Desperate Solutions

Hello there and welcome. Our Daily Bread would like to encourage you today with a reading titled Desperate Solutions written by Tim Gustafson. In the late 16th century, William of Orange intentionally flooded much of his nation's land. The Dutch monarch resorted to such a drastic measure in an attempt to drive out the invading Spaniards. It didn't work, and a vast swath of prime farmland was lost to the sea. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say. In Isaiah's day, Jerusalem turned to desperate measures when the Assyrian army threatened them. Creating a water storage system to endure the siege, the people also tore down houses to shore up the city walls. Such tactics may have been prudent, but they neglected the most important step.

You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, God said in Isaiah 22.11, but you did not look to the one who made it, or have regard for the one who planned it long ago. We aren't likely to encounter a literal army outside our homes today. The batterings always come in commonplace ways and through commonplace people, said Oswald Chambers. Yet such batterings are genuine threats. Thankfully, they also bring with them God's invitation to turn to Him first for what we need.

When life's irritations and interruptions come, will we see them as opportunities to turn to God, or will we seek our own desperate solutions? Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from the book of Isaiah chapter 22 verses 8 through 13. The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the palace of the forest. You saw that the walls of the city of David were broken through in many places. You stored up water in the lower pool. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.

You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine. Let us eat and drink, you say, for tomorrow we die. Now let's pray. Dear Father, Help us to turn to you first when we find ourselves in the most pressing and difficult situations. May this devotional today serve as a reminder to never do anything in our own strength but to turn to you for everlasting strength. And when those irritations and interruptions come and they will, help us to view them as opportunities to build upon our faith and trust in you. And it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.