Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Isaiah 36:16-17 (ESV)
Good morning, LORD. As I read this verse today my soul immediately went to the promises that this world makes. The world tells us that if we “make peace with it” that things will work out for us, that our life won’t change drastically. That it will be well. And it deceives us into believing that the coming “change” will not be so bad, that we will be just as good, if not better, than we are right now. Yet, when it finally comes, it is not all that it was cracked up to be. The Israelites found this out as they cried out, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?” (Psalms 137:4)
Over the course of this day I know that I will be enticed to move from my place of trusting You and believing Your Word. The world will try to entice me to step away from the refuge that I have in You to pursue its version of abundance and rest. I have learned that what it has to offer is not abundance and is definitely not rest!
Today I thank You for eyes to see and a heart that is not easily deceived by the Tom foolery of this world! I thank You for giving me a foretaste of the Your holy vines and blessed fig trees! My soul does not long for what this world has to offer, but instead is consumed with what You have promised is mine and all who wait upon Your return. And on that glorious land I wait!
So while You tarry, please give me eyes that see, ears that hear, and a heart that holds fast to what You are doing and promising. Help me not to get caught up in the inflated promises that this world makes, but instead see them for what they are, promises made that they don’t have the power to keep. I choose to be content right where I am because only in You do I trust. Only in You do I place all of my faith. Only in You do I hope. Indeed, better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10)! Amen!