• What is going on in these verses?
  • The prophet Isaiah knew people who lived double lives—his fellow Israelites—and he shared God’s hatred for their deceitful compromise. Isaiah challenged them to shape up and love God with all their hearts and minds.
  • Isaiah wants his readers to see their hypocrisy and change their ways.
  • In our experience, the mountains and hills seem permanent and unchanging, but the commitment of God to His people will remain when they are gone.
  • Matthew Henry states this:
    Very precious promises are here made to the church in her low condition, that God would not only continue his love to his people under their troubles as before but that he would restore them to their former prosperity, no, that he would raise them to greater prosperity than any they had yet enjoyed. Here we have the humiliation and exaltation of the church; for, if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him.
  • First, God won’t own them  (evildoers), won’t give them either commission or countenance; they gather together, hand joins in hand, but it is not by me (God). God gave them no such order  And so, secondly, their attempt will end in their own ruin.
  • The truth is they have no power but what is given them from above, and he that gave them their power can limit and restrain them.
  • God will protect them from their adversaries both in camps and courts.

• What is God’s word saying?
  • Wow! There’s a lot going on in this scripture. I’m comforted and reassured that God will protect me from evildoers. If I have any hypocrisy, I pray that I repent and turn away and change my ways. So far, so good, though. How about you, reader?
  • I’m also reassured that God’s commitment to me will never go away.
  • I am so thankful for God’s promises to me and His children. I’m indebted and grateful that God provided a savior to redeem me back to Him.

Prayer: Praise You, Father God. Thank You for Your promises, Your grace and mercy, and Your gift of salvation. I pray that lost souls will seek You and know that they also will inherit these things too. I lift up all the ill (physically, mentally, and spiritually), as well as, all the lost souls ruling on the earth who have us in such a turmoil as we scramble to do what we need to do, for You, God. I pray that we, Your children, will be helpers to the widows and orphans who truly need it. In Jesus’ name, amen.