November 18, 2025 • 33 mins
Send Questions or comments here! We'll respond back in future episodes.
A nation on the exam table, a prophet with steady hands, and a diagnosis most of us would rather avoid. We walk through Isaiah 1:5–8 and face the images that refuse to be softened: bruised bodies, untreated wounds, and a once-secure city reduced to a flimsy field shack. The shock isn’t for drama; it’s for clarity. Isaiah draws a straight line from inner rebellion to outer ruin, from ritual without repentance to cities set on fire, and we ask the uncomfortable question: what happens when a people ignore the remedy?
We unpack how the metaphors work on multiple levels—spiritual, social, and civic. Oil that should soothe is missing, leadership meant to bind up is absent, and the result is a culture that has normalized pain. Drawing on historic invasions and covenant themes, we trace how Judah’s visible devastation exposes invisible disloyalty. Then we turn the lens on our moment: when emotional fatigue spikes, relationships fray, and performative faith outpaces honest confession, are we seeing the same untreated wounds? This is a study for anyone who wants theology that lands in real life—Bible readers, small groups, and leaders hungry for genuine renewal.
The good news is threaded through the severity: diagnosis is the first mercy. We talk about how to move from image to integrity, what repentance actually looks like, and why grace does more than forgive—it heals. Expect practical takeaways for personal reflection and community health, from naming the wound to seeking wise counsel and rebuilding trust with God. If your faith needs a bandage and a plan, you’ll find both here.
If this helped you think, share it with a friend, subscribe for more verse-by-verse studies, and leave a review so others can find the show. What part of Isaiah’s picture challenged you most today?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Moore (00:05):
Welcome back to the podcast this week.
This week we're gonna begetting back into Isaiah chapter
1.
And let me tell you, it's notexactly the feel-good passage of
the week.
Think of it as the spiritualequivalent of a parent walking
into a messy teenager's room andsaying, seriously?
This is what we're doing now?
I mean, believe me, I've beenthere a time or two.
(00:28):
Israel this week is bringingthe heat, calling out a nation
that's bruised, battered, andsomehow still not getting the
message.
But don't worry, we're gonnaunpack the tough love with a
little grate, a little insight,and maybe a chuckle or two along
the way.
So grab your coffee, get yourBible, your notebook, and maybe
a band-aid, because this one'sgot some sting to it.
(00:50):
Let's get into it.
Welcome to Connecting the Gap.
This is a podcast aboutmarriage, Bible, and book
studies, and we interview peoplethat have a story.
I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
Thank you guys for joining usthis week.
(01:11):
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(01:33):
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And we'd be thankful to you andgrateful to you for doing that.
Also, as a ministry, we haveour book out, Marriage as a
Mission, Living Out God's Designfor Marriage.
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(01:56):
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purchase those exclusively onAmazon.
So make sure you go pick yourcopy up today.
Well, last week we started offin Isaiah chapter one.
We made it through the firstfour verses.
And this week we're going tokick back off here with verse
(02:17):
five.
And we'll see how far we makeit as we continue into Isaiah
chapter one.
Well, I hope you enjoyed lastweek's episode.
(02:41):
We left off at verse four ofchapter one last week as we made
it through the first fourverses of the chapter.
And this week we're going to goahead and pick up with verse
five as we continue this studyverse by verse through Isaiah.
And once again, want to remindyou that we are using the ESV
version of the Bible as we readthrough the majority of the
(03:05):
scriptures here on this podcastthroughout this series.
So as we start this week, we'regoing to jump right into verse
five of chapter one.
It says, Why will you still bestruck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick and thewhole heart faint.
(03:26):
Well, if you remember lastweek, we ended on verse four,
which was a lament.
Now, also last week, if youremember, just kind of give you
a little bit of a refresherhere, Isaiah, when he was
sharing this message from thisvision from God, God was
likening Israel to animals, uh,just basically stating that
(03:47):
actually animals have morecommon sense than the Israelites
and and Judah does, that atleast the instincts that they
had, such as the birds migratingsouth for the winter, or the ox
and the donkey, actuallyknowing their purpose and doing
what they were supposed to befor their masters.
You know, the animal kingdomseemed to have a lot more going
(04:10):
on up in the top of the elevatorspace there than the people of
Judah did.
And to me, that would be, youknow, quite a low blow,
especially coming from God forsure.
And you think that that wouldmake them wake up and understand
what was being said and causethem to change.
But the Israelites, they werevery, very hard-headed.
(04:31):
So here in verse 5, Isaiahcontinues the lament that he
started in verse 4 for thesinful state of Judah using the
metaphor of physical sickness todescribe the nation's moral and
their spiritual condition both.
The rhetorical questions thatwere in the scripture, why will
(04:51):
you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
Well, those questions implythat Judah's suffering is
self-inflicted due to persistentrebellion.
The language of still be struckdown likely reflects the
repeated judgments that Judahhas faced and foreshadows the
worsening consequences if thepeople do not repent.
(05:13):
Anytime the a country comesinto a position of being
captured and the enemy actuallydefeats them, it starts off
really bad already becauseyou're being captured, probably
being forced into slave labor,whatever it may be.
But more most generally, moreoften than not, the longer that
you are in captivity with theseother countries, the worse it
(05:37):
gets.
That's probably been reflecteda lot just here recently, within
the last year of our news whenPalestine came in and attacked
Israel and took a lot of thecaptives.
One thing that I noticed asthey were releasing the hostages
back to Israel, they eitherdidn't come back because they
(05:59):
were killed, or they looked likea sack of bones.
They were not feeding them,they were malnourished, they did
not look very well at all.
And the day that they weretaken into captivity, they were
very healthy individuals.
So when you get captured likethis from an enemy and they take
(06:19):
control of your livelihood andwho you are, it's only going to
get worse the longer that youkeep rebelling and don't change.
And that's what Isaiah wastrying to get through to Judah
here that these repeatingjudgments that they were facing,
they thought it was bad now.
If they didn't change theirways, it was only going to get
(06:40):
worse.
And it was going to come to apoint where they would finally
get to their lowest point andhave to make a choice, have to
make a decision on if they weregoing to repent or not.
The portion of this scripturewhere it says the whole head is
sick and the whole heart faint.
Well, when you put those twotogether, that describes total
(07:02):
depravity.
Both intellect, which of courseis in the head, and will and
emotions, which are in theheart, are corrupt.
This imagery indicates acomplete societal and spiritual
breakdown.
