The Book of Isaiah

Chapter 1 V.7, Part 2

Isa 1:7  Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

This reminds me a bit of this comment I made in a previous post: “So then our training ground is the world, and part of that training does involve the bondages we may find ourselves in.”

Your country here is bringing to mind the word “estate.” Your “estate” is desolate, or wasted; seems like a reference to “your inheritance.”

Your cities seems to be a reference to “guarded places” or places/situations that cause terror, anguish or excitement; which are burned with fire, which is a reference to “God’s anger.”

Isa 1:7  Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

When I look at “your land” and refer back to the definitions above, I see this as reflecting more about a part of you that is tilled, yielding sustenance, a specific plot of land for building or constructing; so I think this is a reference to the heart.

Strangers is a reference to alienation, which is devouring “your land,” because let’s face it. When we know we are in sin and we are unable to turn from the situation ourselves, then enemy comes with the seeds of shame, and it is that shame that makes us run, and causes the alienation, which is exactly the opposite of what God wants of us. So the light in our hearts starts to be devoured or eaten by the shame of our sin, and we hide from God as a result.

This results in a wasting of the land, or a ruining of our heart and relationship with God. In other words, the level of growth we have achieved in Him starts to rewind, and we start going backwards because doors start closing. What do I mean?

Well, I’ve suddenly been given an image of a place of many chambers…many doors, and many levels. As we proceed forward in our faith and growth in Christ, we come upon chambers on each level we rise to, and doors that lead into those chambers. We pass through many chamber doors prior to ascending to a new level.

When we hide from God and allow shame to start eating our land, its like we are no longer in a series of inner chambers, but a labyrinth instead; one that is virtual, and one that is disintegrating in stages. We start finding doors to chambers closed, and so we have to go back through doors we already came in through. As we go through those doors backwards or back towards where we came in from; the doors we exit not only close, but the chambers start to dissolve because we are no longer feeding upon the light that sustains it.

God doesn’t want us hiding from Him when we have done wrong. He wants us to confide in Him, knowing that He will understand our struggle even if no one else does. Even if the church and its representatives turn on us, hurling scriptures, time deadlines and demands, or judgments, God will not turn us away. That is man’s job, and man does an excellent job at it.

I’m not saying this because I’m slamming the church; quite the contrary. It is not the job of the church to pass judgment. That is God’s job, and fortunately for those of us who believe, He doesn’t. I’m referring to the people in the church, those who call themselves “Christian,” yet cannot stop whispering and gossiping, and unnecessarily spreading or listening to information they don’t need to know or discuss in the name of “praying for the brethren.”

And yes, I do personally have some measure of skepticism concerning the confidentiality of counseling at the church, simply because I’ve already experienced leaks in personal information in a past emergency situation.

Isa 1:7  Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Once the labyrinth starts to dissolve…it will be replaced by a new virtual environment; in other words, if you are not being fed by God, someone or something else is feeding your soul, so then it becomes the later part of this scripture….overthrown by strangers.

Deu 28:51  And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which [also] shall not leave thee [either] corn, wine, or oil, [or] the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

Deu 28:52  And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

Here, where we see “And he shall eat…” and “until he have destroyed thee,” and “And he shall besiege;” the “he” referenced here is Satan, who this scripture is saying purposes to bind us and devour us, our finances, and whatever productive things we do and accomplish, until we are destroyed.

The two main means for that phrase with the word “besiege,” is to bind, be narrow, be in distress, make narrow, cause distress, besiege, be straitened, be bound, and also to show hostility toward, or vex. The only one trying to accomplish this is the enemy, and because the people here turned completely from God, this door was opened for the enemy to come in and vex them, cause them distress, and bind them until he destroyed them.

If anyone is in a struggle, (and my hand has to go up on this one too) don’t run or turn from God. Don’t forget about Him. You will be facing a lot of distractions. Finances will start to look really raggedy. Regardless of this, don’t loose hope; don’t give up your faith. Trust God to work it out.

I heard Joyce Meyer say that decisions are the cornerstones of change, but even if you are too weak to make the right decision; give that to God and let Him work it out in you and the situation. Remember; cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.

The Book of Isaiah

Chapter 1 V.7, Part 1

Isa 1:7  Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

This verse makes a few distinctions. First it names “your country,” then “your cities,” and finally “your land.” These three things will be affected. Clearly, when one sees these things occurring, they would know that it is by God’s hand because of the number three here. For those who missed this in other studies I’ve done, the number three is the number of God. So here, I want to see what the difference is between these three distinctions that will be affected.

First, let’s look at the similarities: cities, land, territory & country were generally listed.

