Day By Day - Isaiah 33

By John Horsburgh

Opening Thoughts:
It would take far more than a short devotion to garner the full meaning of much of the language used in this chapter, in fact, in a lot of this book. For example, vs 9 uses “Lebanon”, “Sharon” and “Bashan” to convey meaning, but these names do not hold the same meaning for us as they did for those in Isaiah’s time. These names are significant of pride, wealth (plenty) and strength; and their judgment sees ‘pride’ become ashamed, ‘plenty’ become a wilderness and ‘strength’ become feeble. This is looking to a day when those that stand against God and His people will face their judgment but it is also a chapter filled with praise and worship.

Key Points:

1. Vs 2  - “O Lord, be gracious to us, we have waited for you, be our arm (our strength) be our salvation”.                                                                                                                                                       In a time of desperation, this prayer rises up seeking the help of God who has always been watching over His people, as He still does today. Here natural Israel was “waiting” but as spiritual Israel, we are not waiting any longer as we have the revealed Son of God as our Lord and Saviour. It is now our task to walk in the reality of His salvation knowing that even though the battle is still being fought on earth, that the war has already been decided in the Heavens. It’s not a matter of pride in our own achievement; it is the simple truth that Christ has already cast the enemy down. We are the victors because Christ has laid out the victory for us.

2. Vss. 5 and 6 - Whether we see it or not, the truth is that the Lord is exalted. He has made His justice, righteousness, wisdom and knowledge our heritage, our treasure. Treasure is not always found in the easiest place to look and we have seen that in the world’s history many times when people threw caution to the wind and spent their lives searching for gold, precious stones or pearls. We have a key here. Don’t waste our lives seeking transient earthly treasures but let us seek and find the true treasure that will bring us home to our Father. Knock and the door will be open to you, seek and you will find. 

3. The promise at the end of this chapter is amazing, “You shall see the King in His beauty” and “the inhabitants shall not be sick and will be forgiven”.                                                                       Yes, we live in the world and we face that reality every day of our lives. We need food, water and shelter and we suffer the same reality as our neighbours but where is our citizenship? This passage is about looking beyond the current reality and seeing the future with faith and assurance. Our future is Christ, and His words to us are recorded so that we can search out the truth and know in our heart that He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us, “in my Father’s house there are many mansions”.                                                                                             Let us always remember, He is coming back to claim His own.

Final Thoughts:
Christ’s words are ringing through my head. In Matthew 6:19-21, He addresses the crowds and says - "do not store up treasure on this earth where moth, rust and thieves can destroy but store up treasure in heaven, for where your treasure is, is where your heart will be…"

Father, in this time we are surrounded by all that the world can offer. Let us use these things wisely but help us to keep you as the treasure of our heart…