So these people, not only hadthey rebelled against God, look,
you know, from the outwardappearance, you could tell they
(07:24):
were rebelling because of thesituation they were in and the
condition they were in.
But this was also an internalproblem.
This was an issue where theyhad completely changed their
heart, they had hardened theirheart against God, they seemed
to be unrepentant for it.
They continued in the ways thatSatan was wanting them to go,
(07:46):
formulating their ways aroundsociety with idol idolatry, the
idol worship, and uh just thethe blatant disobedience to
God's word and what he hadcalled them to.
So this wasn't just a I'm goingto capture you and you're going
to do what I say you're goingto do, but yet you're going to
(08:07):
wish that you were still backwhere you were.
It wasn't that kind of asituation.
This Judah had actually theyhad changed their hearts, they
had hardened themselves.
And when it goes, when itbecomes a heart matter, the
Bible tells us that out of theheart comes the fullness of
life.
The heart, the mouth speaks.
The very person that weactually are is always shown
(08:31):
when we bear our hearts.
So when it becomes a heartissue, then that is a very deep
rebellion that Judah was in atthis point.
And John Calvin, he's anotherperson that has written a lot of
commentaries.
He noted that Isaiah portraysthe people as past feeling.
Their conscience is seared andtheir condition is hopeless
(08:54):
unless divine grace intervenes.
Satan had put the blinders on.
And you know, a lot of theseIsraelites, the lot of these in
Judah, they probably, if youwould have asked them the
condition that they were in,they were probably in a denial.
If you ask them, you know, whyare you doing what you're doing?
Why don't you go back to theway that you were?
(09:15):
You know, a lot of times wereflect that same thing even in
our own lives.
If we start getting away fromGod and people start questioning
that, we go into defensivemode.
And we start trying to makeexcuses, and it comes off as we
don't really realize what whatbad of a state we really are in.
And here is in the scripture,it's kind of referring to that
(09:38):
point, to that place with Judahto show that they are in such a
bad state that a divine grace isgoing to have to really kick in
and they're going to have toaccept that in order for them to
change because their heart hasbecome so hardened towards God.
Now, as we move on to versesix, it says, From the sole of
the foot even to the head, thereis no soundness in it, but
(10:03):
bruises and sores and rawwounds.
They are not pressed out orbound up or softened with oil.
So what does that mean?
Well, let's look at it.
This verse continues themedical imagery that was already
started in the verse before.
Judah is pictured as a woundedbody, utterly afflicted,
(10:26):
untreated, and deteriorating.
So again, it kind of reflectsback to this heart problem that
they had in this previousscripture, where at the core of
their very heart, the rebellionhad formed in their lives.
They were oblivious to theplace that they were in, blinded
by Satan.
The list that is shown here inthis scripture, bruises and
(10:49):
sores and raw wounds, thoseemphasize the painful effects of
sin and divine discipline.
The fact that these wounds arenot pressed out or bound up or
softened with oil signifiesneglect or an unwillingness to
respond to God's discipline withrepentance.
Now, according to the NIV studyBible, this untreated condition
(11:14):
suggests not only the severityof Judah's spiritual disease,
but also the absence of healing.
So what does that point to?
If there's a disease there andthere's an absence of healing
for this disease, just think ofit in your own life.
If you're sick or if you havemajor cuts on your body, or you,
you know, you have some majordamage done to yourself in your
(11:36):
physical form, but you're nothaving any healing take place.
Well, that usually points to astubbornness.
And that's what it did here.
It points to the stubbornnessof the people and the absence of
wise leadership or spiritualguidance.
They weren't even trying to fixthe issue.
That's the same as us beinginjured and just laying there in
the ditch to die.
(11:57):
We don't try to get any help.
We don't go to the doctor.
We don't call 911.
We just lay there and letourselves deteriorate away.
And this scripture, in essence,was describing Judah in this
way.
They had all of these issues,these bruises, sores, and these
wounds, but there was nothingthere to show that they were
trying to fix any of it.
(12:18):
And oil is mentioned herebecause oil was the common
treatment for wounds in ancienttimes.
And if you look at Luke chapter10, verse 34, is another place
where that's mentioned.
And that scripture says in theESV, he went to him and bound up
his wounds, pouring on oil andwine.
Then he set him on his ownanimal and brought him to an inn
(12:39):
and took care of him.
All of you Bible scholars outthere, what story am I reading?
Can you think of it?
It's the Good Samaritan, theGood Samaritan that had
compassion on the Jew when theLevite and the priest passed him
by.
So in this situation here, theSamaritan took the oil and he
(13:02):
used that with compresses to tryto uh bandage up the wounds
that the Jew had on his bodywhile he was laying there in the
ditch.
So back to this verse here inverse 6.
This verse is part of Isaiah'sopening indictment against the
nation of Judah.
Here Isaiah is using vivid andgraphic imagery to describe the
(13:24):
moral and spiritual condition ofthe people.
He compares the nation to abody that is completely diseased
and wounded.
And this wounded and thisdiseased look in their body is
from head to toe.
There's no part left unharmedor whole.
Isaiah is poetically describingthe complete corruption and
(13:45):
brokenness of Judah here.
The image of a body covered inuntreated wounds symbolizes the
nation's spiritual decay due tosin and rebellion against God.
The bruises and sores and theraw wounds, they represent the
consequences of theirdisobedience, both morally and
socially.
(14:06):
The fact that these wounds arenot pressed out or bound up or
softened with oil indicate thatthere's been no attempt at
healing or repentance.
These people in Judah, they'renot only suffering from sin, but
they are actually neglectingthe remedy.
And what is that remedy?
Turning back to God.
(14:28):
You know, instead of trustingin God, these people relying on
foreign alliances and emptyrituals, like we talked about uh
in some previous verses, theyhad this fake thing going on
where they wanted to look mightyand holy and upright before
God, but they were just playingthe game.
They were just empty rituals.
(14:49):
God was longing for thatrelationship to come back that
he had created with the kingdomof Israel and Judah from the
very beginning as he chose themto be his people.
So commentator Matthew Henry,he sees this verse as a metaphor
for the universal corruption ofhuman nature.
He writes that the nation islike a diseased body, and the
(15:12):
lack of healing shows a refusalto repent or seek God's mercy.
Here Isaiah is using the imageof a wounded, untreated body to
portray the complete moral andspiritual decay of Judah.
