In The Word
Read: Isaiah 10:5-34
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,
6 I send it against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My fury
To capture spoils and to seize plunder,
And to trample them down like mud in the streets.
7 Yet it does not so intend,
Nor does it plan so in its heart,
But rather it is its purpose to destroy
And to eliminate many nations.
8 For it says, “Are not my officers all kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish,
Or Hamath like Arpad,
Or Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 Shall I not do the same to Jerusalem and her images
Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
12 So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the arrogant pride of his eyes.” 13 For he has said,
“By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,
Because I have understanding;
And I removed the boundaries of the peoples
And plundered their treasures,
And like a powerful man I brought down their inhabitants,
14 And my hand reached to the riches of the peoples like a nest,
And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;
And there was not one that flapped its wing, opened its beak, or chirped.”
15 Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a club wielding those who lift it,
Or like a rod lifting the one who is not wood.
16 Therefore the Lord, the God of armies, will send a wasting disease among his stout warriors;
And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.
17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire and Israel’s Holy One a flame,
And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.
18 And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body,
And it will be as when a sick person wastes away.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in number
That a child could write them down.
A Remnant Will Return
20 Now on that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
22 For though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,
Only a remnant within them will return;
A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
23 For a complete destruction, one that is determined, the Lord God of armies will execute in the midst of the whole land.
24 Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies says: “My people, you who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did. 25 For in a very little while My indignation against you will be ended and My anger will be directed toward their destruction.” 26 The Lord of armies will wield a whip against him like the defeat of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did inEgypt. 27 So it will be on that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
28 He has come against Aiath,
He has passed through Migron;
At Michmash he deposited his baggage.
29 They have gone through the pass, saying,
“Geba will be our encampment for the night.”
Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim!
Pay attention, Laishah and wretched Anathoth!
31 Madmenah has fled.
The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.
32 Yet today he will halt at Nob;
He shakes his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the God of armies, will lop off the branches with terrifying power;
Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down,
And those who are lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
God will use any means necessary to correct His wayward children. Israel had gone far away from God’s will by repeatedly sinning against His commands. God had warned them over and over that their persistent, unrepentant sin would have dire consequences. Yet they would not relent. So, God chose the foreign, ungodly nation of Assyria to carry out His discipline. Even though Assyria was God’s means of judgment, He was not pleased that the Assyrian king was arrogant and thought his power was self-created, not given by God. So once God’s discipline of Judah was completed, He had the Assyrian nation destroyed.
God is not okay with His children disobeying His commands, and He will use whatever method that is most effective to discipline and correct the wrongdoer, including using people that are not His followers. This may seem illogical, but remember God’s ways are not our ways. No matter how God chooses to discipline us, His discipline is always out of love and always for our benefit, as it is intended to correct us back onto the right path.
If God should call us to discipline and correct another person, including our own children, we should always do it with an abundance of love, respect, and humility. We must never address them in anger, or from a posture of pride that we are better than them. We are God’s tool of righteousness to help people get back on the right path, not to harm them, but to correct them.