November 28, 2025 • 22 mins
Episode 825:
In this episode, Chris and Wesley turn their focus to Isaiah 30, where they explore the context of Israel's rebellion against God and their misguided reliance on Egypt for help. They read verses 15 to 22 from the New Living Translation, highlighting the promise found in verse 21: "Your ears will hear him. Right behind you, a voice will say, this is the way you should go, whether to the left or to the right."
In this episode, Chris and Wesley turn their focus to Isaiah 30, where they explore the context of Israel's rebellion against God and their misguided reliance on Egypt for help. They read verses 15 to 22 from the New Living Translation, highlighting the promise found in verse 21: "Your ears will hear him. Right behind you, a voice will say, this is the way you should go, whether to the left or to the right."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a
couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in
practical ways.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible guys. Now we are
excited to be here. This is Chris and Wesley coming
to you directly into your probably.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Phone or car or that's true. I guess right, Well,
it could be the phone, the car through the phone,
or it's true, that's true, or your TVA.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Some people actually watch it on big screen TV. Yeah,
the air air drop it or whatever.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, says they want to see Chris in h D
four K and on the screen.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You notice I said air drop, Yeah, right, because that's.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Just a foreign concept.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
For those of it. For those of you who don't know,
Wesley is one of the very few people that I
know in my entire life.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Actually that is very.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Much pro Samsung and PC over Macro Apple.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes, because I just prefer the more superior devices.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah yeah, I don't know how that is going to
fly with most of the people on the planet. Yeah,
but actually, well actually most people on the planet actually
prefer Samsung. It's just the United States prefers Apple. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
so that's true. You know that Apple is more common
in the United States, but if you consider the rest
of the world, it's actually Samsung.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, probably because of the price, that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's true. And the fact that you know, under developing
countries have a tendency to pick underdeveloped technology.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Oh no, no, all right, I'm still sticking with my Samsung.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Okay, all right, Well, hey, before we dive into God's
promises for today, we are going to read and Jeff
always says we're committed to giving the best news. Yes,
which is the Babylon Beat. Yeah, so what do we
have for today?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
This article is nine best times to interrupt whatever your
husband is doing to tell a long story.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Okay, First of all, I didn't know that's what the
topic was.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
That is hilarious, and we did not pick this. Does
are pick this? So ladies do not get angry at us.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, So this is advice. It's nine times yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, the nine different times. Here we go, Ladies, Sometimes
you just have to tell your husband a really long,
meandering story involving people he doesn't really know, doing things
they don't that don't pertain to him. The important thing
is knowing when is the right time to do it.
The Babylon B is here to help wives everywhere by
(02:37):
giving you the following list of perfect times to interrupt
what he's doing to tell him a story. Number one,
I love this the last two minutes of his team's
playoff game. The tighter the score, the better it is.
Number two, Monny, when he turns his night stand lamp
off and lays his head on his pillow. He wouldn't
(02:58):
do those things if he actually wanted to sleep. Oh,
that's so good. Number three on a transcontinental flight. It's
not like he can go anywhere. Number four, when he's
halfway out the door to go hang out with the guys.
You can also try stopping the story to do something
else and make him wait for you to come back
(03:20):
to the story.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh No.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Number five, as soon as he's holding something incredibly heavy.
Make sure you don't start until after he has already
lifted it, though. Number six, when you can tell he
needs to go to the bathroom. Hearing you out is
far more important than urgent bodily functions. Oh No. Number seven,
(03:43):
when he's got the burglar pinned down and he's screaming
at you to call nine to one one. Save your
longest stories from WinCE like this.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Wow, that's over the top, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Number eight, anytime he asks you what you bought it
target today, By the end of your story, he won't
even remember asking you. And then number nine right after
you finish telling your last long story. Everyone loves a
good sequel, And don't worry, he'll be happy to stop
(04:17):
and listen to your long story in any of the
situations listed above, even if he doesn't show it. When this,
it's hilarious. When are other ideal times to tell your
husband a really long story that seems like it doesn't
have any point or ending. Post them in the comments below.
