Isaiah 3-4

Isaiah 4:2 NIV

In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.

In these chapters God announces judgment against Jerusalem and Judah, but he wraps up with the promise of the Branch of the Lord. God will remove from Judah those things upon which they are trusting, including their leaders. He will remove those things they think of as their glory. The beauty of the women will be removed, their jewelry gone, and their glory turned to shame. Supplies will be gone, heroes will be gone, soldiers will be gone, and leaders will be nonexistent. The security and glory of Israel will disappear. In the absence of leadership they will look to anyone and anything for leadership and help. In the end Messiah, the Branch of the Lord, will come and be all that they have lost.

God has a way of taking away those things in our lives that substitute for God. He is to be our Lord, our security, our hope and our glory. Anything else is idolatry. I fear that we give more lip service to the Lordship, sovereignty and glory of the Lord than real belief. I fear that our security is found much more in government, checking accounts, credit scores and temporal stuff, positions and titles than in God. He will not let us get away with that, but it is often not until the rug is pulled out from under us that we refocus on our true source of strength, hope and glory.

Father, I'm not pointing fingers at others here. I realize that in the previous paragraph I'm describing myself. Forgive me. May I find in you my all in all. As the song says, "You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all."

By His grace,
Rick Weinert
District Superintendent
EFCA Northern Mtn District