The people are sufferingbecause of their sin, yet they
refuse to seek healing throughrepentance and obedience to God.
This verse really shows andhelps us understand the
(15:36):
seriousness of sin and theurgent need for spiritual
restoration.
It's so crazy that a peoplecould let themselves get so far
out of whack and so far awayfrom God and have so many bad
things going on in their lives,but yet they totally ignore it
and they continue to live inthat lifestyle continuously
(15:59):
without any source of change intheir life to want to even show
that they're trying to makethings better or back get back
right with God.
But yet we see that so often,even in our own communities and
our in our own world today, thisevil world that we live in,
there's so many places that wecan look around that we hear
about each and every day thatare going through the same exact
(16:20):
thing.
They're so far away from Godthat you really wonder, could
they ever come back to wherethey need to be?
Could they ever come to a pointwhere they could accept that
divine grace that God does offerthat Jesus gave us through
giving his life on the cross?
Well, as we continue on now toverse seven here in chapter one
(16:41):
of Isaiah, it says, Your countrylies desolate, your cities are
burned with fire, in your verypresence foreigners devour your
land.
It is desolate as overthrown byforeigners.
So here Isaiah moves frommetaphor to reality.
So up until this point, he wasusing just examples, you know,
(17:04):
of the wounds and the bruises,the sores, all the different
things that he was throwing outthere as a metaphor, just try to
get them to see the comparisonand the parallel of the life
that they were living.
Well, here he moves to thereality of the condition of
Judah, the way that it actuallywas at this point.
The physical suffering of theland mirrors the spiritual
(17:27):
sickness of the people.
It shows that the people, theway that they've turned from
God, the way they've neglectedthemselves, they've not tried to
take care of themselves or toget back into a state of
healthiness.
Well, the land was sufferingthe same issue.
This reflects the consequencesof military invasions.
And this would be referring tosome of the events, such as the
(17:49):
Syro Ephraimic War, whichhappened around 735 BC or even
Sennacherib's invasion in 701BC, and several of the other
wars that would take placeduring this time frame while
Isaiah was ministering andtrying to minister here to
Judah.
The reference to cities burnedby fire aligns with the Syrian
(18:10):
tactics during invasions.
The phrase in your verypresence indicates a sense of
helplessness.
The people witness theirdevastation, but they are unable
or unwilling to stop it.
The language in the scripturewhere it says overthrown by
foreigners captures nationalhumiliation and disinheritance.
(18:32):
Commentary from Alec Motyernotes how Isaiah intertwines
visible ruin with invisibleguilt, showing that the
theological root of nationaldisaster lies in covenant
unfaithfulness.
Here, Alec draws out a keytheological insight that what
the people of Judah could see intheir world, their land being
(18:55):
laid waste, cities burned, andthe invasion by foreigners, was
deeply connected to somethingthey could not see as easily,
which was their spiritualcondition and the covenant
disloyalty to God.
In essence, spiritually andphysically, they were in a
horrible place.
But they weren't willing toacknowledge that.
They were trying to just lookthrough the motions and make it
(19:18):
look like something that itwasn't, but yet they would look
at their land and see thedevastation and and mourn it and
understand it and you know seewhat's going on out there in
where they're they were livingand the living conditions that
they were in, but they were yetunable though to see the own
spiritual condition of theirhearts.
(19:38):
Here Alec emphasizes thatIsaiah deliberately intertwines
the physical effects ofjudgment, which was visible
ruin, with the spiritual cause,which was the invisible guilt.
In other words, the nationaldisaster that Judah faced was
not just a result of politicalweakness or military failure, it
(19:59):
was rooted in breaking theircovenant relationship with God.
The devastation of their landwas evidence of a deeper moral
and spiritual rebellion.
They were reaping what theywere sowing, with the idolatry
that they had in their lives,with the way that they were
running from God, and they wereselling their souls to idolatry
(20:21):
and to the foreign nations,allowing them to come in and
take over their countries.
Their devastation there wasmuch deeper than what they could
ever have imagined.
And this is a theme that Isaiahstresses throughout this book.
Outward calamities are notrandom, but they are signs
pointing to inward corruption.
Everything that Isaiah wassharing with Judah through these
(20:44):
visions was actually beingshared to try to get them to
wake up to see the reality ofthe state and the condition that
they were in.
The visible state of the landwas an outward expression of the
inward unfaithfulness to God'scovenant.
In covenant terms, obediencewould bring blessing, but
disobedience would bring curseand judgment, just as outlined
(21:07):
in passages like Deuteronomychapter twenty-eight and the
passages that we shared lastweek from Deuteronomy.
So according to Alec Motyr,Isaiah 1 7 is not just a
description of natural disaster,it is a spiritual diagnosis.
Here the prophet is calling thepeople to see past the physical
destruction and recognize itstrue source.
(21:30):
The whole reason that they havethe physical destruction in the
lands that they were living inand their homes were being
violated and taken away fromthem was because of their broken
relationship with God.
The ruined land, in essence,was a mirror reflecting the
nation's spiritual ruin.
In Isaiah chapter one, verseeight, it continues, it says,
(21:52):
And the daughter of Zion is leftlike a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumberfield, like a besieged city.
So here in this scripture, thedaughter of Zion is actually
just a poetic way of referringto Jerusalem, the spiritual and
the political heart of Judah.
The metaphors used here, atemporary shack in a vineyard or
(22:15):
field, those speak ofvulnerability and abandonment.
The image of a besieged citysuggests vulnerability,
isolation, and hardship, likelypointing to recent or ongoing
military threats that had takenplace during that time.
This reflects how Jerusalem,who was once proud and stable,
(22:37):
when they were actuallyfollowing God and doing what he
asked them to do, had becomeweak and forsaken, and of
course, this was all because oftheir national sin.
So back to the point here aboutthe booth and the vineyard.
So as I told you last week, inculture during Israel's time,
(22:58):
there were things that they usedand that they saw in everyday
use that they would understandthese scriptures and to why
Isaiah worded things like hedid, they would understand what
he was saying.
Where today we don't get itsometimes when we look at it
without studying because wedon't see these same things
today.
It's a cultural difference.
(23:20):
So let's talk about that boothin the vineyard just for a
second.
As we mentioned, that meansbasically that they were
vulnerable and abandonment.
So why was that metaphor usedabout the temporary shack and
vineyard or field?
Well, this refers to smalltemporary shelters or shacks
(23:41):
that were commonly erected inagricultural fields such as
vineyards or cucumber patches.
