DAY ONE HUNDRED-EIGHTEEN
____
April 28
Devotional
Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; He calls all of them by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 CSB
Do you ever feel like you don’t matter? The best estimates for the number of stars are 70 billion trillion or 70x1022. It sounds like a made up number, and it’s an estimate — no one can really know except God. Today’s verse says God not only has the stars numbered, but He also has them named and not one of them is missing. There are way fewer humans than stars. So don’t get too concerned about whether God knows where you’re at. His understanding of you includes numbering the hairs on your head. It’s God’s power and it’s God’s strength that holds everything together. He’s got this. Look up on a clear night and see the stars and remember that God knows them and God knows you. He wants you to know Him as well.
Isaiah 39 CSB
Hezekiah’s Folly39 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was pleased with the letters, and he showed the envoys his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and where did they come to you from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”
4 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”
Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of Armies: 6 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.
Isaiah 40 CSB
God’s People Comforted40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of hard service is over,
her iniquity has been pardoned,
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”
3 A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,
and all humanity together will see it,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”
9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and his power establishes his rule.
His wages are with him,
and his reward accompanies him.
11 He protects his flock like a shepherd;
he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?
14 Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;
he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.
18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
25 “To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.
29 He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 41 CSB
The Lord versus the Nations’ Gods41 “Be silent before me, coasts and islands!
And let peoples renew their strength.
Let them approach; let them testify;
let’s come together for the trial.
2 Who has stirred up someone from the east?
In righteousness he calls him to serve.
The Lord hands nations over to him,
and he subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, going on safely,
hardly touching the path with his feet.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I am the Lord, the first
and with the last—I am he.”
5 The coasts and islands see and are afraid,
the whole earth trembles.
They approach and arrive.
6 Each one helps the other,
and says to another, “Take courage!”
7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker;
the one who flattens with the hammer
encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.
8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
descendant of Abraham, my friend—
9 I brought you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are my servant;
I have chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you
will be ashamed and disgraced;
those who contend with you
will become as nothing and will perish.
12 You will look for those who contend with you,
but you will not find them.
Those who war against you
will become absolutely nothing.
13 For I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand,
who says to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel.
I will help you”—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board,
new, with many teeth.
You will thresh mountains and pulverize them
and make hills into chaff.
16 You will winnow them
and a wind will carry them away,
a whirlwind will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the Lord;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I will answer them.
I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights,
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool
and dry land into springs.
19 I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees
in the wilderness.
I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together
in the desert,
20 so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22 “Let them come and tell us
what will happen.
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
23 Tell us the coming events,
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe when we see it.
24 Look, you are nothing
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
25 “I have stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
one from the east who invokes my name.
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say, ‘He is right’?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
27 I was the first to say to Zion,
‘Look! Here they are!’
And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.
Psalm 118 CSB
Thanksgiving for Victory1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
5 I called to the Lord in distress;
the Lord answered me
and put me in a spacious place.
6 The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?
7 The Lord is my helper;
therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humanity.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in nobles.
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
13 They pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!
16 The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!”
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
the righteous will enter through it.
21 I will give thanks to you
because you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This came from the Lord;
it is wondrous in our sight.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!
26 He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God and has given us light.
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords
to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God; I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
Isaiah 39 CSB
Hezekiah’s Folly39 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was pleased with the letters, and he showed the envoys his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and where did they come to you from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”
4 Isaiah asked, “What have they seen in your palace?”
Hezekiah answered, “They have seen everything in my palace. There isn’t anything in my treasuries that I didn’t show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of Armies: 6 ‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.
----
Isaiah 40 CSB
God’s People Comforted40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of hard service is over,
her iniquity has been pardoned,
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”
3 A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,
and all humanity together will see it,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade,
but the word of our God remains forever.”
9 Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and his power establishes his rule.
His wages are with him,
and his reward accompanies him.
11 He protects his flock like a shepherd;
he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?
14 Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;
he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.
18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
25 “To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.
29 He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
----
Isaiah 41 CSB
The Lord versus the Nations’ Gods41 “Be silent before me, coasts and islands!
And let peoples renew their strength.
Let them approach; let them testify;
let’s come together for the trial.
2 Who has stirred up someone from the east?
In righteousness he calls him to serve.
The Lord hands nations over to him,
and he subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, going on safely,
hardly touching the path with his feet.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I am the Lord, the first
and with the last—I am he.”
5 The coasts and islands see and are afraid,
the whole earth trembles.
They approach and arrive.
6 Each one helps the other,
and says to another, “Take courage!”
7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker;
the one who flattens with the hammer
encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.
8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
descendant of Abraham, my friend—
9 I brought you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are my servant;
I have chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you
will be ashamed and disgraced;
those who contend with you
will become as nothing and will perish.
12 You will look for those who contend with you,
but you will not find them.
Those who war against you
will become absolutely nothing.
13 For I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand,
who says to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel.
I will help you”—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board,
new, with many teeth.
You will thresh mountains and pulverize them
and make hills into chaff.
16 You will winnow them
and a wind will carry them away,
a whirlwind will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the Lord;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I will answer them.
I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights,
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool
and dry land into springs.
19 I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees
in the wilderness.
I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together
in the desert,
20 so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22 “Let them come and tell us
what will happen.
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
23 Tell us the coming events,
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe when we see it.
24 Look, you are nothing
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
25 “I have stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
one from the east who invokes my name.
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say, ‘He is right’?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
27 I was the first to say to Zion,
‘Look! Here they are!’
And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.
----
Psalm 118 CSB
Thanksgiving for Victory1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
5 I called to the Lord in distress;
the Lord answered me
and put me in a spacious place.
6 The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?
7 The Lord is my helper;
therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humanity.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in nobles.
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
13 They pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!
16 The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!”
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me;
I will enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
the righteous will enter through it.
21 I will give thanks to you
because you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
23 This came from the Lord;
it is wondrous in our sight.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!
26 He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God and has given us light.
Bind the festival sacrifice with cords
to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks.
You are my God; I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
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