Isaiah 30:2 - Prayer Tents



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Isaiah 30
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All Show, No Substance

30"Doom, rebel children!" GOD's Decree. "You make plans, but not mine. You make deals, but not in my Spirit. You pile sin on sin, one sin on top of another,H1945H5637H1121H5002H3068H6213H6098H5258H4541H7307H5595H2403H2403 2Going off to Egypt without so much as asking me, Running off to Pharaoh for protection, expecting to hide out in Egypt.H1980H3381H4714H7592H6310H5810H4581H6547H2620H6738H4714 3Well, some protection Pharaoh will be! Some hideout, Egypt!H4581H6547H1322H2622H6738H4714H3639 4They look big and important, true, with officials strategically established in Zoan in the north and Hanes in the south,H8269H6814H4397H5060H2609 5but there's nothing to them. Anyone stupid enough to trust them will end up looking stupid— All show, no substance, an embarrassing farce."H3001H5971H3276H5828H3276H1322H2781 6And this note on the animals of the Negev encountered on the road to Egypt: A most dangerous, treacherous route, menaced by lions and deadly snakes. And you're going to lug all your stuff down there, your donkeys and camels loaded down with bribes, Thinking you can buy protection from that hollow farce of a nation?H4853H929H5045H776H6869H6695H3833H3918H660H8314H5774H8314H5375H2428H3802H5895H214H1707H1581H5971H3276 7Egypt is all show, no substance. My name for her is Toothless Dragon.H4714H5826H1892H7385H7121H2063H1992H7293H7674

This Is a Rebel Generation

8So, go now and write all this down. Put it in a book So that the record will be there to instruct the coming generations,H935H3789H3871H2710H5612H3117H314H5704H5703H5769 9Because this is a rebel generation, a people who lie, A people unwilling to listen to anything GOD tells them.H4805H5971H3586H1121H1121H14H8085H8451H3068 10They tell their spiritual leaders, "Don't bother us with irrelevancies." They tell their preachers, "Don't waste our time on impracticalities. Tell us what makes us feel better.H559H7200H7200H2374H2372H5229H1696H2513H2372H4123 11Don't bore us with obsolete religion. That stuff means nothing to us. Quit hounding us with The Holy of Israel."H5493H1870H5186H734H6918H3478H7673H6440 12Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this: "Because you scorn this Message, Preferring to live by injustice and shape your lives on lies,H559H6918H3478H3988H1697H982H6233H3868H8172 13This perverse way of life will be like a towering, badly built wall That slowly, slowly tilts and shifts, and then one day, without warning, collapses—H5771H6556H5307H1158H7682H2346H7667H935H6597H6621 14Smashed to bits like a piece of pottery, smashed beyond recognition or repair, Useless, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash."H7665H7667H3335H5035H3807H2550H4672H4386H2789H2846H784H3344H2834H4325H1360

God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right

15GOD, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: "Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me— The very thing you've been unwilling to do.H559H136H3069H6918H3478H7729H5183H3467H8252H985H1369H14 16You've said, 'Nothing doing! We'll rush off on horseback!' You'll rush off, all right! Just not far enough! You've said, 'We'll ride off on fast horses!' Do you think your pursuers ride old nags?H559H5127H5483H5127H7392H7031H7291H7043 17Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker. Before a mere five you'll all run off. There'll be nothing left of you— a flagpole on a hill with no flag, a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off."H259H505H6440H1606H259H6440H1606H2568H5127H3498H8650H7218H2022H5251H1389 18But GOD's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you. He's gathering strength to show mercy to you. GOD takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.H3068H2442H2603H7311H7355H3068H430H4941H835H2442 19Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer.H5971H3427H6726H3389H1058H1058H2603H2603H6963H2199H8085H6030 20Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job,H136H5414H3899H6862H4325H3906H3384H3670H5869H7200H3384 21urging you on whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this road."H241H8085H1697H310H559H1870H3212H541H8041 22You'll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You'll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, "Good riddance!"H2930H6826H6456H3701H642H4541H2091H2219H1739H559H3318 23God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide.H5414H4306H2233H2232H127H3899H8393H127H1879H8082H3117H4735H7462H7337H3733 24Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed wellH504H5895H5647H127H398H2548H1098H2219H7371H4214 25near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills.H1364H2022H5375H1389H6388H2988H4325H3117H7227H2027H4026H5307 26Better yet, on the Day GOD heals his people of the wounds and bruises from the time of punishment, moonlight will flare into sunlight, and sunlight, like a whole week of sunshine at once, will flood the land.H216H3842H216H2535H216H2535H7659H216H7651H3117H3117H3068H2280H7667H5971H7495H4273H4347 27Look, GOD's on his way, and from a long way off! Smoking with anger, immense as he comes into view, Words steaming from his mouth, searing, indicting words!H8034H3068H935H4801H1197H639H4858H3514H8193H4390H2195H3956H398H784 28A torrent of words, a flash flood of words sweeping everyone into the vortex of his words. He'll shake down the nations in a sieve of destruction, herd them into a dead end.H7307H7857H5158H2673H6677H5130H1471H5299H7723H7448H3895H5971H8582 29But you will sing, sing through an all-night holy feast! Your hearts will burst with song, make music like the sound of flutes on parade, En route to the mountain of GOD, on the way to the Rock of Israel.H7892H3915H6942H2282H6942H8057H3824H1980H2485H935H2022H3068H6697H3478 30GOD will sound out in grandiose thunder, display his hammering arm, Furiously angry, showering sparks— cloudburst, storm, hail!H3068H1935H6963H8085H7200H5183H2220H2197H639H3851H398H784H5311H2230H68H1259 31Oh yes, at GOD's thunder Assyria will cower under the clubbing.H6963H3068H804H2865H5221H7626 32Every blow GOD lands on them with his club is in time to the music of drums and pipes, GOD in all-out, two-fisted battle, fighting against them.H3605H4145H4294H4569H3068H5117H8596H3658H4421H8573H3898 33Topheth's fierce fires are well prepared, ready for the Assyrian king. The Topheth furnace is deep and wide, well stoked with hot-burning wood. GOD's breath, like a river of burning pitch, starts the fire.H8613H6186H865H4428H3559H6009H7337H4071H784H7235H6086H5397H3068H5158H1614H1197


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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