July 1 / Every Day God: You Have Forgotten!

Isaiah 34:1-4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

34 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it; the world, and all things that come forth from it.

2 For the Lord is indignant against all nations, and His wrath is against all their host. He has utterly doomed them, He has given them over to slaughter.

3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies shall rise, and the mountains shall flow with their blood.

4 All the host of the heavens shall be dissolved and crumble away, and the skies shall be rolled together like a scroll; and all their host [the stars and the planets] shall drop like a faded leaf from the vine, and like a withered fig from the fig tree.

Isaiah 17:10-14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation [O Judah] and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, your Stronghold—therefore, you have planted pleasant nursery grounds and plantings [to Adonis, pots of quickly withered flowers used to set by their doors or in the courts of temples], and have set [the grounds] with vine slips of a strange [God],

11 And in the day of your planting you hedge it in, and in the morning you make your seed to blossom, yet [promising as it is] the harvest shall be a heap of ruins and flee away in the day of expected possession and of desperate sorrow and sickening, incurable pain.

12 Hark, the uproar of a multitude of peoples! They roar and thunder like the noise of the seas! Ah, the roar of nations! They roar like the roaring of rushing and mighty waters!

13 The nations will rush and roar like the rushing and roaring of many waters—but [God] will rebuke them, and they will flee far off and will be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, and like rolling thistledown or whirling dust of the stubble before the storm.

14 At evening time, behold, terror! And before the morning, they [the terrorizing Assyrians] are not. This is the portion of those who strip us [the Jews] of what belongs to us, and the lot of those who rob us. [Fulfilled in Isa. 37:36.]

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 17:14 Just when an overwhelming victory by the Assyrian Sennacherib seemed inevitable, during a single night 185,000 of his army died, and Judah was spared—as the Lord through Isaiah had promised.

   Isaiah 17:10-14

   The Message (MSG)

   You Have Forgotten God

   10-11 And why? Because you have forgotten God-Your-Salvation,
       not remembered your Rock-of-Refuge.
   And so, even though you are very religious,
       planting all sorts of bushes and herbs and trees
       to honor and influence your fertility gods,
   And even though you make them grow so well,
       bursting with buds and sprouts and blossoms,
   Nothing will come of them. Instead of a harvest
       you’ll get nothing but grief and pain, pain, pain.

This came suddenly and unexpectedly. This is how God works. He lets us think we are "getting away with" our sinful lifestyle, then He strikes. He is a great and terrible God. To be feared!

I remember a time in my life when the only time I spent with God was during church services. I remember thinking that even though I was having zero personal prayer time, things seemed to be going okay. Several friends from work were coming regularly to church. And I was teaching a Bible Study to one friend at the time. Shortly after I thought how great my life was going in spite of no personal relationship with Jesus, things started to unravel and sadly, none of those people are serving God today that I know of. For years, I have tears of regret. I failed God and these dear souls. My only hope is that God brings them back to Him in spite of my failures. 

1 Corinthians 10:12

Amplified Bible (AMP)

12 Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].

1 Corinthians 10: 11-12

The Message (MSG)

11-12 These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.

2 Peter 3:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

17 Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].

"Dear God, once again I am coming to You asking for forgiveness for failing people. And asking You to continue to draw these people to You. And I'm also feeling thankful that in spite of my past failures, You continue to use me anyway. And thanks to You, I'm not what I used to be! That person is gone forever! Praise Your Name! I don't ever want to forget the 'God of my salvation and the Rock of my strength!' I fear You, O Great and Terrible God! I submit myself to You. I will obey Your commandments. If I serve You, I will be blessed beyond compare. If I forget You, I will be cursed beyond compare. Thats just the way it is!!! In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN."