ESOCS Devotional 3 February 2024 – Interceding for Intervention
MEMORY VERSE: “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”Isaiah 59:16a
TEXT: ISAIAH 59:12-20
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.
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Biblical scholars tell us that Isaiah 59 describes the moral degeneracy present during the reign of Manasseh, King of Judah. Along with the tremendous wickedness of Manasseh’s reign came many social injustices that resulted in general despair, as well as death to many. The reign of Manasseh was so characterized by wickedness that the Bible says of him: “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken” (2 Chron. 33:9, 10).
Eventually, God judged Manasseh and his people by sending the Assyrians to afflict them. Manasseh himself was taken in chains to Babylon, where he later sought God’s forgiveness, and was graciously restored to his kingdom sometime thereafter.
Before Manasseh repented, Judah reeled under the weight of a morally and spiritually bankrupt state of affairs. It was this condition that forced Isaiah to explain to the people of Judah why God would not hear their cries for deliverance from the Assyrians. He does this by clearly describing the deplorable spiritual condition of the nation. Then, he stated that God was displeased with their moral failure, as well as the fact that He had found no intercessor among the people – one who would sincerely seek God’s face in prayer for His intervention on their behalf.
As God looks down on our wicked generation, I suspect that He is still displeased that there are so few who are concerned enough to intercede for His intervention. So many people around us are groaning under the burden of sin and in need of salvation. And yet, so few seem concerned enough to seek God’s face for them. So many of God’s people are hurting, and desperately need someone to care enough to intercede for them before the throne of God. God’s Church shutters under the weight of neglect, unconcern, and spiritual dryness; yet, so few are willing to stand in the gap with brokenhearted prayer.
HAVE WE BECOME TOO INVOLVED TO INTERCEDE? HAVE WE PERHAPS BECOME TOO BUSY TO BECOME SPIRITUALLY BURDENED? Dear brothers and sisters, I want us to draw some parallels from this passage today, and see why intercessors are so desperately needed right now. We must be interceding for God’s intervention in our souls and situations around us.
- Do not slack in prayers.
- Most of life’s troubles are settled on the altar of prayer.
- Father, revive my prayer life so that I may be able to intercede for others who are in distress, in Jesus name.
Further Reading: Exodus 24:1-4; Acts 20:16-18; Ephesians 5:15-19
ESOCS Devotional 3 February 2024
