ESOCS Devotional 17 June 2024 – Stop the Mess
MEMORY VERSE: “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.” Isaiah 6:10(NKJV)
TEXT: ISAIAH 6:9-13
He said, “Go and tell these people:
“‘Listen continually, but don’t understand.
Look continually, but don’t perceive.’
10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;
make their ears deaf and their eyes blind.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”
11 I replied, “How long, Lord?” He said,
“Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,
and houses are uninhabited,
and the land is ruined and devastated,
12 and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place,
and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned.
13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land,
it will again be destroyed,
like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole,
when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down.
That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.”
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
Why stop the mess? Only in a messed-up situation you would have everyone thinking they are right and ending up doing nothing right in order to get things in the right order; everyone claiming right of way and right of honour without paying selfless and honest attention to the deteriorating and messed-up situation. What is a mess? A dictionary app, ‘Speaking Dictionary’ defines mess as a dirty or untidy state of things or of a place. Also, a situation that is confused and full of problems. This was the state of Judah in the days of Isaiah. Things were messed up when they thought they were in the right.
Earlier in Isaiah chapter 6, the Prophet who had believed he was an epitome of holiness, had confessed to his terrible state of sin and filthiness when he encountered the Lord in his vision. Until that vision, he never knew he was in such a terrible mess. He saw his true self in the light of God’s glory and holiness in that vision. Such is our case now; we are all blinded by our own sanctimonious self-evaluation. We think we are all up there in holiness when we are in an actual mess. The truth is that without the blood of Jesus Christ, we are in a more serious mess. BELOVED, WE HAVE TO STOP THE MESS! Our pride and arrogance have become too much. We have become gods and judges in our own eyes, and made ourselves God’s advocates judging right when we are in the wrong.
How can we know we are in the wrong and in a mess as it were, when our hearts have been made dull by our arrogance and pride? When we cannot hear the sincere word of God any longer? When we cannot see what the Spirit of God is pointing at concerning our lives through the word of God; when we are blinded by our own sense of right? Elder, brother, mother, sister and child of God examine your own heart and live! Is your heart open to what the Lord is pointing at? Is your ear hearing what He is saying and are your eyes seeing it truly? Stop referring sermons, messages, teachings or exhortations to other people. Point it to your own self! You need it more than any other person you believe needs it.
Truly, if only you can sincerely hear, see and understand, you will fall on your kneels in repentance. It is only in the light of God shall we see light (Psalm 36:9). Cry out for His light now and ask that it shines on you that you may SEE!
Cry out to the Lord of mercy and grace, the Lord of life and light to remove dullness from your heart, heaviness from your ear and blindness from your eyes, so you can hear, see and understand what God is saying to you at the moment, so that the mess can be stopped and healed.
Father of light and life, in your mercy help me to hear and see my errors, understand and repent that your work in my life be not hindered, in Jesus Name Amen.
Further Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8; Mark 1:1-13; Romans 11:25-end
ESOCS Devotional 17 June 2024