But that's absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Wow, Well that that story assumes that all wives share
with their husbands meaningless stories that involve people they don't
know in situations they don't care.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
About, which does not apply to my wife or your wife. No,
of course, does not apply to.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Them, of course not. I'm only laughing on behalf of it. Yes,
where everybody else who applies to besides me and you?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, that is so funny, dude, that's good.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And because we're talking about how things don't apply to
me and you, Uh, huh. Rebellion to God does not
apply to each of us either.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, there's the transition. There's the transition. Yeah, okay, rebellion
from God or of God doesn't apply to me or you.
I get it. I get it. Hey. So today we're
talking about Isaiah, the Book of Isaiah, and the context
is Israel's rebellion right and running to Egypt instead of
(05:44):
running to God. But there's a promise in there somewhere,
and it's one of the coolest promises, that's very personal.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah. So we're gonna do Isaiah thirty. We're going to
read that new Living translation. But the section that we're
going to cover, I'm going to do verse fifteen to
verse twenty two, and I think we'll cut it off
right there. So starting at verse fifteen again, this is
Isaiah chapter thirty.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
In our highlight of verses verse twenty one.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes, verse twenty one is the main passage. So verse fifteen,
this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of
Israel says. Only in returning to me and resting in me,
will you be saved in quietness and confidence in your strength.
But you would have none of it. You said, no,
(06:31):
we will get our help from Egypt. They will give
us swift horses for riding into battle. But the only
swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of
your enemies chasing you Verse seventeen. One of them will
chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make
all of you flee. You will be left like a
lonely flagpole on a hill, or a tattered banner on
(06:54):
a distant mountaintop. So the Lord must wait for you
to come to him so he can show I owe
you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a
faithful god. Blessed are those who wait for his help.
Verse nineteen O People of Zion who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more. He will be gracious if
you ask for help. He will surely respond to the
(07:17):
sound of your cries. Though the Lord gave you adversity
for food and suffering for drink, he will still be
with you to teach you. You will see your teacher
with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you. A voice will say, this is the
way you should go, whether to the left or to
the right. Then you will destroy all your silver idols
(07:41):
in your precious gold images. You will throw them out
like filthy rags, saying to them, good writtens.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So the promise that we're focusing on in versver twenty
one is your ears will hear him. Right behind you,
a voice will say this is the way you should go,
whether to the right or to the left. So there's
the promise.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah. So verse twenty one it says your ears will
hear him him referring to God. Yep, but Chris, when
it says right behind you, a voice will say this
is the way you should go, whether to the left
or to the right. What do you think is the
significance of that, like right behind you?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, i'll tell you what. There's there's a great word
picture there. It's a beautiful word picture. Because number one,
it indicates that God is not far off. Yeah right close, Yeah,
that's very close. In fact, it says a voice will say.
It doesn't say a voice will shout, which means that
God's not off in a distance saying hey, go that
(08:45):
way right. It says he will say. So if it's
right behind you, then chances are, you know, he could
whisper into your ear right. So it's I think it's
a I think it's a word picture reminding us that
God is close. And then also it's a word picture
very much so like a shepherd guides the sheep, a
(09:07):
shepherd actually stands behind the sheep and will push them
in the direction that they should go. And so when
God guides personally, God guides, he is he is standing
behind and he is giving direction left or right, and
he's and he's just like a shepherd guiding us, which
is that's where the shepherd would stand, pushing the sheep
(09:29):
down the certain path. And then I think, I think
there's a third thing too, and it's the thing actually
that I just thought of. You know how, you know
how God said to Moses, nobody can look upon my
face and live, and so so in other words, for Moses,
he said, stand in the cleft of the rock, and
(09:49):
I will pass by, and you will see my afterglow
and you'll be able to see, you know, the backside
of me, but you can't look upon my face. I
think that there's also something very personal here that says
that God is right behind you, meaning He's not gonna
melt your face off if you see him face to face.
His his his wrath, and you know his Uh, his
(10:12):
glory to be feared. There's nothing to be fearful of.
