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Day 324 (Isaiah 22:1-25) The burden against the Valley of Vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops, you who are full of noise, a tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. All your rulers have fled together; they are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; they have fled from afar. Therefore, I said, “Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; do not labor to comfort me because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.” For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the Valley of Vision—breaking down the walls and of crying to the mountain. Elam bore the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. It will come to pass that your choicest valleys will be full of chariots, and the horsemen will set themselves in array at the gate. He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest; you also saw the damage to the city of David, that it was great; and you gathered the waters of the lower pool. You numbered the houses of Jerusalem and the houses you broke down to fortify the wall. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago. And on that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat, and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Then it was revealed in my hearing by the LORD of hosts, “Surely for this iniquity, there will be no atonement for you, even to your death,” says the Lord GOD of hosts. Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “Go, proceed to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say: ‘What have you here, and who have you here, that you have hewn a sepulcher here, as he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you. He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country; there you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be the shame of your master’s house. So, I will drive you out of your office, and from your position he will pull you down. Then it will be on that day that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt; I will put your responsibility into his hand. He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he will open, and no one will shut; and he will shut, and no one will open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken.’” Do you know people who mindlessly go out to have a good time? They look like they are happy, without a care in the world, while they hide behind masks of joy when they weep inside. Isaiah told the people they had no reason for joy when their men lay slain but not in battle. Instead of joy, God wept over them because Jerusalem lay plundered by the enemy. There was no reason for joy, for sacrifice, but God called for weeping until He clothed His servant, Eliakim, with the clothes of the priesthood and gave him their responsibility, but even then, he would be cut down and fall. Christians need to be aware of the signs of the times. When you see trouble around you, it isn’t a time to rejoice because the enemy comes against you to destroy you. It isn’t a time for joy and laughter when you see people destroyed by a lack of knowledge. It’s a time for prayer, for God to move among the people, to show His glorious presence on the earth. Look closely at what Isaiah said. Hilkiah was a type of Christ. God put the responsibility of the priesthood on him, and the people cut him off. You see a Messianic prophecy regarding Jesus’ death for your salvation. Do you have a reason for joy? Israel didn’t, but you do. Your reason for joy is bound up in Jesus’s death and resurrection for your salvation. Satan will do what he can to destroy your faith. Don’t let him. Rejoice because of your salvation and weep for those who have not acknowledged Jesus as Savior and Lord yet. Weep and pray. Then step back and watch the Holy Spirit move on the people and bring in a harvest of souls. Let’s pray: Father, don’t let me rejoice without reason, instead, let me rejoice because You bring salvation to people who rejected You. Let me be Your mouthpiece, as Isaiah was Your mouthpiece to show people the way to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright 2 June 2023 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay