September 21-27

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We’re going to talk about Isaiah 22 for this particular post. Isaiah is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem. He wrote it during the time of Hezekiah; during Hezekiah’s reign, the people are miraculously saved by an angel coming forth and destroying the Assyrian army. They were saved at that critical moment, and yet, Isaiah’s writings often simultaneously point to the future. Isaiah’s prophecies did not come true during Hezekiah’s time period, but they did come true later on.

So destruction of Jerusalem:

The leaders of the city were already taken or fled, leaving the people to fend for themselves. The people fortified the walls, patched up breaches, and stored water; these were all preparations done for an oncoming siege. 

During and after their preparations, there was one critical element that contributed (if not caused) their downfall. 

Isaiah 22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. 

They have not looked unto their Maker.

Isaiah loves to share prophecies that stretch across time and hold true for different time periods. This prophecy held true for Jerusalem in 586 BC under Zedekiah when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the people, but it also holds true for our day. It can hold true for society, and it can hold true for us as individuals. It is the individual application that I want to focus on. 

As I read about the Jews trying to save themselves against their enemies, I thought about an experience I had the night before last. We recently moved into a new place, and as life goes, we’re getting a bit tested right now. Satan is really fighting us which leads me to believe we’re headed in the right direction, but that doesn’t always make it easier. Sometimes I just wonder if we made a horrible mistake. 

I woke up about 3:00 am with my thoughts swirling around in my head. We’re facing some unforeseen financial burdens and some potential health problems. I kept trying to go back to sleep because I knew I had a long day ahead of me, but those thoughts just kept rolling and rolling and rolling around. No matter how many times I tried to resolve these thoughts in my head, they would appear all over again, keeping me awake. 

I thought of some costs we could cut. I thought of the very low odds that our health problems would turn into something significant. I came up with strategy after strategy of how we could make things come together and work. In other words, I fortified the walls, patched up breaches, and stored water.

I also made the same fatal mistake as the Jews; I didn’t turn to the Lord.

Now the Jews didn’t turn to the Lord because they had turned away from Him altogether. I believe in the Lord. I know better. I know that everything is going to be okay. I know that the Lord has this. I know that even if we reach the worst case scenario, the Lord can still walk us through it. I know that we have already won. 

And though I trust the Lord and see His hand in my life frequently, I seem to have forgotten that I could turn to Him.

5:00 am rolls around and I finally sit up in my bed to write a prayer. I wrote down everything I was concerned about; this included my deeper worries about health and my surface level fears about being exhausted the next day. Usually when I dump everything, I try to include moments of faith where I walk through my concerns with Him. I was too exhausted this time so I essentially told the Lord, “Here you go. I can’t deal with this anymore.

And I fell asleep! Unfortunately, when I woke up, it started as a rough day. The thoughts came back, but then the Lord started whispering to me (probably because I opened the conversation the night before). I told one of my new friends about how we moved to the house we ended up in, and the spirit reminded me of all the feelings I had about moving to this house. My sister caught me at a particularly vulnerable time, and she shared some of her stories about how the Lord took care of her family in similar situations. She also reminded me of times when the Lord did it for my parents. 

I opened up my journal again and started writing some of those tender mercies. Three pages later, I recognized many other tender mercies that I had not originally recognized. Just little things that lined up perfectly and set me up to see what I had not seen before. Nothing was miraculously fixed or changed, but the Lord reminded me that He’s with me and that’s all I really needed. 

And all because I turned to Him. How long had I carried some of those stressors on my own for no reason?

So pause for a minute. What are some of the “enemies” surrounding you right now? Have you remembered to talk to the Lord about it? Perhaps there are some obvious enemies that you’ve taken to the Lord, but are there some more subtle enemies that you could have a conversation about? Perhaps you’ve spoken about some of the enemies but missed other critical ones.

For example, sometimes I will remember to pray and ask for help in getting stuff done, but I will forget to ask for help in bringing peace into my home.

Sometimes I remember to pray for help with finances, but I forget to pray for faith during any and all circumstances.

Sometimes I remember to pray for help with temporal things and completely forget to pray for the spiritual gifts and blessings that would make all the difference in the world. 

Sometimes we pray and work and we love the Lord and obey Him, but we forget to turn to Him. Even when we love the Lord and have a testimony, sometimes we just forget to bring the issues to Him. Sometimes we worry that we brought our issues on ourselves and need to handle it ourselves because of that. 

The truth of the matter is that the Lord wants to love and support us. He wants us to fortify our walls, breach the patches, and save water. He doesn’t want us to make ourselves useless and whiny, but He also wants us to lean on Him. I testify of that. I testify that we weren’t supposed to do this alone. I testify that we don’t have to fix things ourselves even when we’re the problem.