Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Isaiah - Day 143

versebyverse | November 09, 2008 18:28

Scripture:  Isaiah 7:24 (NIV):  "Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns."

Thought:  To me, "judgments" upon the land are often a direct consequence of the behaviors of the people who live there.

Question:  Have a known the pain of "figuarative" "briers and thorns" in my life?

Whether men go "with bow and arrow" because they desire to hunt for food, or because they cannot set foot in this wilderness without the protection of a bow with arrows, is not necessarily clear, but both cases illustrate one point:  the land has been altered from its once-productive agricultural taming.  It is now wild and formidable--not a place under the control of the men who used to work the vines.  This speaks to me of a loss; a loss of God's blessing in being able to utilize the land for growing food, and a loss of the God-given privilege to control and dominate the land.  Both indicate a "going backward" for Judah.  These are the effects of God's judgment upon them.  They have reaped what they have sown.  If they chose to rebel against God, then God will cause the land to "rebel" against them.  

"Briers and thorns" are very unpleasant.  Every time you bump up against a brier or a thorn, you are reminded, through pain, that you are "out of place", as it were.  And here the people are surrounded with them:  "for the land will be covered..."

The "crop" of our lives can be like the land.  Is our own "land" (life) blessed and productive or has it been taken over with "briers and thorns" (painful reminders that God is not blessing us at this time)?

Prayer:  Sovereign God, help me to learn that every one of my behaviors toward You is a "sowing" that will yield a "reaping".  Help me to choose to sow that which pleases You, not only that I may be blessed in return, but that Your name may be glorified in all that I do.  Amen.

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