If he's behind you, he's as close as he can
be to you without you having to fear God in
that way, fearing that you're gonna die, or that you
know that you're gonna you know again, have your face
melted off. I say that in jest, right, but that
(10:33):
but that's what God says. God says, nobody can look
upon my face and live. So there's that there's a
there's a fear of God in that way, his majesty,
his holiness, but not if he's behind you, right then
then all your fear is gone, you see. So I
think that there's another word picture there, like he removes
all of our fear and anxiety where he's He's gonna
(10:55):
tell us where to go, but he's not gonna yell
at us. He's not gonna tell us.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You know you must go.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Didn't I tell you not to go that way? The
fear of the Lord, that part of it is taken
away because he's still God. Yeah, but there's nothing to
fear by looking into his face.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah. Then it says as a result of all that
what you've just said, then you would destroy all your
silver idols and your precious gold images. And when I
think about that, I think about what are the idols
in our life occupying space that God should be occupying? Like,
what are those It could be something as simple that
(11:33):
it doesn't have to be something major, deep and spiritual.
It can be something as simple as a TV program
that's occupying your Bible reading time? What is that idol
that thing that is occupying the space that God should
be occupying. For some people, maybe it's their boat on Sundays, Yeah,
(11:54):
instead of being in church, and I know it's in
here in Michigan it's starting to get cold. But in
the summertime, is your boat? Your God is your boat?
Your idol? Is your corvette that you have, you know
in the garage covered up that you dust every week,
is that you're I want to be very very clear
on this. God does not care if you have a corvette.
(12:16):
God does not care if you have a nice boat.
The nice boat. That's irrelevant. The point is where do
those things rank in your life in relation to God?
That's the key right there. So it's not the boat.
But if the boat replaces your God time, then there's
a problem with the boat. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And what's so funny is in this day and age,
thank God for streaming, right, yeah, and streaming I don't
think should ever take substitute for church in person.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yea, his coming together as a body.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, because because God calls us to come together. You know,
you can't be edified if one hundred percent of all
your church experiences on the other end of a phone, yeah, right,
or a TV. But thank God for streaming for the
one of life. But I just had a friend who
does have a boat, who actually said to me, uh,
he said, Chris, for the first time, he said, normally,
(13:08):
when I go out my boat, you know, I just
miss church entirely, he goes. But then I realized, if
I take it out into the middle of the lake,
I turn off the engine and then I go ahead
and watch, you know, Heritage Church. And you know, not
not every Sunday obviously, right, but you know, but but
when he when he can, and so so when he
(13:29):
was away he did, and he said, I got to
tell you, he goes. That's my new favorite thing. He goes,
just being out in the middle of the of the
lake and you know, just at God's presence during you
know during this time and and and and watching it,
to which I just thought, Wow, there's there's the best
of both worlds.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So now you have a boat and you have your
God time, which is good. So so in some cases,
thank God for streaming. Right. So, but it's not a replacement, folks,
it's not a replacement. It's not a substitute.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Sos to circle back to verse two twenty one, I
just thought of something. It says your own ears will
hear him. Yeah, so your own ears, So not through
someone else or through something else, your own ears. That
means that you have to be working at spending time
(14:19):
with Him for yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And that's just another thing that reminds us that that
the that the God of the Old Testament is just
as personal as the Jesus of the New Testament. Yeah, right,
because because you know, God's the same yesterday, today and forever. God,
the Son, and the Spirit are one God, the triune God.
And so so God himself says that that he's going
(14:43):
to speak. In other words, the will of God is
not a broadcast. Yeah, it's a personal conversation. Right. So
when it says your own ears will hear, it means
that God is right behind you. He is close to you,
and he will speak personally into your own ears, giving
you advice if you go to him right. So he
speaks in a way that you can hear right and
(15:05):
and and so I think that I think that when
it says your own ears will hear him right behind you,
a voice will say this is the way you should go,
whether to the right or to the left. You know what,
that also indicates that God is going to speak in
times of decision, because that that yet is another example
(15:26):
in the scriptures that indicates crossroads. Right, just like yesterday
we talked about what was it yesterday Proverbs three.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Five and six, a couple of couple of days ago.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, But but again it's it's that it's the idea
that like I could take this path or this path,
and God is going to personally give us advice whether
to go to the right or to the left, and
and it's and it's the moments of decision and and
and it says that God is, you know, his advice
is practical. It's not going to be, you know, a
(15:59):
hard It says this is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Way walk in it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's not going to be something too difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
For us to do.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
God always gives us practical advice. And then another thing
that steps out in this verse stands out is that
it indicates movement right, that God always wants us to
be moving forward, which means in our walk and our faith,
you know, if we stand still, Jesus is constantly moving.
