why does fearing God and following Christ make so much more sense than any other options that the world gives?
3. What would we be without God’s grace?  Who deserves the praise for our eternal life and sanctification?  How does the necessity of God’s grace for our repentance and salvation bring Him glory?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 45

Helpful thoughts:

• God is not just active/involved in the lives of those who know Him or believe in Him.  God is sovereign over everyone and every thing.
• God never commands His children to do anything in vain (Verse 19).
• John 14:6 is true all over the world.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you sometimes feel like your unsaved friends, family, co-workers, etc. are outside of God’s “jurisdiction”?  Is that true?  Why can you be totally confident and loving in sharing Christ with them?
2. How could this passage be an encouragement or correct our thinking when we are tempted to envy the world’s “success”?  What words are spoken to those who reject God in verse 9?
3. What would be an accurate response to the person who says, “I can’t/won’t believe in a God who does that?” (Verse 11)

Today’s passage: Isaiah 44

Helpful thoughts:

• Every “little ‘g’ god” in this world is the invention of man.  There is only one God who truly exists.
• False gods are invented in order to be a benefit to their inventors.  But they do not profit their inventors.
  • The only true “profit” for the idolater is the lie that they could successfully reject the true God…they’re blinded.
• Though we all would be liars and idolaters, the Lord has:
  • Opened our blind eyes.
  • Blotted out our transgressions.
  • Redeemed us.

Questions to consider:

1. What “profits” do we hope to receive through idolatry?  What are the things we tend to want more than what God gives?  What do these “profits” result in?
2. What parts does God play in our existence and life?  When anyone would think that false gods (Or no God at all) are acting, what error have we made?  Does it ever profit us to go elsewhere or to prefer a Godless moment?
3. Who is our Redeemer?  What did He redeem us from?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 43

Helpful thoughts:

• God made the people of Israel a nation and loves them by His choice.  They did not earn His favor, He made them and gave them His gracious love.
• The timing of these promises refer to the time at the end of the exile, when Israel would return to the promised land by way of a different wilderness.
• Egypt and Ethiopia (Cush and Seba) would become subject to the Persians, while Israel would be allowed to go free.
• No one ever has and no one ever will defeat God.

Questions to consider:

1. For whose sake is the Lord blotting out the transgressions (Forgiving the sins) of the people of Israel (Verse 25)?  Why would God’s name be on the line if Israel failed to exist?  Why will God’s name always prevail as consistent with who He has revealed Himself to be?
2. What would be the result of engaging in verse 26?  Do we have a case against God?  Why or why not?
3. How are the sins of God’s people simply blotted out?  How can God remain just and also no longer remember our sins against us? (Romans 3:21-26)

Today’s passage: Isaiah 42

Helpful thoughts:

• Matthew 12:9-21
• The Lord is worthy of praise and worship from all people, every single person who ever has or ever will live.  His holiness demands worship.  To refrain from worship is to be His foe.
• The Law proclaims the righteousness of God and magnifies the unrighteousness of man.
  • But God, in His mercy and grace turns darkness into light and rough places into level ground…these are the things He does.

Questions to consider:

1. As the world cries out for justice, when will it truly arrive?  When will there finally be justice in the world?  What will be the result of all the world’s attempts prior to that day?
2. Will our religiosity or perfect execution of righteousness bring about peace and justice in the world?  Could we ever accomplish such a thing on our own?  Even if we are “good” Christian people, who remains our only hope?
3. Why is it good for us to learn more of the righteousness of God and our failure to measure up?  If we think we’ve pretty much kept up with all of God’s commands and we’ve earned His favor, what are missing?  How does the Gospel produce humility and how does humility indicate growth?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 41

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of the nations who have rejected God are right to have a dreadful fear of Him.
• God’s created nation and chosen people are right to rest peacefully in His sovereign protection.
• There are no other gods.  Every other belief system in the world (Including secular humanism/atheism) is the imagination and invention of man, who are the invention and creation of God.
  • Other gods (Or worldviews that seek to eliminate God) are entirely false.  They are acts of rebellion against the Holy God.

