September 14

Isaiah 15:1-18:7, Galatians 1:1-24, Psalm 58:1-11, Proverbs 23:12

Pray: We make judgment calls every day. It’s called discernment in more spiritual circles. How pure are our motives when we make those calls? David, the writer of Psalm 58 reminds us of what happens when we judge unfairly…read it, it’s not good. Ask the Lord to prepare your heart and make your motives pure. Get your heart in line with His.

Read: Proverbs 23:12 is simplistic in its structure, but profound in its challenge! Here these words: “Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.” Few people, save for the above-average student, can say this sounds like them. One of the wisest men to ever live wrote those words, so we should pay a bit more attention. As you read the Scriptures, what instructions are there? Commit yourself to those instructions and words of knowledge. You can’t go wrong.

Edify: Much of Isaiah’s prophecy in the reading today is bleak. It’s about destruction and ruin. It’s not an encouraging read, but instead it serves more as a warning to us. In 17:7, we read, “Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.” This happens after the people have lost absolutely everything. Many have pontificated the reason behind why we don’t really appreciate something/someone until they’re taken from us. I think the better option would be to not wait until our lives are in complete disarray and we live in the destruction that came as a result of our sin, brokenness, rebellion, etc. Let’s stop now and look to our Creator, turning our eyes to the Holy One of Israel. Hear Isaiah’s warning!

Practice: Pleasing people and serving Christ are incompatible practices. That is precisely what the Apostle Paul says to us in Galatians 1:10. Does it bother you when people don’t like you? When someone is upset with you, do you obsess over it (even when many more people aren’t upset with you)? Maybe you’re a people-pleaser. Most of us are people-pleasers to a degree. The big question that we have to answer is, “Who do we want to please most, Christ or others?” Many days, it cannot be both. Where are you today?