April 26, 2025

Though it is sad, faithful people of God will endure trials and tribulations. How would our faith be tested if we always had it easy in our devotion to God, lingered in His goodness, and never faced difficulties? Though I've not walked in anyone else's shoes, we have all been subjected to hardships; it seems Job had one of the most difficult. He was a very wealthy man, with ten children that he cared deeply about, to the point that he made special sacrifices to God on their behalf to try and shield them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way; we all want to protect our children from hardships, but they must walk through it independently. The devil thought that if he tested Job, he would cave and curse God. When the enemy destroyed Job's wealth, he didn't curse God. When he received the news that all of his children were killed while having a feast, he tore his clothes, shaved his head, and collapsed, yet still didn't curse God. Instead, he worshipped him and said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return." 

Let's learn from Job how to respond when facing difficulties; it will do us well to know our Source and continue to honor Him even when things become hard. 

Something to think about: why were Job's children having a feast without him?

In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Job 1:22

April 25, 2025

The king of Babylon came to visit Hezekiah after hearing about his recovery from sickness. Hezekiah, being so grateful for God healing him, he welcomed the Babylonian king into his home. I completely understand Hezekiah's jubilation over another chance at life; however, in this situation, he made a mistake by opening up the doors of his kingdom and showing all the treasures to anyone from Babylon, especially the king. Isaiah reprimanded him, telling him that God said that because of this mistake, Babylon would carry away all the kingdom's treasures that his predecessors had collected, and his sons would become eunuchs. Hezekiah responded, "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken." I'm sure he said those words with a downcast heart, but he must have believed that whatever God had planned was sufficient. He understood that he would have peace for the rest of his life, but the people after him would face challenges. 

We must be careful not to let the gifts God gives us, whether spiritual, physical, or monetary, become a source of pride. Be grateful but not boastful. Also, we don't know everyone whose words are like sugar on their lips but harbor evil in their heart like the king of Babylon, so we must keep to ourselves the information that could come back to haunt us. 

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days. Isaiah 39:8

April 24, 2025

Time is something only God controls. Our government can toy with it to cause undue stress on the people, but only God can make it speed up or slow down. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older that the time seems to go faster, but it seems to me that God has increased the speed of time right now. However, I’m not the only one feeling it; young people are feeling it, too. We know God can do anything, and He has. King Hezekiah was sick unto death, so Isaiah told him to get his affairs in order. The king turned towards the wall and prayed and reminded God of all the good he had done. Side note: maybe when we pray for our healing, we should give God a list of the good things we have done. God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that he would give him another fifteen years, and the sign of that happening would be that the sun would go back by 10 degrees and then return to the right position. King Hezekiah then proclaimed that he would use his time to praise God because who can praise God when they are rotting in the grave? I always tend to change directions when I hear such statements and have to look again for evidence that our souls go to heaven and are continually praising God without our bodies. Fixing this in my mind is hard when you read a verse pointing to death.

For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. Isaiah 38:18

Not to worry, here is a verse showing our souls go to heaven:

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7

About the time:

Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down. Isaiah 38:8

April 23, 2025

We have a powerful weapon in our arsenal, prayer. King Hezekiah became afraid because he had heard of Sennacherib, king of Assyria’s plans to invade Judah, and sent word to Isaiah asking for prayer to help the people.

Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Isaiah 37:7

Notice the confidence in his words. He didn’t hesitate and then prayed with expectation. 

1. Prayer is the best way to thwart the plans of the enemy.
2. The people of God know where their help comes from, so when they ask us for prayer, it is not a light thing they do. 
3. When we are greatly pressed, we should be earnest in our prayer.
4. Prayer lifts our spirits and is encouraging because we know God hears us, and we expect his mercy.
5. We must pray with faith, confidence, and an earnest desire for a positive answer with the intention to glorify God. 
6. We have no reason to be afraid of those who are the enemy of God. They have already been marked for destruction.  

Hezekiah prayed. God sent this answer to Him through Isaiah:

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. Isaiah 37:33-34

April 22, 2025

Hezekiah was a good king, but he still had issues to deal with, namely Sennacherib, king of Assyria. He came to invade the fenced cities of Judah. Hezekiah inquired of Sennacherib to find out what they could do to stop their invasion; he responded by telling him he wanted three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold (2 Kings 18.) Hezekiah complied, taking all the gold and silver from the king's house and the temple, even taking the gold off the temple doors. He even offered him two thousand horses! However, when you make a deal with the devil, you will pay the price because Sennacherib reneged on the agreement and invaded anyway, saying he was doing the Lord's work. 

When the enemy calls, he will use any and all excuses; remember, he is a liar and will come as a beacon of light, deceiving anyone who is weak. I pray every day that the followers of Jesus will open their eyes and be able to discern the truth. We are at a time in history when the Holy Spirit is a vital source, and we need to listen to him so we are not led astray by the shiny objects the devil dangles in front of us. Pray for discernment!

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. Isaiah 36:1

April 21, 2025

When pride becomes the centerpiece of our lives, we can almost count on God to take us down a notch. He warned Ephraim and Jerusalem through Isaiah because they let their pride turn into drunkenness, which overcame them. They must have thought they were safe under God's covering, but they ran amok, not believing He would hold them accountable. They hadn't learned their lessons through God's word and were stumbling with drunkenness. We need to understand the scriptures little by little to take them into our memory; in this chapter, God calls it precept upon precept. Judah and Israel had forgotten what they had learned. They had made a covenant with death rather than continuing under God's covering. They must have thought they would be protected from judgment, but God made it known that He was laying a cornerstone, a firm foundation, which we know is Jesus, and he will be the plumb line that we measure ourselves by and their covenant with hell would be revoked and they will be trodden down. The lesson is that we must take Jesus' covering seriously. If you are not learning, changing, and measuring yourselves against the plumb line of Jesus, you are at risk of rebuke. So we don't make grievous mistakes, we might need to ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do?"

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Isaiah 28:16

April 20, 2025

They had to take Jesus off the cross before the day of preparation; the Lamb was sacrificed and needed to be prepared. All his blood had been poured out. If they were still in Egypt, it would have been at this time they painted the doorposts with the blood of the lamb; before the death angel passed over. 

There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. John 19:42

The women saw where Jesus was laid in the sepulcher and went home to prepare the spices to anoint his body. If they were in Egypt, this is the point that they would have seasoned and cooked the lamb to eat before leaving there in a hurry.

And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:56

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. Luke 24:1

However, Jesus was gone! There were angelic beings there to tell them that he had risen. 

When Jesus appeared to the men on the road to Emmaus, he ate with them.

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. John 20:19

Jesus set us free from our sins, and we escaped from the slavery of "Egypt." What he said next shows us the significance of what he did.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. John 20:22-23

If we remit our sins to him, he takes them, but if we don't, we will have to pay the price for them. 

Jesus has risen, and we who believe are set free.