“Your people will go to their temple in Dihon to mourn. They will go to their sacred shrines to weep. They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba, shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards. They will wear burlap as they wander the streets. From every home and public square will come the sound of wailing.” Isaiah 15:2-3 NLT
Just as the Lord provided the commands through Moses to the Israelites in which they were to live by, we too have those same commands. Just as the Israelites succumbed to their evil tendencies, we too fail to adhere to the commands set out by our Heavenly Father.
In this chapter Isaiah is prophesying of what is to come concerning Moab. As I was reading today’s text, I could not help but see how this chapter relates to our failed walk with the Lord. When we fall to temptation we experience a feeling of sorrow and regret. We weep and we wail. Just as the people of Moab will ‘wander the streets’ in search of relief, we too will find ourselves wondering in that moment. If we choose to continue down the path of yielding to our inner desires, destruction will follow as it does for Moab.
Thankfully our story does not need to end there. There is hope. There is grace. There is redemption. There is salvation. The key to this ending is that this is not from ourselves, but it is a gift from God. A gift that is hard for us all to grasp. A gift that is often under appreciated, and yet a gift that is available to all – no matter how far and how long we’ve wandered.
Thank you Jesus for taking my place and being the ultimate sacrifice.
Lock Your Wings 
This stood out for me:
“The stream near Dibon runs red with blood, but I am still not finished with Dibon! Lions will hunt down the survivors— both those who try to escape and those who remain behind.”
Isaiah 15:9 NLT
I feel like lately there have been an abundance of lion references:
“But since these foreign settlers did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.”
2 Kings 17:25 NLT
“…. He has sent lions among them to destroy them because they have not worshiped him correctly.””
2 Kings 17:26 b NLT
so I looked into it and found this:
Lions are, in fact, referenced over 150 times in the Hebrew Bible. But really, lions in Israel? Actually, lions did once flourish in and around the Holy Land. The species is known as the Asiatic lion. They are believed to have become extinct within Israel at the time of the Crusades—around 1200 c.e.—and became extinct in the wider Middle East during the 20th century. These animals can now be found only in the Indian state of Gujarat, and they are endangered. Modern examples of these lions are about the same size as central African lions, with males weighing up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). However, a 17th-century Indian emperor reportedly killed a beast weighing just over 300 kilograms (660 pounds). This gives some idea of the potential size of beasts faced by Samson and David. (From this site: https://watchjerusalem.co.il/592-the-animals-of-the-bible)
LikeLike
Interesting find!
LikeLike