The reason that these shelterswere used was for watchmen or
workers during the harvestseason.
The purpose of this littleshack was practical.
It was to provide shade andsimple lodging so someone could
guard the crops from thieves oranimals during the day and
(24:04):
sometimes overnight.
The thing was though, when theybuilt these little shacks, they
were just kind of just throwntogether.
They weren't really very solid.
So once the harvest ended,these shacks were typically
abandoned, left standing alonein the empty, desolate fields.
Well, because they didn't buildthem very well, they were
(24:25):
flimsy, vulnerable structures,and they were actually never
meant to be permanent dwellingsto begin with.
So Isaiah uses this image todescribe the condition of
Jerusalem, who was also thedaughter of Zion in that
scripture, after facingdevastation.
He compares the city ofJerusalem to one of these
deserted shelters, isolated,exposed, and fragile.
(24:49):
It creates a powerful visual atthat point when you look at it
that way of vulnerability andabandonment, highlighting how
far the once glorious city hasfallen due to its
unfaithfulness.
It's a poetic way of showingthe ruin and loneliness that
sins and rebellion have broughtupon God's people.
The expositor's Biblecommentary points out how these
(25:13):
images would have evoked a deepsense of instability and
wilderness for Judah at thattime as the ones receiving this
message, because they would havequickly compared Jerusalem with
structures left alone in abarren field, quickly made and
then quickly discarded.
So when they compared this toJerusalem, when they would leave
(25:37):
these vineyards and thesefields after the harvest was
done, these little shacks, theywould just fall over eventually.
The wind would come along andblow them down, and the rains
and the storms would come along,they just weren't very sturdy
at all.
And so here the imagery isshowing towards Jerusalem on how
unstable they had become.
(25:58):
So again, here is Isaiah isusing some imagery that Judah
would have understood when hewas trying to describe to them
the condition that he sawJerusalem in according to this
vision that God had given tohim.
So once again, Isaiah was justtrying to get through to the
Israelites and to Judah to letthem know hey, you guys are in a
(26:22):
bad situation here.
You guys are having a bad look.
You need to turn your livesaround, give your hearts back to
God.
That's the only way that you'regonna survive this as a country
and as a nation, is for you todo what God has called you to
do?
So we've about reached our timefor this week, so we're going
(26:58):
to wrap up this episode.
We'll come back next week andget back into this chapter as we
continue through chapter one inIsaiah.
So to summarize this up today,and how can we apply this to our
lives?
What can we take from thisportion of scripture and move
forward in our walk with God?
(27:19):
As we look at Isaiah and we'vebeen through chapter 1, verse 5
through 8 this week, this paintsa vivid and sobering picture of
a nation in deep spiritual andmoral decline.
You know, God, he's been usingIsaiah here to compare Israel to
a body that is completelybruised and wounded from head to
toe.
I mean, if you look at the thebody of Judah, there's not a
(27:43):
healthy spot left on them.
The imagery is intense, theyhave open sores, they've got
untreated wounds and a desolateland overtaken by foreigners.
It's a powerful metaphor forthe consequences of turning away
from God.
It's like just it's a recipefor disaster, in my opinion,
when I sit there and just getthis visual in my mind.
(28:04):
So, in wrapping up thispassage, the message though is
very clear.
When we persist in rebellionand when we ignore God's
direction, the damage isn't justspiritual, it affects every
part of our lives.
The people of Israel havebecome so accustomed to their
brokenness that they didn't evenrealize how much they were
(28:28):
really suffering.
And I think we talked aboutthis a little bit last week, uh,
about generational things, youknow, when in our lives, when we
feel like the the things thatwe do only damage us and the
core within who we are, but inall reality, it affects
everything around us, the peoplethat are close to us, the
(28:48):
people we work with, the peoplewe go to church with.
You know, it even affects ourlife circumstances.
When we get away from God andwe allow Satan to come in and
manipulate us, when we allow himto close our hearts, we look we
have that choice to close ourhearts to God, then it it
(29:08):
becomes a bad situation for us.
It's not a good look at all.
So as we close this week, howcan we apply these scriptures to
us today?
Well, as I look through thesescriptures here in verses five
through eight, I look at it as areminder that ignoring God's
guidance doesn't just leave usspiritually disconnected, it
(29:29):
also leads us to emotional,relational, and even a societal
decay.
And I think we can all lookaround in society today, in the
United States of America that welive in, we can look around and
see that not only are therepeople that are having emotional
problems.
I see constantly in the newswhere young people between
(29:51):
twenties and forties arecommitting suicide.
The emotional decay is horriblein this nation.
Relational Divorces are up.
You see a lot more people thatare cohabiting, men and women
not being married.
There's a lot of biblicalprinciples that are being
ignored in the way that Godwants us to live.
(30:14):
And when all of that stuffcomes together, it creates a
society that is decaying andfalling apart at the seams.
And although we kind of seem tobe living in a little bit of a
reprieve right at the moment,there's still some areas in our
country.
When I look at the West Coastin California, when I look at
(30:34):
Oregon, when I look at thecountry of Wa of Washington, and
I look at the country of NewYork, and I'm calling them
countries because they are sofar different from what the
United States core actually is,it's just it blows my mind.
I hate I just I don'tunderstand how Satan can get his
fingers wrapped in so much intoa place to make them so much
(30:57):
different than what God hascalled us to be as a nation.
And I know there's goodChristian people in these
states, and I'm not sayinganything to, you know, be
cynical towards you all.
Uh you're in a mission field.
I I have high I give you kudos.
I really do.
The fact that you can live inareas like that as a Christian
(31:19):
and still survive and be anexample, uh, that that's a very
strong person, and I admire youfor that.
Uh but as a society as a whole,we've got a lot of corruption
going on, and a lot of this is aheart issue.
We've let our hearts get awayfrom God, and just like Israel,
we can become so used to thisdysfunction that in a lot of
(31:42):
ways we don't even realize howfar we've drifted.
And I think that's truly truewith our society today.
But in all this bad news andall of this bad look and the
stuff that we look at and itjust blows our mind and it
disappoints us, there is goodnews.
You know, Isaiah's message,it's not just about judgment,
(32:04):
it's a call to wake up, torecognize our condition, and
there is hope.
We just have to return to theone who can heal us.
In our modern context, thispassage of verses 5 through 8
invites us to do an honestself-check.