(16:27):
You know, it's so interesting when Jesus said follow me,
it indicates that Jesus is walking right. And so if
we actually stop, and you know, we grow, we stop
in our faith, We're like, Okay, I've tried my best
to grow closer to God. I've worked, you know, I've
listened to the Bible. Guys, I've read my Bible, I've prayed,
(16:48):
I've surrounded myself around godly people, and so I've done
my best to get close to God. And now I've
stopped for this season of my life. Well, we can't
picture ourselves still close to God because God's constantly moving,
because God says, follow me. And so as we go
through life, God is constantly refining us. And just like
(17:11):
we said in week number one, we said that by
the time we get to the other side, we want
to be transformed. So God is going to work on
us along the way God is going to transform us.
God has a plan for us, but we have to
continue to move and grow and develop, because when we stop,
that means that there's going to be a distance created
between us and our heavenly Father.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So I got a question, Chris, and this is to
be very practical for the people that are listening. What
do you do when you just don't want to go
the direction God is leading because you want to be disobedient.
Maybe the direction that God has taken you is a
scary direction. Maybe the direction God is taking you you
(17:56):
feel like it's going to cost you too much. It's
going to cost too much sacrifice costs too much time.
And you're just thinking, man, Jesus is he's waving me on,
He's telling me to come, But this road just seems
like I don't know if I want to go down
this road. Yeah, what does a person do in that instance?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, I'll tell you what. At best case scenario, you're
missing out on blessings. Worst case scenario is is that
God gets your attention through conviction, misery or tragedy.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, which you don't want, right.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know, if you refuse to go the way in
which He wants you to go. But best case scenario is,
you know you're gonna miss out because I've always said
this my entire life that when God again, it's it's
another sermon altogether. To try to determine is this the
voice of God or is this my voice? Right, it's
a whole other sermon, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
But when we.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Are mature Christians and we are people of faith, and
we know for a fact that God is clearly saying this,
and He's either saying that through his word, or through prayer,
or through advice from somebody else, or through practical or
godly wisdom, you know, we just know it's from God.
At best case scenario, we miss out because God's advice
(19:14):
is always first and foremost for his glory and always
secondary for our benefit. So every time God gives an invitation,
every time God gives us a command.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It's not just to inconvenience your day.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
No, it is always first and foremost for His glory
and secondary for our benefit, every single time. So best
case scenario is we miss out on a blessing, We
miss out on an opportunity to be a part of
what God is doing in us and through us. We
miss out on something that we never would have experienced
about God and his character. Otherwise we miss out on
(19:49):
getting to know God in a deeper way. We're going
to miss out on something if we just don't go
the way God wants.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Us to go. And it kind of ties into verse eighteen.
So the Lord must wait for you to come to
him so he can show you his love and compassion.
The reason that God is standing behind you, guiding you,
telling you to go to the left or to the right,
is because he wants to show you his love and compassion.
It's not to harm you, it's not to hurt you.
(20:17):
It's not to make you have a bad day, like
you said. It's literally he just wants to show you
his love and his compassion by leading you in the
way that you should go.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and that we mentioned earlier, the context for this
is rebellion for the children of Israel. They wanted to
go to Egypt instead of going to God. Yeah, right,
We'll go to Egypt.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
And Egypt was the land of bondage, of yes slavery,
and they were saying, I would rather choose that than
obey God, right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Right, and and so and so God is saying in
these verses he goes, hey, go back to Egypt if
you think that their stallion horses are going to be
the thing that you need in battle. But I'm telling you,
even even a horse that runs swiftly isn't going to
do you any good when you look back and see
your enemies chasing you, Because if you go with me,
(21:08):
your enemies won't even chase you. Right, trust in me,
and I will give you victory over your enemies. And
that's really what he's saying. He's saying, just go in
my way and not the ways of the world. Or
you know, you know, hey, a lot of times we
think money is going to give us security. Right, money
promises the things that only God promises. Money says, I'll
(21:29):
give you security, I could take away your worry. I'm
going to give you, you know, a future. But those
are the things that only God can promise, Right, So
we look to money instead of God. God's like, no,
you know, I'll show I'll show you what it means
to trust in money. It's here one second, it's gone
the next, right, And so it's just it's just another thing,
(21:52):
whether it's advice or whether it's trusting in something over
the some one of God. God says come my way
more than any other way.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think it's a good place
to stop.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
How do you too. That looks like to be our time.
