Sun.’s Devo - God’s Promises of Blessing

Read: Isaiah 62:6-65:25; Philippians 2:19-3:4a; Psam 73:1-28; Proverbs 24:13-14
God told Isaiah that he had posted watchmen on Israel’s walls. These watchmen were from his heavenly host of his army but also natural prophets. The prophets are the watchmen who watch in the spirit to see what is coming and warn the people what God is about to do and what Satan’s plans are. If you think we have no prophets today all you have to do is go to Elijahlist.com and join for free. You will get prophecies daily that come from prophets all over the world. They will tell you the same thing Isaiah was saying to his people. We have gone through the wine press of God and everything that could be shaken has been shaken so that what remains will be what God can work with. God does reward those who wait for them and obey his commands. We will soon forget our past trials and troubles. God will bring in the new and it will so out-shadow the old that we will not remember the old. Jerusalem will be a delight and its people will be a joy. It will teem with life and God’s people will reap the rewards of what they sow. None of our work will be in vain. Our children will prosper and we will be a blessed people. This is a picture of the millennium but also a picture of what we can have right now by faith.
In Philippians, Paul praises Timothy for being a man who is like no other disciple he has ever seen because Timothy took a genuine interest in the welfare of the people. He worked under Paul as a son would with his father. Then he praises Ephaphroditus for his service to the Lord. He almost died in his work for Christ but is being sent back to them. Paul wants them to receive him with great joy and celebration.
He ends in warning them again of the false prophets who he refers to as dogs. Our Psalm explains what Paul was talking about. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged when you look around and see the evil blessed and you are suffering. The Psalmist realizes that though they might have it good for a while on earth, their end is destruction and their good life is very temporal. What we have is eternal so what is a little suffering in the face of eternity? Our small suffering works for our eternal reward. God is our refuge when we get overwhelmed. He will never let us down.
Lord, help us to taste and see that you are so good!