Are there areas in our livesthat are wounded because we've
(32:25):
been doing things our own way?
Are we ignoring the signs thatsomething's not right?
The hope is that just likeIsrael was called back to God,
we too can turn around.
We can seek healing, and we canexperience restoration.
Well, that's going to do it forthis week.
(32:46):
And as we go, we want to remindyou that we believe that God's
word never fails us, God's wordhas stood the test of time, and
through Jesus' death on thecross, he has connected the gap.
This is an extension ofConnecting the Gap Ministries,
and we pray that you have ablessed week.
Welcome back to the podcast this week.
This week we're gonna begetting back into Isaiah chapter
1.
And let me tell you, it's notexactly the feel-good passage of
the week.
Think of it as the spiritualequivalent of a parent walking
into a messy teenager's room andsaying, seriously?
This is what we're doing now?
I mean, believe me, I've beenthere a time or two.
(00:28):
Israel this week is bringingthe heat, calling out a nation
that's bruised, battered, andsomehow still not getting the
message.
But don't worry, we're gonnaunpack the tough love with a
little grate, a little insight,and maybe a chuckle or two along
the way.
So grab your coffee, get yourBible, your notebook, and maybe
a band-aid, because this one'sgot some sting to it.
(00:50):
Let's get into it.
Welcome to Connecting the Gap.
This is a podcast aboutmarriage, Bible, and book
studies, and we interview peoplethat have a story.
I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
Thank you guys for joining usthis week.
(01:11):
If you're not familiar with ourshow, check out our website at
connectingthegap.net for ourplatforms.
Our YouTube and Rumble linksare there.
We're also on the Christianpodcasting app Edifi.
And we're also on your Alexaand Google Smart devices.
You can also visit us onsocial, on Facebook, Instagram,
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Feel free to leave a comment onour platforms and give us a
(01:33):
thumbs up or five-star review onApple Podcasts.
And we'd be thankful to you andgrateful to you for doing that.
Also, as a ministry, we haveour book out, Marriage as a
Mission, Living Out God's Designfor Marriage.
You can pick up your copy ofthat in paperback at Amazon.com
or BarnesandNoble.com.
And in addition, we also havethat in hardback format and
(01:56):
Kindle.
And we also have a six-sessionstudy guide, and you can
purchase those exclusively onAmazon.
So make sure you go pick yourcopy up today.
Well, last week we started offin Isaiah chapter one.
We made it through the firstfour verses.
And this week we're going tokick back off here with verse
(02:17):
five.
And we'll see how far we makeit as we continue into Isaiah
chapter one.
Well, I hope you enjoyed lastweek's episode.
(02:41):
We left off at verse four ofchapter one last week as we made
it through the first fourverses of the chapter.
And this week we're going to goahead and pick up with verse
five as we continue this studyverse by verse through Isaiah.
And once again, want to remindyou that we are using the ESV
version of the Bible as we readthrough the majority of the
(03:05):
scriptures here on this podcastthroughout this series.
So as we start this week, we'regoing to jump right into verse
five of chapter one.
It says, Why will you still bestruck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick and thewhole heart faint.
(03:26):
Well, if you remember lastweek, we ended on verse four,
which was a lament.
Now, also last week, if youremember, just kind of give you
a little bit of a refresherhere, Isaiah, when he was
sharing this message from thisvision from God, God was
likening Israel to animals, uh,just basically stating that
(03:47):
actually animals have morecommon sense than the Israelites
and and Judah does, that atleast the instincts that they
had, such as the birds migratingsouth for the winter, or the ox
and the donkey, actuallyknowing their purpose and doing
what they were supposed to befor their masters.
You know, the animal kingdomseemed to have a lot more going
(04:10):
on up in the top of the elevatorspace there than the people of
Judah did.
And to me, that would be, youknow, quite a low blow,
especially coming from God forsure.
And you think that that wouldmake them wake up and understand
what was being said and causethem to change.
But the Israelites, they werevery, very hard-headed.
(04:31):
So here in verse 5, Isaiahcontinues the lament that he
started in verse 4 for thesinful state of Judah using the
metaphor of physical sickness todescribe the nation's moral and
their spiritual condition both.
The rhetorical questions thatwere in the scripture, why will
(04:51):
you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
Well, those questions implythat Judah's suffering is
self-inflicted due to persistentrebellion.
The language of still be struckdown likely reflects the
repeated judgments that Judahhas faced and foreshadows the
worsening consequences if thepeople do not repent.
(05:13):
Anytime the a country comesinto a position of being
captured and the enemy actuallydefeats them, it starts off
really bad already becauseyou're being captured, probably
being forced into slave labor,whatever it may be.
But more most generally, moreoften than not, the longer that
you are in captivity with theseother countries, the worse it
(05:37):
gets.
That's probably been reflecteda lot just here recently, within
the last year of our news whenPalestine came in and attacked
Israel and took a lot of thecaptives.
One thing that I noticed asthey were releasing the hostages
back to Israel, they eitherdidn't come back because they
(05:59):
were killed, or they looked likea sack of bones.
They were not feeding them,they were malnourished, they did
not look very well at all.
And the day that they weretaken into captivity, they were
very healthy individuals.
So when you get captured likethis from an enemy and they take
(06:19):
control of your livelihood andwho you are, it's only going to
get worse the longer that youkeep rebelling and don't change.
And that's what Isaiah wastrying to get through to Judah
here that these repeatingjudgments that they were facing,
they thought it was bad now.
If they didn't change theirways, it was only going to get
(06:40):
worse.
And it was going to come to apoint where they would finally
get to their lowest point andhave to make a choice, have to
make a decision on if they weregoing to repent or not.
The portion of this scripturewhere it says the whole head is
sick and the whole heart faint.
Well, when you put those twotogether, that describes total
(07:02):
depravity.
Both intellect, which of courseis in the head, and will and
emotions, which are in theheart, are corrupt.
This imagery indicates acomplete societal and spiritual
breakdown.
So these people, not only hadthey rebelled against God, look,
you know, from the outwardappearance, you could tell they
(07:24):
were rebelling because of thesituation they were in and the
condition they were in.
But this was also an internalproblem.
This was an issue where theyhad completely changed their
heart, they had hardened theirheart against God, they seemed
to be unrepentant for it.
They continued in the ways thatSatan was wanting them to go,
(07:46):
formulating their ways aroundsociety with idol idolatry, the
idol worship, and uh just thethe blatant disobedience to
God's word and what he hadcalled them to.
