Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"I clothe the heavens with blackness"
Text: Isaiah 50:3
ESTRANGED FROM THE LORD
Israel was privileged to have a Covenant relationship with the LORD. But sadly, the nation did not treasure this relationship. It had forsaken the God of their forefathers!
On the individual level, things were not much better! There were few, if any at all, who had any significant relationship with the LORD!
“Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
I clothe the heavens with blackness,
And I make sackcloth their covering.”
Isaiah 50:2-3
1. Individual Relationship in focus.
a) The LORD came to Israel.
b) He called out to His people.
c) The sad reality.
i) There was “no man” who responded appropriately.
ii) There was “none to answer” Him.
2. The Power of the LORD.
a) His hand of power was not “shortened” so that He could not redeem.
b) He had all the power to deliver.
c) But no one had called upon the LORD with faith in His redemptive power.
d) Thus, the nation continued to languish in misery and helplessness.
3. A firm reminder of the Power of the LORD.
a) He can dry up the sea.
b) He can make the rivers a wilderness.
c) Fishes would then die because of the drying up of these bodies of water.
d) He can also clothe the heavens with blackness.
e) He can make sackcloth thus bringing on stormy weather.
4. The problem of Unbelief.
a) Israel had lost its faith as a nation.
b) Individuals struggle with deep unbelief.
c) Hence, Israel was unable to find redemption from all its woes.