Eight Devotional Meditations to Start a New Year

The New Year is still new enough for us to offer our “Happy New Year” greeting.  Who among us does not want 2024 to be a HAPPY year?  But in reality, many of us wonder if 2024 will be an extension of the “unhappy” issues of last year.  Let us hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.  

We have just published a blog entitled “Time to Wake Up!” [Click HERE.]  It is Part 2 of a series called, “Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?”  As a complement to that article, what follows below is a series of eight devotional meditations based on Isaiah Chapter 52.  We hope your reading, study, and prayer over each of these meditations will help to “awaken you” in mind, body, and spirit as you begin this New Year.

Day 1: “Our Lover Comes Calling: Wake Up!”
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 1
Background:  Isaiah 52 contains the prophet’s warning to Judah that if they continue in rebellion against God they will be taken into exile.  But because of God’s enduring, covenant love for His people, He couldn’t wait to tell them ahead of time that He would eventually set them free from His judgment.  God’s warning of judgment and promise of release after 70 years of captivity came through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29: 10-14).  What is more amazing, again before they were to be exiled, God consoles Judah through Isaiah exactly how they would be assisted in their migration from exile back to the Holy Land.  God would raise up the Persian King Cyrus who would conquer Babylon and set the Jewish exiles free (Isaiah 44: 28-45: 1; 2 Chronicles 36: 21-23).
Consider: Our Scripture verse for today finds Isaiah conveying what would be God’s “wake-up call” to the Jewish exiles in Babylon (yet future).  God comes like a lover beneath the window of the prison in which His beloved is still a sleeping captive above.  He calls out, “Awake, Awake, my beloved!  Put on thy strength!”  Isaiah had already proclaimed, Those who trust in the LORD will gain new strength (Isaiah 40: 31).  God also wants to free us from the slave master of sin. But, we must “wake up” and use the strength He gives us.  God also calls His beloved to clothe herself in royal and pure robes befitting of her position as His redeemed. 
Response:   God still calls out today to awaken people under sin’s captivity.  Maybe you have never been spiritually reborn or experienced freedom in Christ (John 3).  Or, perhaps you are born again but have neglected to yield to Christ’s call to be His disciple (a disciplined Christ-follower; see Luke 9: 23-25; John 8: 31-32) and to dress in His armor to walk as a new person in purity of heart and mind (Ephesians 6: 10ff; Colossians 3: 5-11).  How will you respond?

Day 2:
Loose Yourself from the Chains
[Listen to Hymn? Go HERE.]
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 2
Consider:  The Holy Spirit of God, our divine Lover calls out again, “Shake off the dust!”  Arise from the low position of dishonor.  Your time of captivity in sin, fear, and grief are over.  Rise up to a position of freedom and dignity in Christ.  Then, Isaiah continues:  Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.  But you say, I have no key!  How can I unlock the chains around my neck?  In the Gospel of John, we read of a man who had been ill for 38 years and had no one to help him into the supposedly healing waters of the Bethesda pool.  Jesus asked him, “Do you wish to get well?”  When the man said “Yes,” Jesus said, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”   Read the story in John 5: 1-9.
Response:   Maybe God is calling you, His beloved:  Get up, shake off every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles [you], and [then] run with endurance the race that is set before [you], fixing [your] eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12: 1-2a).  Are there unnecessary encumbrances and sins that you need to “shake off,” or shackles from which you need to “loose yourself” so you can be free?  Learn how in 1 John 1: 9 and John 8: 31-34.

Day 3:  The Priceless Gift We Couldn’t Afford
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 3
Consider:  In yesterday’s meditation, we read of God’s call to the captives--“shake off the dust” and “loose yourself.”  God calls us to take responsibility to lay aside the encumbrances and sins that beset us.  Today’s Scripture, continues with God’s answer to those who may accuse Him of “selling out His people” for a ransom.   God’s reply:  You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed, but not with money.  In other words, “I did not sell you for a monetary gain or a ransom.  Instead, because you chose to abandon My commands, you sold yourselves into bondage for nothing.  But, because you are precious to Me, I will set you free, but not with money.”  This idea of “buying back without money” foreshadows our redemption through Christ as 1 Peter 1: 18-19 explains, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.…  The psalmist expresses a similar theme:
No man can by any means redeem his brother
    Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
    And he should cease trying forever— Psalm 49: 7-8
Response:   Devote time to meditate on these Scriptures with the Cross of Christ in your mind’s eye.  Our Savior-Redeemer ransomed us at a cost far beyond what money.  Instead of money, He gave His own life on a Roman cross to offer us Liberty and Everlasting Life.  How will this truth affect you today?