It's been great to have you here this week. Yes,
and hopefully we will see you Monday as you join
us on the Bible. Guys, mhm h
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a
couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in
practical ways.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible guys. Now we are
excited to be here. This is Chris and Wesley coming
to you directly into your probably.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Phone or car or that's true. I guess right, Well,
it could be the phone, the car through the phone,
or it's true, that's true, or your TVA.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Some people actually watch it on big screen TV. Yeah,
the air air drop it or whatever.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah, says they want to see Chris in h D
four K and on the screen.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You notice I said air drop, Yeah, right, because that's.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Just a foreign concept.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
For those of it. For those of you who don't know,
Wesley is one of the very few people that I
know in my entire life.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Actually that is very.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Much pro Samsung and PC over Macro Apple.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes, because I just prefer the more superior devices.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah yeah, I don't know how that is going to
fly with most of the people on the planet. Yeah,
but actually, well actually most people on the planet actually
prefer Samsung. It's just the United States prefers Apple. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
so that's true. You know that Apple is more common
in the United States, but if you consider the rest
of the world, it's actually Samsung.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, probably because of the price, that's true.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's true. And the fact that you know, under developing
countries have a tendency to pick underdeveloped technology.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Oh no, no, all right, I'm still sticking with my Samsung.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Okay, all right, Well, hey, before we dive into God's
promises for today, we are going to read and Jeff
always says we're committed to giving the best news. Yes,
which is the Babylon Beat. Yeah, so what do we
have for today?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
This article is nine best times to interrupt whatever your
husband is doing to tell a long story.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Okay, First of all, I didn't know that's what the
topic was.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
That is hilarious, and we did not pick this. Does
are pick this? So ladies do not get angry at us.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, So this is advice. It's nine times yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, the nine different times. Here we go, Ladies, Sometimes
you just have to tell your husband a really long,
meandering story involving people he doesn't really know, doing things
they don't that don't pertain to him. The important thing
is knowing when is the right time to do it.
The Babylon B is here to help wives everywhere by
(02:37):
giving you the following list of perfect times to interrupt
what he's doing to tell him a story. Number one,
I love this the last two minutes of his team's
playoff game. The tighter the score, the better it is.
Number two, Monny, when he turns his night stand lamp
off and lays his head on his pillow. He wouldn't
(02:58):
do those things if he actually wanted to sleep. Oh,
that's so good. Number three on a transcontinental flight. It's
not like he can go anywhere. Number four, when he's
halfway out the door to go hang out with the guys.
You can also try stopping the story to do something
else and make him wait for you to come back
(03:20):
to the story.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh No.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Number five, as soon as he's holding something incredibly heavy.
Make sure you don't start until after he has already
lifted it, though. Number six, when you can tell he
needs to go to the bathroom. Hearing you out is
far more important than urgent bodily functions. Oh No. Number seven,
(03:43):
when he's got the burglar pinned down and he's screaming
at you to call nine to one one. Save your
longest stories from WinCE like this.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Wow, that's over the top, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Number eight, anytime he asks you what you bought it
target today, By the end of your story, he won't
even remember asking you. And then number nine right after
you finish telling your last long story. Everyone loves a
good sequel, And don't worry, he'll be happy to stop
(04:17):
and listen to your long story in any of the
situations listed above, even if he doesn't show it. When this,
it's hilarious. When are other ideal times to tell your
husband a really long story that seems like it doesn't
have any point or ending. Post them in the comments below.
But that's absolutely hilarious.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Wow, Well that that story assumes that all wives share
with their husbands meaningless stories that involve people they don't
know in situations they don't care.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
About, which does not apply to my wife or your wife. No,
of course, does not apply to.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Them, of course not. I'm only laughing on behalf of it. Yes,
where everybody else who applies to besides me and you?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, that is so funny, dude, that's good.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And because we're talking about how things don't apply to
me and you, Uh, huh. Rebellion to God does not
apply to each of us either.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oh, there's the transition. There's the transition. Yeah, okay, rebellion
from God or of God doesn't apply to me or you.
