Isaiah 22:10 “You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.” Today's episode talks about how important it is to rely on the Lord and not ourselves. It also talks about how important it is to repent when the Lord calls us to repentance. It ends with talking about how important it is that we are a representative of Christ at all time. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Who Are You Relying On?
Isaiah 22:10 “You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.”
When I asked God to give me a verse he wanted me to talk about today this was the verse I felt I heard. Normally, I would read a verse like this and then find another one as this doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me. However, when I read it the first thing that came to mind was that they were trying to rely on themselves, instead of relying on the Lord. Let me read you the verses just before and after this to give you a little context. Isaiah 22:8-11 “The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest. You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.”
These verses start by saying that the Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah. If God took away the defenses I am sure Judah was not living how they were supposed to live. I am sure God was hoping that when he stripped away the defenses they would repent and turn back to Him. It actually says in the next verse Isaiah 22:12 "The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. God was calling these people to repentance and instead they turned to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
In verse 10 above it says, "you counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.” When I looked up online what it was talking about when it said counting the houses one commentary said, “They numbered the houses of Jerusalem, that every house might send in its quota of men for the public service, or contribute in money to it, which they raised by a poll, so much a head or so much a house.” God was no longer protecting them and instead of repenting, instead of turning back to him and crying out for help, instead of relying on God as their shield and their refuge, they decided to rely on themselves. I think what God is wanting us to ask ourselves today is “Where are we relying on ourselves instead of God? Also, where might he be calling us to repent and turn back to Him?
I have heard the saying, “Pray like it is all up to God and work like it is all up to you.” I don’t think God gets upset with us when we do things to fix out situation. I don’t think He wants us to just sit around and wait for Him to do everything. I don’t think that is what this verse is saying. I think it is not what the people were doing as much as it is what was in their hearts when they were doing it. It is very different to pray to God for help and for protection and then to also fortify your city. There are plenty of cases in the Old Testament of the wars the Lord’s people fought. They prayed to God for protection and for victory, but then they actually had to go out and fight the war. I really don’t think God wants us to just sit and let Him fix everything. However, I do think He cares about what is in our hearts while we are working.
Have we prayed about a situation before doing anything? Have we stopped and asked God what we should do? Have we stopped to ask God for help in that situation? Are we moving forward with the next right step with the confidence that God is in control and that He will help us? God blessed the people in this verse with prophets. The Old Testament is full of prophets that told the people when they were doing things that upset the Lord. Did you know we have prophets in this day and age too? There are people out there, right now, telling us we need to repent. Telling us that God is not happy with a lot of things that are going on in the world right now. Are we listening? Are we even hearing them? We seem to be so caught up in the ways of the world that we are not paying attention to God and the way that He wants us to live. God is calling us and has always called us to be set apart from the world. He is calling us to a higher way of living. Will this mean that we might stand out from others? Yes. Will this mean that others might not understand us and might mock us or persecute us? Yes. However, it says is Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Catholic beliefs today, and all Christian beliefs are not popular beliefs. It is difficult to have a conversation right now, at least in America, because the country is so divided.
I have heard it said that we have all forgotten how to “agree to disagree.” If we don’t like someone else’s opinion then we jump down their throat and tell them all the reasons why they are wrong. The days where we can have a civil discussion about differing beliefs seem to have disappeared and often times we are attacked for our beliefs, and I am not just talking about Christians being attacked. Sometimes Christians are the ones attacking. Everyone is so set in their beliefs and feel so strongly that they want everyone else to believe what they believe as well. What if instead of beating people over the head with our ideas, we just presented them with love and left it up to God to change their hearts? It is not our job to make every person we meet a Christian. It is our job to make sure everyone we meet, knows Jesus, has heard of Jesus, has felt His love. God will do the rest.
Think about your interactions over the last week or so, especially during the business of the Christmas season. Have the people that you have interacted with seen Jesus in you this past week? We are called to be a reflection of Jesus. Have you been showing other’s the love of Jesus this week? Try to call to mind some of your interaction, would you want that interaction to be a reflection of Jesus? I know people who have been turned away from church or from religion and faith all together because they looked around at the congregation and they didn’t like what they saw. They didn’t understand how people who went to church on Sunday and worshiped God could act the way they did outside of church.
We are called to a higher way of living. We are called to be representatives of Christ all the time, not just for that one hour on Sunday. Today is the first day of our very last week in 2022. Next Sunday we will begin a whole new year. What could you do differently this next year to become more of a reflection of Christ? What could you do to represent Christ better in your day to day life? How can you grow closer to Christ in this upcoming year? The more we know about someone the more we can imitate them. How can you get to know Christ better this year? My challenge to you for this week is to take some time, sit with God and ask Him what He wants you to do differently this year. In what ways does He want you to rely more on Him and less on yourself.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord show us the ways we are relying on ourselves instead of you. Help us to rely more on you. Help us to see we don't have to do it ourselves. Lord help us to take time this week to see what we need to change in this upcoming year to depend more on you to be more of a reflection of you. Lord when others see us we want them to see you show us how. Show us how to be a better representation of you through our entire week, not just on Sunday. Lord we love you and we are sorry that you are calling us to a different way of living and we aren’t listening. Please help us hear you better. Please help us live the way you want us to live. Lord, I pray for every single person listening to this that 2023 is an amazing year of growth for all of us. I pray that this year, we all learn to grow closer to you. You are so amazing. You are the almighty one and you are the Light of the World. We are so grateful for all you do for us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!