Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"I have held My peace a long time"
Text: Isaiah 42:14
GOD’S RESTRAINT
Israel had sinned gravely against the LORD for a very long time. The nation had forsaken the LORD their Redeemer. The country chose to worship idols of other nations. But God had shown tremendous restraint all this while.
“I have held My peace a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now I will cry like a woman in labour,
I will pant and gasp at once.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills,
And dry up all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers coastlands,
And I will dry up the pools.”
Isaiah 42:14-15
1. God’s longsuffering nature.
a) God held His peace.
b) He had remained still.
c) He had restrained Himself:
i) From righteous anger.
ii) From swift judgment.
d) Every single king in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
i) Everyone was idolatrous.
ii) All the kings had reigned unjustly.
2. The end had come for the Northern kingdom.
a) The imagery of a woman about to give birth was employed.
b) She had been bearing her child for nine long months.
c) The time of her delivery had come.
3. The time for judgment had also come for the Northern kingdom.
a) The mountains and hills would be laid waste.
b) Vegetation in the country would be adversely affected.
c) The rivers would become “coastlands” ruled by Gentiles.
d) The pools of water would dry up.
e) These are some of the effects of war!
f) The Assyrians would desolate the beautiful land of Israel.