Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 29-31. I want to note for any of you who come to this from the links that I post on social media sites (FaceBook, Gab.com, and MeWe. com) that I will be going on vacation from July 31-August 9 and may not be able to post my links to those sites during that time.  I will, however have written the blogs for those dates and scheduled them to be posted.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

Early in today’s passage Isaiah says the following:

These people come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

This is a continuation of the theme I talked about yesterday.  Isaiah goes on to say that they think they can hide their plans and thoughts from God.  They wish the benefits of appearing righteous without having to treat others with dignity and respect.  I say that as if all of those who do it realize what they are doing.  We must be careful not to fall into this trap.  Isaiah goes on to tell us that those who do the above will tell the prophets to stop telling them God’s word.  They will seek to silence those who tell the truth and seek salvation by earthly power.

Isaiah further tells us that the social structures they build will collapse suddenly similar to that condo collapse in Miami a few weeks ago.  Those who looked saw warning signs of imminent disaster, but for most it seemed strong and sound.  In the same way, those who create human rules of righteousness will build a society which seems to them strong and sound, but it will collapse upon them suddenly.  However, God will be waiting for those willing to return to Him.  Isaiah has a message for those who do so:

Your own ears will hear him.
    Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
    whether to the right or to the left.

I took the above from the New Living Translation because I think their wording conveys the sense of this verse most clearly.  Those who hear that Voice will throw away the idols they have made for themselves and be glad to be rid of them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.