I get it. I get it. Hey. So today we're
talking about Isaiah, the Book of Isaiah, and the context
is Israel's rebellion right and running to Egypt instead of
(05:44):
running to God. But there's a promise in there somewhere,
and it's one of the coolest promises, that's very personal.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah. So we're gonna do Isaiah thirty. We're going to
read that new Living translation. But the section that we're
going to cover, I'm going to do verse fifteen to
verse twenty two, and I think we'll cut it off
right there. So starting at verse fifteen again, this is
Isaiah chapter thirty.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
In our highlight of verses verse twenty one.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes, verse twenty one is the main passage. So verse fifteen,
this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of
Israel says. Only in returning to me and resting in me,
will you be saved in quietness and confidence in your strength.
But you would have none of it. You said, no,
(06:31):
we will get our help from Egypt. They will give
us swift horses for riding into battle. But the only
swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of
your enemies chasing you Verse seventeen. One of them will
chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make
all of you flee. You will be left like a
lonely flagpole on a hill, or a tattered banner on
(06:54):
a distant mountaintop. So the Lord must wait for you
to come to him so he can show I owe
you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a
faithful god. Blessed are those who wait for his help.
Verse nineteen O People of Zion who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more. He will be gracious if
you ask for help. He will surely respond to the
(07:17):
sound of your cries. Though the Lord gave you adversity
for food and suffering for drink, he will still be
with you to teach you. You will see your teacher
with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you. A voice will say, this is the
way you should go, whether to the left or to
the right. Then you will destroy all your silver idols
(07:41):
in your precious gold images. You will throw them out
like filthy rags, saying to them, good writtens.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So the promise that we're focusing on in versver twenty
one is your ears will hear him. Right behind you,
a voice will say this is the way you should go,
whether to the right or to the left. So there's
the promise.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah. So verse twenty one it says your ears will
hear him him referring to God. Yep, but Chris, when
it says right behind you, a voice will say this
is the way you should go, whether to the left
or to the right. What do you think is the
significance of that, like right behind you?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Well, i'll tell you what. There's there's a great word
picture there. It's a beautiful word picture. Because number one,
it indicates that God is not far off. Yeah right close, Yeah,
that's very close. In fact, it says a voice will say.
It doesn't say a voice will shout, which means that
God's not off in a distance saying hey, go that
(08:45):
way right. It says he will say. So if it's
right behind you, then chances are, you know, he could
whisper into your ear right. So it's I think it's
a I think it's a word picture reminding us that
God is close. And then also it's a word picture
very much so like a shepherd guides the sheep, a
(09:07):
shepherd actually stands behind the sheep and will push them
in the direction that they should go. And so when
God guides personally, God guides, he is he is standing
behind and he is giving direction left or right, and
he's and he's just like a shepherd guiding us, which
is that's where the shepherd would stand, pushing the sheep
(09:29):
down the certain path. And then I think, I think
there's a third thing too, and it's the thing actually
that I just thought of. You know how, you know
how God said to Moses, nobody can look upon my
face and live, and so so in other words, for Moses,
he said, stand in the cleft of the rock, and
(09:49):
I will pass by, and you will see my afterglow
and you'll be able to see, you know, the backside
of me, but you can't look upon my face. I
think that there's also something very personal here that says
that God is right behind you, meaning He's not gonna
melt your face off if you see him face to face.
His his his wrath, and you know his Uh, his
(10:12):
glory to be feared. There's nothing to be fearful of.
If he's behind you, he's as close as he can
be to you without you having to fear God in
that way, fearing that you're gonna die, or that you
know that you're gonna you know again, have your face
melted off. I say that in jest, right, but that
(10:33):
but that's what God says. God says, nobody can look
upon my face and live. So there's that there's a
there's a fear of God in that way, his majesty,
his holiness, but not if he's behind you, right then
then all your fear is gone, you see. So I
think that there's another word picture there, like he removes
all of our fear and anxiety where he's He's gonna
(10:55):
tell us where to go, but he's not gonna yell
at us. He's not gonna tell us.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
You know you must go.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Didn't I tell you not to go that way? The
fear of the Lord, that part of it is taken
away because he's still God. Yeah, but there's nothing to
fear by looking into his face.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah. Then it says as a result of all that
what you've just said, then you would destroy all your
silver idols and your precious gold images. And when I
think about that, I think about what are the idols
in our life occupying space that God should be occupying? Like,
what are those It could be something as simple that
(11:33):
it doesn't have to be something major, deep and spiritual.
