Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+020
Chapter 20 (ESV)
1 In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
REFLECTION:
- Isaiah must have felt something of a fool in the eighth century BC, when he was told by God to wander the streets of Jerusalem stripped (to a loincloth) and barefoot for some three years. This relative of the royal family exposed himself to shame at God’s command, to serve as an object lesson. Soon the sovereign God would execute judgment against Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia), and their people would suffer Isaiah’s fate.
- God is unlikely to ask you or me to walk about in diapers or drag a cross. But there will be times when we feel a little embarrassed or foolish at the thought of doing something we feel convicted is God’s will.
- At such times, what will be your response? Will you treasure your reputation, your image and acceptance of others more than pleasing God and following God’s will?
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
HYMN:
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me – youtu.be/zundjUFazfg
