What Are You Crying About?

Daily Reading: Isaiah 13

Scripture Focus: Wail, for the day of the Lord is near. (Isaiah 13.6)

Devotional Thought: Isaiah had a warning for the nation of Babylon: "The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle ... to destroy the whole land" (Isaiah 13.4-5).  In light of that judgment, he told them to "Wail, for the day of the Lord is near."

There is another judgment coming.  John the Revelator saw it...

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done" (Revelation 20.11-12).

That judgment will be more devastating than the one Isaiah saw for Babylon.  And, its consequences will be for eternity. Isaiah wrote of those who rebelled against God...

"For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched" (Isaiah 66.24).

Do we not need to hear this warning and wail for lost souls?  Is there yet one in your sphere of influence that needs your prayers?  Are all those you love and cherish saved?  And, what of the faceless multitudes whom you may not know, but Jesus does - and loves them supremely?

How tragic the words of another prophet: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved" (Jeremiah 8.20).

Prayer: Oh Lord, drive these words home in my heart.  Help me to heed the words of the prophet, and to wail for the day is near, "for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children" (Isaiah 66.8, KJV).  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 51.1-6

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.