Table of Contents
Scripture Union Daily Guide 15th April 2024 (Sunday) Devotional Message
Scripture Union Daily Guide 15th April 2024 TOPIC: A Day of Reckoning Awaits All
OPENING PRAYER: As I read your word O Lord, grant me an insight and grace to do your will in Jesus name.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 47:1-15
1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
4 As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
Question(s) for Reflection
* Q2: Is there any example for me to follow or not to follow?
* Q5: Is there any warning for me to heed?
* Q7: What truth is God revealing to me in this passage?
SCRIPTURE UNION DAILY GUIDE 15 APRIL 2024 OUTLINE:
Babylon in this chapter is referred to as a “Virgin Daughter” implying that she was still unconquered. God in His sovereignty has used Babylon to punish Judah and Jerusalem. Years later, He will use the Medo-Persian Empire to punish the Babylonians. There are four key reasons why Babylon was punished:
1. God permitted Babylon to carry His people into exile but did not order her to be cruel and merciless.
2. They had become proud and arrogant thinking that nothing could ever destroy her prosperity. Because of their wealth and power, and the vast extent of their dominion they had regard for no one (vs.8,10).
3. She thought she was immune from detection and punishment. In other words, they thought they could outwit all mankind, and therefore might set all their enemies at defiance. But their wisdom and knowledge perverted them and turned them out of the way and made them forget themselves.
4. They placed their trust in their divinations, their magical and astrological arts, and sciences, for which the Chaldeans, above any other nation, were notorious, and from them other nations borrowed all their learning of that kind (v.49).
Practice/Word Application
And so? The Babylonians ignored God, justice, and mercy by hiding behind pride, wealth, and magic. How do people today try to hide from God?
* Any new insight or reinforcement of what you already know?
Closing Prayer
Turn Romans 11:33-36 into your personal prayers.
Offer a prayer of faith in line with Jeremiah 30:17
One Year Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading Plan: Day 106 – Psalms 56, 120, 140-142
NATIONAL PRAYER BULLETIN
Mon Apr 15, 2024
PRAYER FOCUS
THE NATIONAL PRAYER SECRETARY
” But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”
2 Pet 3:18
THANK GOD FOR:
1. His faithfulness mercy and grace toward the National Prayer Secretary, Sis Badejoko and her family.
2. His divine keeping and protection of the national prayer secretary and her family.
PRAY FOR:
Pray for\/that: 1. Nurturing grace.
2. God to increase His grace and strength on her to face the challenges of the office.
3. She will secure divine leading and focus to co-ordinate the affairs of her department
4 . Protection and good health for her and her family.
5. Journey mercies in all her journeys.