So this wasn't just a I'm goingto capture you and you're going
to do what I say you're goingto do, but yet you're going to
(08:07):
wish that you were still backwhere you were.
It wasn't that kind of asituation.
This Judah had actually theyhad changed their hearts, they
had hardened themselves.
And when it goes, when itbecomes a heart matter, the
Bible tells us that out of theheart comes the fullness of
life.
The heart, the mouth speaks.
The very person that weactually are is always shown
(08:31):
when we bear our hearts.
So when it becomes a heartissue, then that is a very deep
rebellion that Judah was in atthis point.
And John Calvin, he's anotherperson that has written a lot of
commentaries.
He noted that Isaiah portraysthe people as past feeling.
Their conscience is seared andtheir condition is hopeless
(08:54):
unless divine grace intervenes.
Satan had put the blinders on.
And you know, a lot of theseIsraelites, the lot of these in
Judah, they probably, if youwould have asked them the
condition that they were in,they were probably in a denial.
If you ask them, you know, whyare you doing what you're doing?
Why don't you go back to theway that you were?
(09:15):
You know, a lot of times wereflect that same thing even in
our own lives.
If we start getting away fromGod and people start questioning
that, we go into defensivemode.
And we start trying to makeexcuses, and it comes off as we
don't really realize what whatbad of a state we really are in.
And here is in the scripture,it's kind of referring to that
(09:38):
point, to that place with Judahto show that they are in such a
bad state that a divine grace isgoing to have to really kick in
and they're going to have toaccept that in order for them to
change because their heart hasbecome so hardened towards God.
Now, as we move on to versesix, it says, From the sole of
the foot even to the head, thereis no soundness in it, but
(10:03):
bruises and sores and rawwounds.
They are not pressed out orbound up or softened with oil.
So what does that mean?
Well, let's look at it.
This verse continues themedical imagery that was already
started in the verse before.
Judah is pictured as a woundedbody, utterly afflicted,
(10:26):
untreated, and deteriorating.
So again, it kind of reflectsback to this heart problem that
they had in this previousscripture, where at the core of
their very heart, the rebellionhad formed in their lives.
They were oblivious to theplace that they were in, blinded
by Satan.
The list that is shown here inthis scripture, bruises and
(10:49):
sores and raw wounds, thoseemphasize the painful effects of
sin and divine discipline.
The fact that these wounds arenot pressed out or bound up or
softened with oil signifiesneglect or an unwillingness to
respond to God's discipline withrepentance.
Now, according to the NIV studyBible, this untreated condition
(11:14):
suggests not only the severityof Judah's spiritual disease,
but also the absence of healing.
So what does that point to?
If there's a disease there andthere's an absence of healing
for this disease, just think ofit in your own life.
If you're sick or if you havemajor cuts on your body, or you,
you know, you have some majordamage done to yourself in your
(11:36):
physical form, but you're nothaving any healing take place.
Well, that usually points to astubbornness.
And that's what it did here.
It points to the stubbornnessof the people and the absence of
wise leadership or spiritualguidance.
They weren't even trying to fixthe issue.
That's the same as us beinginjured and just laying there in
the ditch to die.
(11:57):
We don't try to get any help.
We don't go to the doctor.
We don't call 911.
We just lay there and letourselves deteriorate away.
And this scripture, in essence,was describing Judah in this
way.
They had all of these issues,these bruises, sores, and these
wounds, but there was nothingthere to show that they were
trying to fix any of it.
(12:18):
And oil is mentioned herebecause oil was the common
treatment for wounds in ancienttimes.
And if you look at Luke chapter10, verse 34, is another place
where that's mentioned.
And that scripture says in theESV, he went to him and bound up
his wounds, pouring on oil andwine.
Then he set him on his ownanimal and brought him to an inn
(12:39):
and took care of him.
All of you Bible scholars outthere, what story am I reading?
Can you think of it?
It's the Good Samaritan, theGood Samaritan that had
compassion on the Jew when theLevite and the priest passed him
by.
So in this situation here, theSamaritan took the oil and he
(13:02):
used that with compresses to tryto uh bandage up the wounds
that the Jew had on his bodywhile he was laying there in the
ditch.
So back to this verse here inverse 6.
This verse is part of Isaiah'sopening indictment against the
nation of Judah.
Here Isaiah is using vivid andgraphic imagery to describe the
(13:24):
moral and spiritual condition ofthe people.
He compares the nation to abody that is completely diseased
and wounded.
And this wounded and thisdiseased look in their body is
from head to toe.
There's no part left unharmedor whole.
Isaiah is poetically describingthe complete corruption and
(13:45):
brokenness of Judah here.
The image of a body covered inuntreated wounds symbolizes the
nation's spiritual decay due tosin and rebellion against God.
The bruises and sores and theraw wounds, they represent the
consequences of theirdisobedience, both morally and
socially.
(14:06):
The fact that these wounds arenot pressed out or bound up or
softened with oil indicate thatthere's been no attempt at
healing or repentance.
These people in Judah, they'renot only suffering from sin, but
they are actually neglectingthe remedy.
And what is that remedy?
Turning back to God.
(14:28):
You know, instead of trustingin God, these people relying on
foreign alliances and emptyrituals, like we talked about uh
in some previous verses, theyhad this fake thing going on
where they wanted to look mightyand holy and upright before
God, but they were just playingthe game.
They were just empty rituals.
(14:49):
God was longing for thatrelationship to come back that
he had created with the kingdomof Israel and Judah from the
very beginning as he chose themto be his people.
So commentator Matthew Henry,he sees this verse as a metaphor
for the universal corruption ofhuman nature.
He writes that the nation islike a diseased body, and the
(15:12):
lack of healing shows a refusalto repent or seek God's mercy.
Here Isaiah is using the imageof a wounded, untreated body to
portray the complete moral andspiritual decay of Judah.
The people are sufferingbecause of their sin, yet they
refuse to seek healing throughrepentance and obedience to God.
This verse really shows andhelps us understand the
(15:36):
seriousness of sin and theurgent need for spiritual
restoration.
It's so crazy that a peoplecould let themselves get so far
out of whack and so far awayfrom God and have so many bad
things going on in their lives,but yet they totally ignore it
and they continue to live inthat lifestyle continuously
(15:59):
without any source of change intheir life to want to even show
that they're trying to makethings better or back get back
right with God.
