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Topic: Right Attitude In Trouble
[DCLM Daily Manna 25 February 2020 Daily Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: Isaiah 26:12-21
12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
KEY VERSE: “LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them” (Isaiah 26:16).
MESSAGE:
Charles Swindoll once said, “The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace from that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string that we have and the string is attitude”.
In this prophetic song in our text about the latter days, Isaiah prophesied what the attitude of Judah will be in reaction to the judgment of God in scattering them among the nations. Judah had lived in sin and God had visited them with judgment, allowing their enemies to take them into captivity. However, in this song, Isaiah was hopeful that Judah would eventually demonstrate the right attitude by turning to the Lord in repentance. For this reason, they will be saved from the onslaught of the antichrist who will torment the world.
It is clear from the submission of Isaiah that what is needed while in trouble and perplexity is the right attitude. Unfortunately, however, many people portray an adamant attitude when faced with God’s chastisement. Rather than return to God, they choose to go farther away from Him. Conversely, the attitudes of some others are even more alarming when God shows undeserved acts of mercy and kindness to them. Rather than being grateful, they choose to be contemptuous.
It is important for everybody to know, as Swindoll has noted, that we all have a choice concerning the attitude and course of action we adopt each day. A positive attitude goes a long way to determining an eventful end. It is futile for anyone to fight His Maker. How we need to humble ourselves and wholly submit to God’s counsel even while passing through divine chastisement!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The heart focused on God will never cease to beat.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Luke 22
