June 7, 2022 - Isaiah 5-8

These chapters present situations and words of the prophet that are so familiar: the Lord’s unfruitful vineyard (ch. 5), Isaiah’s call (ch. 6), the sign of Immanuel (ch. 7), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (ch. 8). The rulers and the people should have been listening carefully to Isaiah and obeying. But they did not; rather, they looked in all the wrong places and they depended upon counsel from all the wrong sources. A good cautionary word for us, today. Hear the Lord through his prophet: “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn” (8:19-20).

The psalmist testified, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). From the parable of the soils, Jesus teaches us: “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15). That’s who we should be! Those following the light, the good soil!

How precious is the Book Divine,

By inspiration giv’n!

Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine

To guide our souls to heav’n,

To guide our souls to heav’n.

Its light, descending from above

Our gloomy world to cheer,

Displays a Savior’s boundless love

And brings His glories near,

And brings His glories near. --John Fawcett (1782)