Isaiah 32:2 "Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm."
Some who lived in the "dust bowl" of our country years ago remember the relentless wind and the heavens dark with dust; until in helplessness and despair they packed what they could in their cars and fled from their homes.
In the days of Isaiah the prophet, the people lived where the desert was not far off. And so his words were clear: some shelter, some hiding place, some great ledge of rock to give men its quiet shelter when the whistling blasts of sand blew was their only hope.
The winds beat about our lives, too -- the winds of sorrow in deep bereavement; the winds of fear in time of peril; the winds of affliction when we suffer in mind or body. But most of all the blast of sin beats hard to drive us to the death of our souls and the destruction of our hopes.
God through Isaiah encourages His people with a picture of the Messianic kingdom where "each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm." In God's kingdom His redeemed will reflect the Messiah, who is the true source of blessing and protection. Isaiah believed in the Messiah to come. Seven hundred years later this man was born, and then He died as the blast of our sins beat upon Him. But He became our perpetual hiding place from the wind. Who was He? Jesus, the Rock of Ages.
PRAYER: O Savior; Rock of Ages, let me hide myself in You. Amen.
(Taken from "Words of Promise," copyright 1996, Concordia Publishing House (out of print). For information on other devotional materials, call 1-800-325-3040.)
Today's Bible Readings: Job 36-37 Matthew 15:1-20
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