As we read here in Isaiah 9-10, God was chastising his wayward children to turn them away from disaster. God was, through their circumstances, shouting to get their attention. They were ruining themselves and each other. They were abdicating their responsibilities. People were getting hurt and the light that was meant to shine in the darkness had gone dark. One disaster after another was falling upon them. “Yet,” as it says here repeatedly, “for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.” It is not that God wanted to keep punishing his people but that they were refusing to listen. And so God kept trying to get their attention. God persevered with them because he cared for them. The best thing that could happen to you if you are on the wrong path is to suffer disaster. To succeed in living a rebellious life is the worst outcome. May God make you miserable when you are straying from him. May you feel the emptiness when you are alienated from him. May impassable obstacles block the path of your rebellion. May you only prosper in God’s hand. And if you stray, may God do everything and anything to wake you up. To be chastised like this is a blessing for those who stray. May God never leave you to your own devices. We need to be saved from ourselves. Choose to live with God or not live at all. God loved you at all costs to him. May he keep you in his love at all costs to you.
Ask God to keep you close to him at all costs to you.
Read Isaiah 9:8-10:4
