June 28th~Useful or Useless?

Isaiah 28:1-29

2 Kings 17:5


2 Kings 18:9-12

2 Kings 17:6-41

Isaiah 1:1-20

After reading days of prophecies regarding Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, it finally happened. King Shalmaneser besieged the capital city of Samaria for three years until he breached the walls, captured the city, and deported the people into exile. All of these things took place because several generations of the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Though He warned the people by sending His prophets, they would not listen. His patience had run out.

After Shalmaneser emptied the nation of Israel, he transported his own people from Assyria to live in Samaria. Thus, the land was full of both Assyrians and left over Israelites. Over time, the two groups would learn how to live together. They would intermarry and have children, thus becoming a mixed breed and compromising the pure Jewish bloodlines. This hybrid group became known as Samaritans, who were despised for their intermarriage and idol worship. Even in Jesus’ day, some 800 years later, Samaritans were hated for their impurity and idolatry.

If you will recall, when Samuel was the judge and prophet, the people of Israel rejected God and called for a king. The basis of their request was so that they could be like all of the other nations around them. The fall of Israel is the fulfillment of this request. Though they were chosen by God to be His people, an instrument in His hand to reflect His glory and goodness to the nations of the earth, His people rejected Him and His purposes to be like surrounding nations. The author of 2 Kings put it this way, “They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them” (17:15).

Once again, in the midst of judgment, God promised a small ray of hope. “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested and precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run away again” (Isaiah 28:16). This Cornerstone is a prophecy of the Messiah, who is the only sure foundation upon which to build (Acts 4:11, 12).

Daily Reflection

As Christians, we are “not to love the world or things of the world...” (1 John 2:15, 16). We are also not to conform to the world’s mold or thinking but to be transformed (Romans 12:2), to be separate, “to be in the world but not of the world” (John 17:16). Why do you think the Lord has these expectations for His children?

When the Israelites became like the world, they worshiped worthless idols and became worthless. How would this apply to you today?

The Lord has called you out of this world to be His follower, His child, His representative, His ambassador and voice, to reflect to a lost world His glory, the difference only He can make in someone’s life. If you resist the world system, that which the devil himself has constructed, then you will remain useful in God’s hands to do His work. However, if you compromise and be- come like the world, you forfeit your usefulness and become, in a way, “worthless” or useless. Are you useful or useless?

BiAY.org | Day 179 — 186 Days to Go