But yet we see that so often,even in our own communities and
our in our own world today, thisevil world that we live in,
there's so many places that wecan look around that we hear
about each and every day thatare going through the same exact
(16:20):
thing.
They're so far away from Godthat you really wonder, could
they ever come back to wherethey need to be?
Could they ever come to a pointwhere they could accept that
divine grace that God does offerthat Jesus gave us through
giving his life on the cross?
Well, as we continue on now toverse seven here in chapter one
(16:41):
of Isaiah, it says, Your countrylies desolate, your cities are
burned with fire, in your verypresence foreigners devour your
land.
It is desolate as overthrown byforeigners.
So here Isaiah moves frommetaphor to reality.
So up until this point, he wasusing just examples, you know,
(17:04):
of the wounds and the bruises,the sores, all the different
things that he was throwing outthere as a metaphor, just try to
get them to see the comparisonand the parallel of the life
that they were living.
Well, here he moves to thereality of the condition of
Judah, the way that it actuallywas at this point.
The physical suffering of theland mirrors the spiritual
(17:27):
sickness of the people.
It shows that the people, theway that they've turned from
God, the way they've neglectedthemselves, they've not tried to
take care of themselves or toget back into a state of
healthiness.
Well, the land was sufferingthe same issue.
This reflects the consequencesof military invasions.
And this would be referring tosome of the events, such as the
(17:49):
Syro Ephraimic War, whichhappened around 735 BC or even
Sennacherib's invasion in 701BC, and several of the other
wars that would take placeduring this time frame while
Isaiah was ministering andtrying to minister here to
Judah.
The reference to cities burnedby fire aligns with the Syrian
(18:10):
tactics during invasions.
The phrase in your verypresence indicates a sense of
helplessness.
The people witness theirdevastation, but they are unable
or unwilling to stop it.
The language in the scripturewhere it says overthrown by
foreigners captures nationalhumiliation and disinheritance.
(18:32):
Commentary from Alec Motyernotes how Isaiah intertwines
visible ruin with invisibleguilt, showing that the
theological root of nationaldisaster lies in covenant
unfaithfulness.
Here, Alec draws out a keytheological insight that what
the people of Judah could see intheir world, their land being
(18:55):
laid waste, cities burned, andthe invasion by foreigners, was
deeply connected to somethingthey could not see as easily,
which was their spiritualcondition and the covenant
disloyalty to God.
In essence, spiritually andphysically, they were in a
horrible place.
But they weren't willing toacknowledge that.
They were trying to just lookthrough the motions and make it
(19:18):
look like something that itwasn't, but yet they would look
at their land and see thedevastation and and mourn it and
understand it and you know seewhat's going on out there in
where they're they were livingand the living conditions that
they were in, but they were yetunable though to see the own
spiritual condition of theirhearts.
(19:38):
Here Alec emphasizes thatIsaiah deliberately intertwines
the physical effects ofjudgment, which was visible
ruin, with the spiritual cause,which was the invisible guilt.
In other words, the nationaldisaster that Judah faced was
not just a result of politicalweakness or military failure, it
(19:59):
was rooted in breaking theircovenant relationship with God.
The devastation of their landwas evidence of a deeper moral
and spiritual rebellion.
They were reaping what theywere sowing, with the idolatry
that they had in their lives,with the way that they were
running from God, and they wereselling their souls to idolatry
(20:21):
and to the foreign nations,allowing them to come in and
take over their countries.
Their devastation there wasmuch deeper than what they could
ever have imagined.
And this is a theme that Isaiahstresses throughout this book.
Outward calamities are notrandom, but they are signs
pointing to inward corruption.
Everything that Isaiah wassharing with Judah through these
(20:44):
visions was actually beingshared to try to get them to
wake up to see the reality ofthe state and the condition that
they were in.
The visible state of the landwas an outward expression of the
inward unfaithfulness to God'scovenant.
In covenant terms, obediencewould bring blessing, but
disobedience would bring curseand judgment, just as outlined
(21:07):
in passages like Deuteronomychapter twenty-eight and the
passages that we shared lastweek from Deuteronomy.
So according to Alec Motyr,Isaiah 1 7 is not just a
description of natural disaster,it is a spiritual diagnosis.
Here the prophet is calling thepeople to see past the physical
destruction and recognize itstrue source.
(21:30):
The whole reason that they havethe physical destruction in the
lands that they were living inand their homes were being
violated and taken away fromthem was because of their broken
relationship with God.
The ruined land, in essence,was a mirror reflecting the
nation's spiritual ruin.
In Isaiah chapter one, verseeight, it continues, it says,
(21:52):
And the daughter of Zion is leftlike a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumberfield, like a besieged city.
So here in this scripture, thedaughter of Zion is actually
just a poetic way of referringto Jerusalem, the spiritual and
the political heart of Judah.
The metaphors used here, atemporary shack in a vineyard or
(22:15):
field, those speak ofvulnerability and abandonment.
The image of a besieged citysuggests vulnerability,
isolation, and hardship, likelypointing to recent or ongoing
military threats that had takenplace during that time.
This reflects how Jerusalem,who was once proud and stable,
(22:37):
when they were actuallyfollowing God and doing what he
asked them to do, had becomeweak and forsaken, and of
course, this was all because oftheir national sin.
So back to the point here aboutthe booth and the vineyard.
So as I told you last week, inculture during Israel's time,
(22:58):
there were things that they usedand that they saw in everyday
use that they would understandthese scriptures and to why
Isaiah worded things like hedid, they would understand what
he was saying.
Where today we don't get itsometimes when we look at it
without studying because wedon't see these same things
today.
It's a cultural difference.
(23:20):
So let's talk about that boothin the vineyard just for a
second.
As we mentioned, that meansbasically that they were
vulnerable and abandonment.
So why was that metaphor usedabout the temporary shack and
vineyard or field?
Well, this refers to smalltemporary shelters or shacks
(23:41):
that were commonly erected inagricultural fields such as
vineyards or cucumber patches.
The reason that these shelterswere used was for watchmen or
workers during the harvestseason.
The purpose of this littleshack was practical.
It was to provide shade andsimple lodging so someone could
guard the crops from thieves oranimals during the day and
(24:04):
sometimes overnight.
The thing was though, when theybuilt these little shacks, they
were just kind of just throwntogether.
They weren't really very solid.
So once the harvest ended,these shacks were typically
abandoned, left standing alonein the empty, desolate fields.
