Isaiah 20:3
3 And the LORD [Yahovah] said ['amar], Like as my servant [`ebed]
Isaiah [Yasha`yah] hath walked [halak] naked [`arowm] and barefoot
[yacheph] three [shalowsh] years [shaneh] for a sign ['owth] and wonder [mowpheth] upon
Egypt [Mitsrayim] and upon Ethiopia [Kuwsh]; KJV-Interlinear
3 And the Lord said, "Even
as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and
token against Egypt and Cush, NASB
As we saw in yesterday’s
study, Isaiah walked around in the clothing of a captive, which is to say, he
did not have the finest of clothes on, but was stripped to a level of the
poorest condition. Captives are treated
typically as the lowest forms of life, so their situation is not good by any
means. Captives are humiliated and
shamed, whipped and abused without a second thought.
This appearance and
sign and warning went on for three actual years, not three days portraying
three years, but an actual three years.
It would probably take that long for the message to reach the various
distant reaches of Judah, Egypt and Ethiopia.
It was intended to demonstrate what was going to occur to Egypt and the
lands beyond when Assyria was finished with them.
The warning was to Judah,
that this would also happen to them, if they continued in pursuing an alliance
with Egypt, which is a rejection of Gods care.
Egypt's future was
already decided. Ethiopia’s future was
already decided.
Judah had a choice.
And so it is with you
and your life. You have a choice.
You can ignore Gods
word, refuse to read and learn, resist in transforming the thought pattern of
your mind, and therefore continue in thinking as the rest of the world thinks,
placing your trust in your own ideas and beliefs and efforts, and then one day,
find yourself in a world of hurt.
Or, you can change,
read your daily study, begin the transformation process within your soul, wake
up to the real realities of life, and one day realize that trusting in God,
through Christ, is the only real and good choice that you have for a better
life and future.
When you have no
measures, no gauges, no method for figuring out where you are in your spiritual
life, then depending on faith can be intimidating and difficult. You don’t know where to draw the line between
what you do, and what God does.
But, with continued
growth, you soon realize that you do not have to decipher a line between the
efforts of both. You learn, your
obligations, and responsibilities. You
function in life with responsibility and accountability. You use logic and reason, that, but the way,
is guided by your new thinking habits, based on your spiritual growth, and things
just seem to fall into place, good or bad.
Both good and bad have their place in this world. You just have to see them for what they
really are.
However, you cannot
pursue a course of action unless you first learn it. Thus, focus on your daily study and the rest
of life will take care of itself.