Questions to consider:

1. Christian, what has God said He will do for you (Philippians 1:6, Romans 8:28-38)?
2. What are some of the greatest fears you have in this world?  Who/What do you tend to fear the most?
3. How do those things or those people compare to the power, glory, justice, and sovereignty of God?  Who is their fight truly against?  If God has us in His righteous right hand, who will be on the side of victory in eternity?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 40

Helpful thoughts:

• A voice cries in the wilderness.
  • John 1:19-23
• The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
  • Israel’s hope was never that it was going to succeed on it’s own.  God’s promises will be fulfilled because God is God.
• Whenever we try to make God look appealing, we fail to do Him justice.  In truth, He is far more powerful, righteous, loving, just, gracious and merciful than we can fathom.  We don’t need to make him attractive to people, we need to point people to who He really is.

Questions to consider:

1. How many attributes of God are mentioned and/or defined in this passage?  What do we learn about God?
2. How does studying/meditating on the greatness of God correct our perspective on world events and social interactions?  If we spend a majority of our efforts focusing on what’s wrong in the world or on “powerful” people who should fix it, what will we miss?  What will we miss out on?
3.  If we put all our hope in ourselves, or in possessions, or in other people, what will happen?  What will be true of those who wait (Hope) in the Lord?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 39

Helpful thoughts:

• We saw the good in Hezekiah in the last few days…now we see the bad.
  • When the Babylonians came to rejoice in his recovery (Which God brought about), Hezekiah flaunted his own wealth (Which God brought about as well).
  • He had desired to live to tell others of God, but instead used his breath to entice a treaty with Babylon for added security against the Assyrians (Which God alone can truly provide).
  • After having been told that Judah would fall and a number of his sons would be made eunuchs in the service of a foreign pagan king, Hezekiah rested in the fact that nothing bad would happen while he was still king…at least he wouldn’t have to see it or be around to deal with it.

Questions to consider:

1. In showing Babylon the wealth and armory of Judah, what did Hezekiah show he was trusting in for his security?  Where had Judah’s security come from?
2. What kinds of things are people turning to today for provision and protection?  How are people treating one another in order to try to get what the security they want?  How does this compare to Matthew 6:33?
3. What opportunity did Hezekiah miss?  What did the Babylonian officials need to hear from him?  How can you show the people you know where you turn for security?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 38

Helpful thoughts:

• In Hezekiah’s prayer and song, the appeal he made to God to prolong his life was rooted in a commitment to be pleasing to God.
• In verse 15, we see Hezekiah’s determination to “walk slowly” (Deliberately) as a result of this experience.
• For the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).  However, Hezekiah was right in that he would no longer be able to minister to others and point them to God after his death.

Questions to consider:

1. If you were told, “You have ____ years left before you die,” what would you do?  What would you want to have in order? What would you change?  With eternity in view, how do you want to spend the rest of the time God has given you in this life?
2. God calls David, “Your father” when addressing Hezekiah.  Both men had sin problems, neither was perfect, but what positive similarities can we find  in chapter 37 and 38 between David and Hezekiah?  What has Hezekiah done when faced with troubling things?  To whom did he turn in these two instances?
3. In what way could we also compare Hezekiah to Gideon (Verse 22)?  Even when we fervently pursue Christ, are we successful in loving God with our whole heart?  Where does our righteousness truly come from?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 37:21-38

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of Jerusalem shake their heads at the king of Assyria because they know who he’s now up against.  Sennacherib has reviled the Holy One of Israel.
• In verse 26, God informs King Sennacherib that the reason he has had any success was because of the the Lord’s sovereign will.  The king of Assyria owed his success to the God of Israel.
  • God has total control, he would lead the king of Assyria back to his home like people would their captives or animals (Verse 29).
  • Proverbs 21:1 – The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
  • God uses leaders to bless and to judge a people (2 Samuel 24:1)
• The Lord did what He promised and Sennacherib certainly saw it come to pass, but he did not repent.  Even though God told the king where his success came from, he continued to worship his false god to ask for more.

Questions to consider:

1. What would true repentance have looked like for Sennacherib after having heard these truths from the Lord?  What did he hear that should have ended his worship of Nisroch?
2. Is there a leader on the face of this earth who works independently of God’s sovereignty?  Regardless of who is in the oval office, who is on the throne?
3. If Sennacherib’s greatest sin was rejecting and reviling God, what is the greatest sin of leaders and citizens in our day?  What root sin is the cause of all of the problems we face today?  What kind of “grassroots” movement does our country truly need (Matthew 28:18-20)?