At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: “People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve…

Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. —II Chronicles 29:6 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him… — Chronicles 29:11 My parents were both raise in religious systems by did not trust the Lord until late in life. My dad was going through a cancer situation around the time he trusted the Lord just a couple years before he died. My mom trusted the Lord at the same time. Before that time they lived worldly lives, unfaithful and negligent in the things of the Lord and…

The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. –II Kings 17:9 They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. —II Kings 17:11 How many times have we heard of people living a dualistic life? In the light, when they are seen, they appear to live one way, but in the dark, when no one is around that knows them, they act totally different. They have “secret” sins being hidden from those they do not what to know. In the context of the verses above the Israelites were practicing secret sins against the Lord, wicked things that angered Him. How foolish we are if…

For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us. —Isaiah 33:22 “At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22; “For the LORD is our judge, [judicial] the LORD is our lawgiver, [legislative] the LORD is our king; [executive] He will save us.” Baron Charles Montesquieu wrote “The Spirit of the Laws”, a book that was read and studied intently by our Founders. Montesquieu wrote in 1748; “Nor is there liberty if the power…

You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? —Isaiah 29:16 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them… —Isaiah 30:12 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. —Isaiah 30:18 “I do not believe that!…

So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. —Isaiah 28:16 The cornerstone is what the rest of the building is leveled and plumbed to. It sets the direction and placement of the building. Years ago a wealthy person was having a very nice home built. The building was well under way when he came out to take a look. Apparently, the “cornerstone” had not been placed to his liking because the building was not in the location that he wanted. He…

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. —Isaiah 25:8 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. —Isaiah 26:3 Their son was killed in the war. Their sorrow was deep and their tears many. News came that his body was full of cancer and that he would not live another full week. Both husband and wife were in shock. They held each other, shedding rivers of tears. The young couple was delighted when they found out that they were expecting their first child. Their joy turned to great sorrow when she…

I will make myself like the Most High. —Isaiah 14:14 The atheist, in his arrogant statements that God does not exist, seeks to put himself in the place of God while knowing that he does not know all things as God does. His limited knowledge makes him prideful and his arguments for no God are superficial. Others have their “own way” and rebel against God. These people also seek to put themselves in God’s place by wanting to rule their own lives. Apparently they think they know what is better for them than God does. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and…

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. —Isaiah 9:2 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. —Isaiah 9:7 It was completely dark, so dark you could not see your hand place right in front of your face. The flashlights had been turned off as we sat in a…

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. —Micah 7:7 He talked about his wife being in the hospital. She had been there for quite some time after cancer surgery. The hope was that she would be home soon. It was a very difficult situation. He cast his line into the water as he continued to talk. “I just retired not long ago. This has been very hard.” Who do people look to when they go through difficult situations? The doctors? Counselors? Friends? Themselves? How do people get through trying times? Do they just…