Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 20

Isaiah chapter 20

What an obscure chapter! I'm not going to lie to you I think my mouth hung open a little bit when I read it for the first time. It's chapters like these that give you a fantastic glimpse at God's character. When it comes to getting our attention He will literally use whatever method it takes to turn our heads. Can we just talk about the dedication of Isaiah to God's call? I mean how many of us would walk around naked for three years because The Lord asked us to? I can tell you I would have failed that assignment. Isaiah trusted his whole self to God. He had surrendered his life in it's entirety to God's call. That meant Isaiah followed wherever, however, and whatever God told him, no questions asked. Sadly enough, in our culture it probably would take a person walking down the street with "their buttocks bared" to get our attention. How scary is that? If God needed to get our attention would we hear Him? Are any of us committed enough to be the exposed prophet to our world? I don't think God is calling us to walk through our neighborhoods in the nude, however, I know he is calling us to go against the current of our culture. He has called us to stand out. 1 Peter 2:9 says it like this,

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"

The word 'peculiar' in this verse has two different meanings. The first one is 'strange' or 'odd', and the second one is 'to belonging to'. So, God has called us to be strangers to our world, but in the same breath He quickly claims us as His own. In essence, we may be strange, but we are His. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Yes God has called us to stand out among the world, to sing the praises of the one who called us out of darkness and into His light, but He doesn't hesitate to make it known that, in our strangeness, we belong to Him.

Chapters of His Heart: Isaiah 19

Read Isaiah 19 here.

I want us to take a look at some themes we see in this chapter. We have read enough of Isaiah that these "impending punishment" chapters are beginning to sound repetitious, but if you take time to look deep enough there is something unique in each chapter. We are going to look briefly at the punishment the Egyptians are facing, but I really want us to dig deeper into how this punishment will affect their future.

God has decided to punish Egypt by creating strife, pitting Egyptian against Egyptian. They will become discouraged and confused, their idols and mediums will not be able to help them and they will be given over to a harsh ruler. God will also send a drought to cause the Nile to recede. The Egyptians depended greatly on the Nile river's annual flood to fertilize the land and water their crops. Without the flood there was a great famine and a lot of people lost work. The fisherman, farmers, harvesters and weavers all lost their livelihoods. Still the people were going to the officials and wise men for help, the ones God called deluded fools, only to be led astray again. God says the Egyptians would be helpless, the noblemen and the poor. Isaiah begins to tell us in verse 16 how broken and frightened the Egyptians are. Imagine realizing the power you believed in all your life to help you and guide you wasn't the right power. Imagine finding out there is a God but He's not any of the ones you've been worshiping, and it turns out your whole country has managed to make Him really angry.

Now as an Egyptian you are left with two choices, run from God, or run to God. You may decide that this is too much, that you didn't sign up for all this, you were fine going about your day believing in the gods of you ancestors. You memorized their names and you know their stories, you even prayed to them on occasion. That was fine, but they never did anything different. They never showed up unexpectedly and changed life as you knew it. They always sat in their temples or shrines and did the same thing year in and year out. You didn't bother them, and they didn't bother you. That, you were ok with, that was comfortable, that was easy. Now...now there is this power that you never counted on, and He's angry. He's angry at you because of your choices. Your gods never cared about your choices before. You never had to answer to them for your life decisions. This is different and scary, this is hard.

You also have the choice of the five cities. Verse 18 says that five cities of Egypt made a different choice about God. "In that day five of Egypt’s cities will follow the Lord of Heaven’s Armies." These cities saw God in a different way. They had been raised with the same ancient gods and they went through the same devastation as the rest of Egypt, but instead of turning from Him, they turn to Him. They decide to trust in the only God that is bigger than life. The only God that can change their world and their hearts. Look at what blessings come to those cites! Verses 19-25 tell us that when the Egyptians cry out to God he will "send them a savior who will rescue them", He will "make Himself known" to them. Because of their faith they are now a part of God's family and they can count on the gift of salvation. Verse 22 says "The Lord will strike Egypt, and He will bring Healing." God had to deliver the punishment before He could administer the healing. In their ignorance God could not heal their empty hearts, but in their brokenness God could pour His life into the void. We also see Assyria mentioned in the end of the chapter and Isaiah says they will also turn to God. Egypt and Assyria will be connected and Israel will be their ally, mortal enemies will become working neighbors because of one common thread, they all love God. The last few things Isaiah says are incredible,

"For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!"

If there was ever a doubt in your mind that God's heart is for ALL people this should be more than enough to wipe that doubt away.  God blessed the Egyptians greatly because they opened their hearts to Him. God's heart loves to bless those who trust in Him.