Day 4:  
A Holy God in Dark Places

Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 4-6
Consider:  Throughout the Bible, God the Holy Sovereign of the universe is repeatedly misjudged and His Name blasphemed.  In contrast, our history is one of continual rebellion against God.  Yet God is blamed and considered cruel and uncaring when people and nations suffer tragic losses, sometimes the consequences of their sin.  In today’s Scripture, we read how God’s Name was blasphemed when His Chosen people suffered under the exile of Assyria and Babylon because they trusted in their own power and not God’s.  Their captors “howled” while they asked, “Where is your God while you suffer here in bondage under our power?”  Today, some people prefer the God of the New Testament because He is much less violent and murderous than the “Old Testament God.”  But the New Testament reveals how Jesus as God in human flesh also faced scornful and blasphemous accusations: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them (Luke 15: 2)!”  But God does not remain silent in defense of His Name.  Speaking through Isaiah God declares,
Therefore My people shall know my name (52: 6)
… to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.’
Men will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame (45: 23b-24).
Response:   Have you ever risked your name and reputation to help someone else while onlookers accused you of selfish motives or something worse?  Many of us know this experience.  We hope it comforts you (“brings you strength from God’s truth and love”) as you read throughout the Bible the story of God repeatedly going into dark places to rescue and redeem His beloved people.  And remember the dark day of the Cross where Jesus died and where God …made Him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  Your sin, mine, and the sins of the world were laid upon the crucified Christ.  Pray for those who labor in "dark places" and often suffer greatly as a result.

Day 5:  God Our Deliverer and Comforter
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 9-10; Isaiah 52:13 to 53:1
Consider:  In Day 4, we honored the God who went into “dark places,” welcomed sinners, ate with them, and ultimately died for sinners.  God in Christ bore all of our sin on His Cross giving His life for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2: 14).  Written 700 years earlier, Isaiah’s words in verses 9-10 also praise God, exclaiming,
Break forth, shout joyfully together,
       You waste places of Jerusalem;
For the LORD has comforted His people,
       He has redeemed Jerusalem.
F.B. Meyer, referring to verse 10, writes, “Their Almighty Deliverer, throwing back the loose sleeve of His robe to leave His arm free, bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations,
that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.
Response:  Pause in the quietness of your time in God’s presence and meditate on these Scriptures, including Isaiah 52: 13 to 53: 1, telling of your Deliverer and what He suffered in order to reach with his strong, holy arm to rescue you.  Then, “break forth” in praise to Him, our Deliverer and Comforter.

Day 6:  Go Forth in His Righteousness
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 1-2 and 52: 11
Consider:  Thank you for continuing in this series of devotional meditations.  In Day 1, our Scriptures from Isaiah 52: 1-2, shouted out, “Awake!  Awake!” This was a call through Isaiah to the (future) Israelite exiles in Babylon to awaken, rise up, shake off the dust, and unshackle themselves so they can enjoy and follow God in freedom.  Isaiah 52: 11 continues this challenge to the captives:
Depart, depart, go out from there,
    Touch nothing unclean;
 Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves,
    You who carry the vessels of the LORD.
These Scriptures remind us that; whereas, God is our Mighty Deliverer who paid the price that we could never pay to redeem us from the exile of sin, still we have the daily responsibility to walk in purity and integrity. 
Response:  Yesterday’s reference to Titus 2: 14 reminded us of the price and purpose of Christ’s Cross and deliverance.  Quietly meditate on the wider context of this passage  quoted below (Titus 2: 11-14).  Then, allow God’s Spirit to convict you in areas in which your life is not pure and pleasing to God and to strengthen you in the “blessed hope” of Christ’s return as you move forward in this New Year:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.  

Day 7:  Look Ahead, Look Behind, Without Fear!
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 10-12
Consider:  Yesterday, Isaiah’s prophesy foretold the coming Israelite exile and eventual release from captivity.  He challenged them, and all of us today, to awaken, arise, shake off hindrances, unshackle ourselves from sin, and go forward in purity of heart and mind.  But Isaiah has another message for the future exiles; namely, they will not go forth from captivity in haste or in fear like fugitives as their ancestors had fled from Egypt centuries before (Exodus 12: 39).  Instead, declares Isaiah (v. 12): 

For the LORD will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Here Isaiah calls to mind how the Israelites had departed from captivity in Egypt centuries earlier.  They had followed God who went before them in a pillar of cloud during the daytime.  At night, it turned into a glowing pillar of fire (Exodus 13: 21).  And, when the escaping Israelites thought they were trapped between the sea and the pursuing Egyptians, the pillar moved around behind them and God became their “read guard” against their enemies.
Response:  As you begin this New Year, may this reminder that the LORD will go before you and also be your rear guard be fixed in your mind.  With the psalmist (Psalm 16: 8 ), may we each declare: 
I have set the LORD continually before me;
Realizing that 2024 will bring many challenges, but
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken…
Because the God of Israel will be [my] rear guard,”
I will not remain a captive of the sin and regrets of the past.
I will wake up, “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously,” and joyously in the New Year!

