DCLM Daily Manna 28 December 2021 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Sobriety In Celebration
TOPIC: Sobriety In Celebration
TEXT: Isaiah 25:1-12 (KJV)
1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
KEY VERSE: “O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” – (Isaiah 25:1)
MESSAGE:
Modern man gets caught up in a wild rat race and festivities during the days and weeks leading to the close of the year. There is massive shopping and a lot of travels for social and business activities. As he is boxed into all these engagements, man has little time to look back and reflect on the goodness of God on his life so that he can sing songs of gratitude to honour the Creator who has seen him through the year.
Prophet Isaiah did not fall into the category of people who forget God after a victory. He broke into a song of celebration to honour the love of God. After the Lord had delivered Judah from the captivity of the enemy, the prophet looked back and discovered that the Lord he served had been “a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall”.
We must also learn from this messianic prophet that the time of celebration at the point of victory or as we mark the end of the year should not be a period of abandonment to worldly pleasures and carnivals that pull us from the presence of God. The heaven-bound believer must acknowledge that these are days we should be closer to God’s holiness to mark us out distinctly from the multitudes who give in to the demands of the flesh.
The Bible predicted that in the last days, “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy…” (2 Timothy 3:2,3). God is not expecting the sincere Christian to be among this madding crowd fulfilling the apocalyptic prophecy.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Celebrate reasonably!
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Revelation 12-14
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
