SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/3/2013
2:12 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The City Destroyed
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
47:1-15
Message of the
verses: “1 "Come down and sit
in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and
delicate. 2 “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the
skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. 3 “Your nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame also will be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare a
man." 4 Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of
Israel. 5 “Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For
you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms. 6 “I was angry with My
people, I profaned My heritage And gave them into your hand. You did not show
mercy to them, On the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 "Yet you said, ’I will be a queen
forever.’ These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them. 8
“Now, then, hear this, you
sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, ’I am, and there is no one
besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.’ 9 “But
these two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will
come on you in full measure In spite of your many sorceries, In spite of the
great power of your spells. 10 “You felt secure in your wickedness and said,
’No one sees me,’ Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For
you have said in your heart, ’I am, and there is no one besides me.’ 11 “But
evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster
will fall on you For which you cannot atone; And destruction about which you do
not know Will come on you suddenly. 12 “Stand fast now in your spells And in
your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you
will be able to profit, Perhaps you may cause trembling. 13 "You are wearied with your many
counsels; Let now the
astrologers, Those
who prophesy by the stars, Those who predict by the new moons, Stand up
and save you from what will come upon you. 14 “Behold, they have become like
stubble, Fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the
flame; There will be no coal to warm by Nor a fire to sit before! 15 "So have those become to you with whom
you have labored, Who have trafficked with you from your youth; Each has
wandered in his own way; There is none to save you.”
Isaiah has been writing about the Babylonians in these
recent chapters, and he continues in chapter 47, writing about the city being
destroyed. He mentions “one day” in
verse nine and when you read Daniel chapter five you will see that that is
exactly what happened, as Babylon was destroyed in one day even though from the
human prospective one would never think that it could have been destroyed.
Warren Wiersbe writes the following on these fifteen
verses: “Babylon, the proud queen, is
now a humbled slave. ‘I will continue
forever—the eternal queen!’ she boasted (v. 7, NIV). But in a moment, the judgment for her sins
caught up with her; and she became a widow.
Neither her idols nor her occult practices (vv. 12-14) were able to warn
her or prepare her for her destruction.
But God knew that Babylon would fall, because He planned it ages
ago! He called Cyrus, who swooped down
on Babylon like a bird of prey. Babylon
showed no mercy to the Jews, and God judged them accordingly.”
That is a very sad commentary for the nation of Babylon,
and for that matter, for any nation who does not recognize that the Lord who
made the heavens and the earth is an all powerful who will not put up with sin
for a long time. I have mentioned in
earlier SD’s that we can learn from the 15th chapter of the book of
Genesis that God seems to have a container in heaven that collects the sins of
a nation and when it is full God will bring about His wrath upon that nation. God told Abraham in that 15th
chapter of Genesis that the reason that He had not destroyed the nations in the
Promised Land was that 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here,
for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.’” This is Genesis 15:16.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I also believe
that the Bible teaches that God will do the same for individuals, for once they
come to the point where they have turned their backs on the Lord for so long
that He will give up on them. It is the
job of me as a believer to tell others the good news of the Gospel so that they
do not get to that point.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
“37Then He *said to His disciples,
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 "Therefore
beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”
(Matthew 9:37-38). I pray Lord that I
will be a willing worker in the fields of harvest, that you would send me out
into the fields that are ready to be harvested and that You will give me the
grace to tell others about Christ. That
you will give me a divine appointment.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus
Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness
of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine
power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through
the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For
by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by
them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now
for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral
excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge,
self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance,
godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly
kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they
render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted,
having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent
to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice
these things, you will never stumble; 11 for in this way the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied
to you.
Answer to our last Bible
Question: “Shekel.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “During the course of
Passover, how many days were the children of Israel to eat unleavened bread?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/3/2013 2:44 PM
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