Individually, the word country embodied not only the land and earth, but the whole earth (as opposed to a part), the earth (as opposed to heaven), the earth (inhabitants). Then the meanings delve into specifications on the land under the definition of country. It speaks of the country, territory, district, region, tribal territory, piece of ground, land of Canaan, Israel,  inhabitants of land, Sheol, land without return, (under) world, city (-state). Then there is a third reference to ground, the surface of the earth, and soil. Lastly, the reference is in phrases, as in the people of the land, space or distance of country (in measurements of distance), level or plain country, the land of the living, the end(s) of the earth, and often in contrast to Canaan.

desolate:

1) devastation, waste, desolation

Cities:

1) excitement, anguish

a) of terror

2) city, town (a place of waking, guarded)

a) city, town

fire:

1) fire

a) fire, flames

b) supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)

c) fire (for cooking, roasting, parching)

d) altar-fire

e) God’s anger (fig.)

Your land:

1) ground, land

a) ground (as general, tilled, yielding sustenance)

b) piece of ground, a specific plot of land

c) earth substance (for building or constructing)

d) ground as earth’s visible surface

e) land, territory, country

f) whole inhabited earth

g) city in Naphtali

stranger:

1) to be strange, be a stranger

a) (Qal)

1) to become estranged

2) strange, another, stranger, foreigner, an enemy (participle)

3) loathsome (of breath) (participle)

4) strange woman, prostitute, harlot (meton)

b) (Niphal) to be estranged

c) (Hophal) to be a stranger, be one alienated

1) to eat, devour, burn up, feed

a) (Qal)

1) to eat (human subject)

2) to eat, devour (of beasts and birds)

3) to devour, consume (of fire)

4) to devour, slay (of sword)

5) to devour, consume, destroy (inanimate subjects – ie, pestilence, drought)

6) to devour (of oppression)

b) (Niphal)

1) to be eaten (by men)

2) to be devoured, consumed (of fire)

3) to be wasted, destroyed (of flesh)

c) (Pual)

1) to cause to eat, feed with

2) to cause to devour

d) (Hiphil)

1) to feed

2) to cause to eat

e) (Piel)

1) consume

Overthrown:

1) overthrow, destruction

a) always of Sodom and Gomorrah

Hi all,

I hope all my readers and subscribers are doing well this holiday season. Like you, I am pretty busy. Why does there always seem to be too many irons in the fire? Such is life. And if its not one thing, its another, and never enough time to deal with it all as one should.

Lately, my car seems to have a continual problem with overheating. This has been happening since March when we went on the big adventure (camping trip) and the car decided to blow a fuse so to speak…literally though, on the seven mile bridge. Yes…my waterpump picked that time to blow…right after I had just gotten on the bridge with no shoulders. I don’t know if I ever finished telling you guys that story, because I sometimes just get off track. However, long story short, I was smoking across the whole bridge with a busted belt flapping at my front passenger wheel.

It took 4 tows, and amazingly, at a cost of only $35 in tips to the tow drivers, to get my car almost 200 miles back to my home and then to my mechanic. Only God, that’s all I can say.

But ever since then, the car seems to have a perpetual problem with overheating. It seems like ever 2 months or so, since that pump was replaced, this has been happening. I got upset with the mechanic because all these months, until last month, he has consistently refused to replace the thermostat…acting as if it was so expensive. I called my friend at Advantage Auto parts to discover that the cost was only $4. So then I insisted he replace the thermostat.

Well, guess what? I just had to replace it again….not with him, but through my street mechanic. I just refuse to deal with that garage anymore. I feel like they are patching the situation, not fixing it, and the car continues to have the same ongoing problem. What bugs me even more is that this is yet another “christian” mechanic that was referred to us by a church rep…his son in fact. All the single moms are referred to this guy, and, nice as I think he is, I’m seriously having a problem believing that my car needs over $200 of work every 1.5-2 months on the same overheating situation. Last month, he had a new mechanic working with him, and this guy did the repairs. He told me that my fan was so burnt out, that he’s never seen a fan in that condition, and that there should have been a signal or warning that the car was heating up like that. Of course…the thermostat that the owner did not want to replace. At that point I insisted.

Nevertheless…the problem has risen its ugly head again…what to do? I only wish I could afford to just buy another car, but these days…who can? So I plod along as best I can, and leave the rest to God.

I’m working on a few things…concentrating on one specifically right now, and trying to get back to more writing. Last night, I tried to continue my study on Isaiah, but was so tired, I started zoning out by 9:30 and had to hit the sack by 10pm. My best writing is usually late, so this is not working. But I just wanted to update all, and let you know (those who are interested), that I am trying to get back to it, and continue the study, and hopefully, I will have something for you all soon. If I don’t get to pop back in any time soon, happy holidays to all. Have a blessed season and Merry Christmas! Peace.