Well, because they didn't buildthem very well, they were
(24:25):
flimsy, vulnerable structures,and they were actually never
meant to be permanent dwellingsto begin with.
So Isaiah uses this image todescribe the condition of
Jerusalem, who was also thedaughter of Zion in that
scripture, after facingdevastation.
He compares the city ofJerusalem to one of these
deserted shelters, isolated,exposed, and fragile.
(24:49):
It creates a powerful visual atthat point when you look at it
that way of vulnerability andabandonment, highlighting how
far the once glorious city hasfallen due to its
unfaithfulness.
It's a poetic way of showingthe ruin and loneliness that
sins and rebellion have broughtupon God's people.
The expositor's Biblecommentary points out how these
(25:13):
images would have evoked a deepsense of instability and
wilderness for Judah at thattime as the ones receiving this
message, because they would havequickly compared Jerusalem with
structures left alone in abarren field, quickly made and
then quickly discarded.
So when they compared this toJerusalem, when they would leave
(25:37):
these vineyards and thesefields after the harvest was
done, these little shacks, theywould just fall over eventually.
The wind would come along andblow them down, and the rains
and the storms would come along,they just weren't very sturdy
at all.
And so here the imagery isshowing towards Jerusalem on how
unstable they had become.
(25:58):
So again, here is Isaiah isusing some imagery that Judah
would have understood when hewas trying to describe to them
the condition that he sawJerusalem in according to this
vision that God had given tohim.
So once again, Isaiah was justtrying to get through to the
Israelites and to Judah to letthem know hey, you guys are in a
(26:22):
bad situation here.
You guys are having a bad look.
You need to turn your livesaround, give your hearts back to
God.
That's the only way that you'regonna survive this as a country
and as a nation, is for you todo what God has called you to
do?
So we've about reached our timefor this week, so we're going
(26:58):
to wrap up this episode.
We'll come back next week andget back into this chapter as we
continue through chapter one inIsaiah.
So to summarize this up today,and how can we apply this to our
lives?
What can we take from thisportion of scripture and move
forward in our walk with God?
(27:19):
As we look at Isaiah and we'vebeen through chapter 1, verse 5
through 8 this week, this paintsa vivid and sobering picture of
a nation in deep spiritual andmoral decline.
You know, God, he's been usingIsaiah here to compare Israel to
a body that is completelybruised and wounded from head to
toe.
I mean, if you look at the thebody of Judah, there's not a
(27:43):
healthy spot left on them.
The imagery is intense, theyhave open sores, they've got
untreated wounds and a desolateland overtaken by foreigners.
It's a powerful metaphor forthe consequences of turning away
from God.
It's like just it's a recipefor disaster, in my opinion,
when I sit there and just getthis visual in my mind.
(28:04):
So, in wrapping up thispassage, the message though is
very clear.
When we persist in rebellionand when we ignore God's
direction, the damage isn't justspiritual, it affects every
part of our lives.
The people of Israel havebecome so accustomed to their
brokenness that they didn't evenrealize how much they were
(28:28):
really suffering.
And I think we talked aboutthis a little bit last week, uh,
about generational things, youknow, when in our lives, when we
feel like the the things thatwe do only damage us and the
core within who we are, but inall reality, it affects
everything around us, the peoplethat are close to us, the
(28:48):
people we work with, the peoplewe go to church with.
You know, it even affects ourlife circumstances.
When we get away from God andwe allow Satan to come in and
manipulate us, when we allow himto close our hearts, we look we
have that choice to close ourhearts to God, then it it
(29:08):
becomes a bad situation for us.
It's not a good look at all.
So as we close this week, howcan we apply these scriptures to
us today?
Well, as I look through thesescriptures here in verses five
through eight, I look at it as areminder that ignoring God's
guidance doesn't just leave usspiritually disconnected, it
(29:29):
also leads us to emotional,relational, and even a societal
decay.
And I think we can all lookaround in society today, in the
United States of America that welive in, we can look around and
see that not only are therepeople that are having emotional
problems.
I see constantly in the newswhere young people between
(29:51):
twenties and forties arecommitting suicide.
The emotional decay is horriblein this nation.
Relational Divorces are up.
You see a lot more people thatare cohabiting, men and women
not being married.
There's a lot of biblicalprinciples that are being
ignored in the way that Godwants us to live.
(30:14):
And when all of that stuffcomes together, it creates a
society that is decaying andfalling apart at the seams.
And although we kind of seem tobe living in a little bit of a
reprieve right at the moment,there's still some areas in our
country.
When I look at the West Coastin California, when I look at
(30:34):
Oregon, when I look at thecountry of Wa of Washington, and
I look at the country of NewYork, and I'm calling them
countries because they are sofar different from what the
United States core actually is,it's just it blows my mind.
I hate I just I don'tunderstand how Satan can get his
fingers wrapped in so much intoa place to make them so much
(30:57):
different than what God hascalled us to be as a nation.
And I know there's goodChristian people in these
states, and I'm not sayinganything to, you know, be
cynical towards you all.
Uh you're in a mission field.
I I have high I give you kudos.
I really do.
The fact that you can live inareas like that as a Christian
(31:19):
and still survive and be anexample, uh, that that's a very
strong person, and I admire youfor that.
Uh but as a society as a whole,we've got a lot of corruption
going on, and a lot of this is aheart issue.
We've let our hearts get awayfrom God, and just like Israel,
we can become so used to thisdysfunction that in a lot of
(31:42):
ways we don't even realize howfar we've drifted.
And I think that's truly truewith our society today.
But in all this bad news andall of this bad look and the
stuff that we look at and itjust blows our mind and it
disappoints us, there is goodnews.
You know, Isaiah's message,it's not just about judgment,
(32:04):
it's a call to wake up, torecognize our condition, and
there is hope.
We just have to return to theone who can heal us.
In our modern context, thispassage of verses 5 through 8
invites us to do an honestself-check.
Are there areas in our livesthat are wounded because we've
(32:25):
been doing things our own way?
Are we ignoring the signs thatsomething's not right?
The hope is that just likeIsrael was called back to God,
we too can turn around.
We can seek healing, and we canexperience restoration.
Well, that's going to do it forthis week.
(32:46):
And as we go, we want to remindyou that we believe that God's
word never fails us, God's wordhas stood the test of time, and
through Jesus' death on thecross, he has connected the gap.
This is an extension ofConnecting the Gap Ministries,
and we pray that you have ablessed week.
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