October 6 Daily Devotional

Monthly Theme:

Isaiah's God is the Holy One of Israel. In God's presence we have to be morally clean. God has chosen his Servant, who will rule in righteousness in a kingdom of peace.

Bible Reading:

Isaiah 5:20–25

Bible Text:

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isa. 5:20).

Devotional:

It isn't very hard to make people believe that evil is good and that heroes are the boys who have had the most drinks and the most girls. Sin is a deep-going, all-affecting perversion. It makes poison an attractive drink, calls bitter sweet and black white. Sin turns all values upside down. Until the gospel of the kingdom turns life right side up again.

The "Woes" of Isaiah (there are seven in all) fit our times to a tee, even though we live twenty-seven centuries after God spoke them through the prophet. In our world, portraits of urininals get first prize at exhibitions; and gullible people buy them. Entertainers make obscene amounts of money by telling jokes that are mostly silly or sordid. The wealthy own too much and keep adding to the pile (see v. 8). The guilty rich are able to dodge the law, while courts deny justice to the innocent (v. 23)

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It is "nicer" to find some "blessings" in Scripture than to study the "woes" in Isaiah. But God still speaks curses against the wicked. We must pass the word that "their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust, for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty."

With courage we must oppose the tide of evil. And let the lives and cultures of God's children reflect the order of God's kingdom.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published in 1994. This edition is copyright by Faith Alive Christian Resources, from whom may be ordered Daylight, the predecessor of Twilight.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this edition of Twilight are from the New International Version

Be sure to read the "Preface" and the "Acknowledgments" by the author.