Day 8:  You Can’t Keep Quiet?  Good!
Scripture:  Isaiah 52: 7-12
Consider:  We had intended to write seven (7) daily devotional meditations to complete one week.  But because we believe God’s Spirit directed our thoughts and writing to add one more, we are adding one more.  We awakened this morning with the reminder that verses 7-12 of Isaiah 52 provide a fitting ending to the weeks-worth we had written.  Please read and re-read these verses which offer glorious praise to God who came and will come again to set the captives free.  The Pulpit Commentary interprets this passage as “A Vision of the Day of Deliverance:”
The prophet sees the messenger come bounding over the mountains of Judaea, to bring the news to Jerusalem that her deliverance is come (v. 7). The angelic watchers sing with joy (v. 8). The prophet calls upon the waste places of Jerusalem to do the same, and dwells on the greatness of the mercy wrought (vv. 9-10). Finally, he exhorts the exiles to avail themselves of the permission to [leave] Babylon… in peace, without hurry, under the guidance and protection of God (vv. 11-12).  
The commentary concludes that Jerusalem's deliverance is a foreshadowing of the future redemption of the world by Christ.  What a blessed hope for Christ’s redeemed followers to anticipate!
Response:  God’s proclamation in verses 5b and 6 describes the cruel mocking that God still receives, but then predicts the future day when all mocking will stop (emphasis added):  And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.  Therefore, my people will know my name; therefore, in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it.  Yes, it is I.
For all of us who have been awakened when we heard the Good News (Gospel) of Christ, have shaken off the shackles of our “works salvation,” and followed Christ out of our prison of sin, this should indeed be Good News we can’t keep to ourselves. 

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
Yes, it is I.”

We hope the joyous exclamation of praise in verses 7-8 will resonate with your heart and motivate you to proclaim His salvation from day to day in 2024.  The eternal destiny of multitudes will depend upon it!  See also Isaiah 62: 6-7.   Click HERE to hear “For Zion’s Sake” by Marty Goetz.

Care to Comment?
If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.  Maybe you would like to share a spiritual insight or recommend a devotional source.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail to silviusj@gmail.com

Maybe you are left with a sense of confusion, uncertainty, and even fear.  If you have never encountered the “Good News” or Gospel, let us help.   The “Good News” is summarized in an outline called “Steps to Peace with God” (Click HERE.).  It explains God’s love, our predicament (sin and separation from God), what Jesus has done to address our predicament, and what you can do by faith to receive God’s righteousness (right standing with a Holy God).  Let's commit to "wake up" and serve Him in this New Year!

Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning? 2. Time to Wake Up!

The world is changing around us at a steady pace.  However, our awareness of change is usually clouded from our view because it occurs slowly and incrementally.  A fitting analogy is that we can barely detect the movement of the minute hand on a clock as it measures the progression of time.  But it moves unrelentingly forward nonetheless.  Likewise, the darkness before dawn contrasts sharply with the noonday sun.  However, the human eye cannot detect the gradual brightening of the dawn as time passes unless we snap photos periodically and compare them.  Similarly, our personal maturation in body, mind, spirit, and character; and our mastery of manual and athletic skills all occur gradually with much patience and endurance.  

Our mirrors remind us that our faces are wrinkling and our hair is thinning.  Thankfully, these changes occur so gradually that they are unnoticed by us, and even by our friends who assure us that we “haven’t changed a bit.”  But, all flattering aside, few of us deny that our bodies “they are a changing.”  So are the times in which we live.  Although one day may be the same as the next, still our calendars all have special days.  We celebrate events like births, marriages, and graduations, while others like hospitalizations and deaths of loved ones can be sudden “wake-up calls.”  Whether they bring joy or sadness, we can benefit from pausing to reflect on both our celebrations and our sudden “wake-up calls.”

“Wake-Up Calls”
This article is Part 2 of “Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?”  In Part 1 we described three “Christmas Contrasts.”  These contrasts become evident when we consider two major groups of people and how they celebrate Christmas.  While many celebrate Christmas with lights and gifts, only one of the groups knows the true meaning of these traditions.  Sadly, the other group misses this joy because they do not know Jesus personally as the “Light of the World” and “God’s greatest Gift”—i.e. Everlasting Life in Him-- forever (John 3).

Just as there are two ways to celebrate Christmas, so there are two major views of time.  The Apostle Peter describes one view, expressed by the mockers who ask, “Where is the promise of His [Christ’s] coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3: 4).”  This view resembles that of deism.  Deists will acknowledge a Creator God, but believes God has wound up the clock of time and then simply allows events to play themselves out in the world without His intervention.  Peter goes on to say that those who hold this view of a non-intervening God have forgotten that God does intervene and even directs the human drama.  To make his point, Peter reminds deniers of the time in which the world was destroyed, being flooded with water (2 Peter 3: 6b).  The historical reality of a world-wide flood at the time of Noah is supported by geological studies.

