January 17, 2001
This is what the Lord says to me:
I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,
like a shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
Isaiah 18:4
At first glance the passage seems as if someone is receiving God's approval and blessing but, when you read it in context God is assuring the Isaiah that he will remain quiet and allow the people of this land, although wicked, to go about their lives. God does not crush them immediately and it will appear as if they have escaped his wrath. However when you read on in the next few verses God outline his plan for dealing with them and in so doing assures the prophet that the wicked will not triumph in the end! This reminded me of Psalm 73 which has helped me many times when my life seems over-filled with challenges and struggles and I look around me and it seems as if those who do not love or obey God have somehow escaped life's difficulties. This is never the case. God does allow them a season, a time where their lives are blessed, or without overwhelming challenge. God allows this for many reasons sometimes to give them an opportunity to repent, sometimes because God has a very specific plan for dealing with them and other times for reasons I'll never know. The only thing that matters is our ultimate destiny - Psalm 73:15-16. Life can seem unfair at times here, the wicked may seem to have escaped God's wrath but all matters is our final destiny and theirs. I'll take all the struggles life has to offer if through them I can grow closer to God and be assured that I'll spend eternity with him!!
"Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
and earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever"
Psalm 73:23-26
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