It can be something as simple as a TV program
that's occupying your Bible reading time? What is that idol
that thing that is occupying the space that God should
be occupying. For some people, maybe it's their boat on Sundays, Yeah,
(11:54):
instead of being in church, and I know it's in
here in Michigan it's starting to get cold. But in
the summertime, is your boat? Your God is your boat?
Your idol? Is your corvette that you have, you know
in the garage covered up that you dust every week,
is that you're I want to be very very clear
on this. God does not care if you have a corvette.
(12:16):
God does not care if you have a nice boat.
The nice boat. That's irrelevant. The point is where do
those things rank in your life in relation to God?
That's the key right there. So it's not the boat.
But if the boat replaces your God time, then there's
a problem with the boat. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And what's so funny is in this day and age,
thank God for streaming, right, yeah, and streaming I don't
think should ever take substitute for church in person.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yea, his coming together as a body.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, because because God calls us to come together. You know,
you can't be edified if one hundred percent of all
your church experiences on the other end of a phone, yeah, right,
or a TV. But thank God for streaming for the
one of life. But I just had a friend who
does have a boat, who actually said to me, uh,
he said, Chris, for the first time, he said, normally,
(13:08):
when I go out my boat, you know, I just
miss church entirely, he goes. But then I realized, if
I take it out into the middle of the lake,
I turn off the engine and then I go ahead
and watch, you know, Heritage Church. And you know, not
not every Sunday obviously, right, but you know, but but
when he when he can, and so so when he
(13:29):
was away he did, and he said, I got to
tell you, he goes. That's my new favorite thing. He goes,
just being out in the middle of the of the
lake and you know, just at God's presence during you
know during this time and and and and watching it,
to which I just thought, Wow, there's there's the best
of both worlds.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So now you have a boat and you have your
God time, which is good. So so in some cases,
thank God for streaming. Right. So, but it's not a replacement, folks,
it's not a replacement. It's not a substitute.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Sos to circle back to verse two twenty one, I
just thought of something. It says your own ears will
hear him. Yeah, so your own ears, So not through
someone else or through something else, your own ears. That
means that you have to be working at spending time
(14:19):
with Him for yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And that's just another thing that reminds us that that
the that the God of the Old Testament is just
as personal as the Jesus of the New Testament. Yeah, right,
because because you know, God's the same yesterday, today and forever. God,
the Son, and the Spirit are one God, the triune God.
And so so God himself says that that he's going
(14:43):
to speak. In other words, the will of God is
not a broadcast. Yeah, it's a personal conversation. Right. So
when it says your own ears will hear, it means
that God is right behind you. He is close to you,
and he will speak personally into your own ears, giving
you advice if you go to him right. So he
speaks in a way that you can hear right and
(15:05):
and and so I think that I think that when
it says your own ears will hear him right behind you,
a voice will say this is the way you should go,
whether to the right or to the left. You know what,
that also indicates that God is going to speak in
times of decision, because that that yet is another example
(15:26):
in the scriptures that indicates crossroads. Right, just like yesterday
we talked about what was it yesterday Proverbs three.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Five and six, a couple of couple of days ago.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, But but again it's it's that it's the idea
that like I could take this path or this path,
and God is going to personally give us advice whether
to go to the right or to the left, and
and it's and it's the moments of decision and and
and it says that God is, you know, his advice
is practical. It's not going to be, you know, a
(15:59):
hard It says this is the.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Way walk in it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's not going to be something too difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
For us to do.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
God always gives us practical advice. And then another thing
that steps out in this verse stands out is that
it indicates movement right, that God always wants us to
be moving forward, which means in our walk and our faith,
you know, if we stand still, Jesus is constantly moving.