The span of “geological history” suggests there were long periods without evidence of change.  But these periods of stasis were markedly disrupted by events such as volcanic eruptions, changes in sea level, and climate change.  We should note that not all geologists today believe that “long periods of time” amounted to billions of years.  

Young-Earth geologists like Dr. John Whitmore, a professor at Cedarville University, have published scientific data [See HERE.] and given talks [See HERE.] explaining that the supposed “long geologic periods” are in fact not so long.  John’s studies of the geology of places like the Grand Canyon and Mt. St. Helens suggest evidence that these geologic formations have resulted from short-term cataclysmic events that caused massive movement and deposition of sediments followed soon by erosion on a grand scale.  Dr. Whitmore integrates his findings with the biblical revelation to explain these events.  [See “Does Science Trump Theology in the Pursuit of Truth?”  Click HERE.]

The biblical timeline of human history corroborates the geologic and archeological data and together they affirm the reality of God’s interventions of judgment and deliverance.  The peace and perfection of the Garden of Eden was interrupted when Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve and dishonor God’s Word, allowing sin and Satan to bring corruption into creation.  Later, God’s judgment upon the descendants of Adam and Eve came through the flood in which only Noah, his wife, and family were spared.  To date, this global flood must have been a tremendous “wake-up” call.   After the flood, God introduced Noah and family to a world that had been greatly altered geologically, ecologically, and meteorologically during and after the global flood. 

When the descendants of Noah became corrupted and brought great violence and turmoil upon the Earth, God called Abraham to leave his heathen civilization.  By faith, Abraham believed God’s promise that He would make of his descendants into a new nation.  The Abrahamic Covenant led to creation of the nation of Israel whose long history of change was characterized by gradual descent into sin and repeated warnings by God’s prophets, eventually punctuated by God’s abrupt judgment and deliverances.

One of the most noteworthy of God’s judgments upon the Southern Kingdom of Israel (i.e. Judah) occurred around 600 BC.  The prophet Isaiah warned Ahaz, king of Judah, that if Judah followed in the idolatry and rebellion of the Northern Kingdom which was eventually conquered by Assyria, they would also face God’s judgment.  But Judah did not heed the prophet’s wake-up calls, and after Isaiah’s time they fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC.  Those Israelites who survived a long siege of Jerusalem were carried off to endure a 70-year exile in Babylon.  Isaiah had not only predicted the Babylonian captivity before he died, but boldly challenged God’s Chosen people to be ready to return to the Holy Land after their captivity had ended.  The the nation of Israel would then exist for 400 years with no revelation from God before the announcement of the coming of Christ whose humble birth is the central reference point for how we mark time in years on our calendars.

A "Wake-Up Call" for 2024
Our focus has been on the theme of “gradual changes over time, punctuated by “wake-up calls.” 
We have noted that this pattern is evident throughout human history and even in geological history.  Finally, we have seen that it matters to God how we respond to His commands and to the apparent “interruptions” that He allows in the progression of time. But before we conclude, we should realize that, as we enter 2024, this year has the potential to be the most turbulent year history has known, at least in recent times.  How many "wake-up calls" could be in store for us in 2024?

We would like to think that readers of Oikonomia are regularly attentive to national and world news.  For these informed readers, we need only to mention a series of key words and you would almost immediately be able to give an impromptu explanation of how each could be a "powder keg" for a major national or global "wake-up call."  Below is our listing which is not exhaustive:

Add to these disturbing developments the warning we conveyed in Part 1 of "Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?" [Click HERE.]  Recall, we referenced the book by Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American Church (Salem Books, 2022) in which this author warns the American Church that it is following the same path as the German Church in the 1930's which was largely silent in the face of the rise of Adolph Hitler.

Taken together our listing of sources of "wake-up calls" is enough to keep us up at night.  It is not our intent to push us into panic mode.  Instead, we each need to be alert in mind, body, and spirit and vigilant to maintain our individual love and obedience to God and our integrity toward our neighbor.  If this article serves to awaken us to the urgency of our times and be more committed to the Commission given by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28: 18-20), we will have succeeded. 

Starting Strong in 2024
As 2024 begins, how can we prepare to respond to God’s “wake-up calls?”  As part of our own New Year meditations in Scripture, we have written a series of eight short devotional meditations based on our study of Isaiah Chapter 52.  We encourage you to visit “Eight Devotional Meditations for the New Year” by clicking HERE.   We hope your reading, study, and prayer over each of these meditations will help to “awaken you” in mind, body, and spirit as you begin this New Year.  To start "Day 1" of the devotional series, click HERE.