TEARS

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 23-25

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Mike Martin, a missionary to Turkey, stands in the ruins of Laodicea. Earthquakes through the centuries have destroyed many historic regions of the world. The Lord said in Revelation 3:16 of the Laodicean church concerning their faith and works, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!”

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death forever,

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people

He will take away from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 23 pronounces judgment. Tyre, the hometown of Jezebel, daughter of the King of Tyre and the Queen who introduced Baal worship to Israel, is to be destroyed. Today the site of Tyre is a barren wasteland on the coast of Lebanon. There are no houses and no harbour for the ships of Tarshish (Spain). Sidon is a flourishing city today.

Isaiah 24 gives us a description of some of the results of the separation of creation from its Creator because of the rebellion of men and women to whom God gave responsibility for the care of the Earth. Isaiah 24:19-20 describes a scene like the one in the photograph above. “The earth is violently broken…the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard.”

Isaiah 25 is filled with hope for mankind. God is never left without a plan for restoration. He is our Strength, our Refuge from the storm, and our Shade! “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces!” How gentle and caring He is to those who “have waited for Him” (25:8-9)!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, rebellious people and nations have brought disaster upon themselves, but as for me, I wait for You and You have promised Your help in time of trouble. I pray for the grace of waiting patiently for You! I ask this in and through the Name of Your Son and my Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’ve walked over the barren rocks where proud Tyre once stood. I’ve walked through the streets of Sidon and laughed with the children playing out in front of high-rise apartment buildings. The tragedy was that the terrorists stored their bombs in the basements of these buildings, knowing that the Israelis would never deliberately bomb childen. It’s all so very sad. The tears God will wipe away are not from self pity, but from the tragedy of human cruelty. May God have mercy on us all!

In the photo below, my son David Reynold, an ordained Minister and our professional photographer, is showing a minor example of Isaiah 24:19, “The Earth split open!” Click here for one of Reynold’s reports after returning from Haiti following the big earthquake of January 2010.

Yours for shedding tears and giving sacrificially!

David

On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude quake struck Haiti. Reynold, who had served the people of Haiti previously, was sent there by the Board of Directors of Crossroads to asses how best to assist. Through the 100 Huntley Street television program and its relief and development arm, viewers and supporters of Crossroads/100 Huntley Street poured over $1,000,000 into aid for Haiti.