(16:27):
You know, it's so interesting when Jesus said follow me,
it indicates that Jesus is walking right. And so if
we actually stop, and you know, we grow, we stop
in our faith, We're like, Okay, I've tried my best
to grow closer to God. I've worked, you know, I've
listened to the Bible. Guys, I've read my Bible, I've prayed,
(16:48):
I've surrounded myself around godly people, and so I've done
my best to get close to God. And now I've
stopped for this season of my life. Well, we can't
picture ourselves still close to God because God's constantly moving,
because God says, follow me. And so as we go
through life, God is constantly refining us. And just like
(17:11):
we said in week number one, we said that by
the time we get to the other side, we want
to be transformed. So God is going to work on
us along the way God is going to transform us.
God has a plan for us, but we have to
continue to move and grow and develop, because when we stop,
that means that there's going to be a distance created
between us and our heavenly Father.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So I got a question, Chris, and this is to
be very practical for the people that are listening. What
do you do when you just don't want to go
the direction God is leading because you want to be disobedient.
Maybe the direction that God has taken you is a
scary direction. Maybe the direction God is taking you you
(17:56):
feel like it's going to cost you too much. It's
going to cost too much sacrifice costs too much time.
And you're just thinking, man, Jesus is he's waving me on,
He's telling me to come, But this road just seems
like I don't know if I want to go down
this road. Yeah, what does a person do in that instance?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, I'll tell you what. At best case scenario, you're
missing out on blessings. Worst case scenario is is that
God gets your attention through conviction, misery or tragedy.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Yeah, which you don't want, right.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know, if you refuse to go the way in
which He wants you to go. But best case scenario is,
you know you're gonna miss out because I've always said
this my entire life that when God again, it's it's
another sermon altogether. To try to determine is this the
voice of God or is this my voice? Right, it's
a whole other sermon, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
But when we.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Are mature Christians and we are people of faith, and
we know for a fact that God is clearly saying this,
and He's either saying that through his word, or through prayer,
or through advice from somebody else, or through practical or
godly wisdom, you know, we just know it's from God.
At best case scenario, we miss out because God's advice
(19:14):
is always first and foremost for his glory and always
secondary for our benefit. So every time God gives an invitation,
every time God gives us a command.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
It's not just to inconvenience your day.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
No, it is always first and foremost for His glory
and secondary for our benefit, every single time. So best
case scenario is we miss out on a blessing, We
miss out on an opportunity to be a part of
what God is doing in us and through us. We
miss out on something that we never would have experienced
about God and his character. Otherwise we miss out on
(19:49):
getting to know God in a deeper way. We're going
to miss out on something if we just don't go
the way God wants.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Us to go. And it kind of ties into verse eighteen.
So the Lord must wait for you to come to
him so he can show you his love and compassion.
The reason that God is standing behind you, guiding you,
telling you to go to the left or to the right,
is because he wants to show you his love and compassion.
It's not to harm you, it's not to hurt you.
(20:17):
It's not to make you have a bad day, like
you said. It's literally he just wants to show you
his love and his compassion by leading you in the
way that you should go.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, and that we mentioned earlier, the context for this
is rebellion for the children of Israel. They wanted to
go to Egypt instead of going to God. Yeah, right,
We'll go to Egypt.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
And Egypt was the land of bondage, of yes slavery,
and they were saying, I would rather choose that than
obey God, right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Right, and and so and so God is saying in
these verses he goes, hey, go back to Egypt if
you think that their stallion horses are going to be
the thing that you need in battle. But I'm telling you,
even even a horse that runs swiftly isn't going to
do you any good when you look back and see
your enemies chasing you, Because if you go with me,
(21:08):
your enemies won't even chase you. Right, trust in me,
and I will give you victory over your enemies. And
that's really what he's saying. He's saying, just go in
my way and not the ways of the world. Or
you know, you know, hey, a lot of times we
think money is going to give us security. Right, money
promises the things that only God promises. Money says, I'll
(21:29):
give you security, I could take away your worry. I'm
going to give you, you know, a future. But those
are the things that only God can promise, Right, So
we look to money instead of God. God's like, no,
you know, I'll show I'll show you what it means
to trust in money. It's here one second, it's gone
the next, right, And so it's just it's just another thing,
(21:52):
whether it's advice or whether it's trusting in something over
the some one of God. God says come my way
more than any other way.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think it's a good place
to stop.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
How do you too. That looks like to be our time.
It's been great to have you here this week. Yes,
and hopefully we will see you Monday as you join
us on the Bible. Guys, mhm h
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