OUR SURE FOUNDATION

Our Sure Foundation

Read: Isaiah 33:2–6
Bible in a Year: Numbers 12–14; Mark 5:21–43

[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.—Isaiah 33:6

For many years, people in our city built and bought homes in areas subject to landslides. Some knew about the risk of the unstable land, while others were not told. “Forty years of warnings from geologists and city regulations created to ensure safe homebuilding” were unexplained or ignored (The Gazette, Colorado Springs, April 27, 2016). The view from many of those homes was magnificent, but the ground beneath them was a disaster in the making.

Many people in ancient Israel ignored the Lord’s warnings to turn from idols and seek Him, the true and living God. The Old Testament records the tragic results of their disobedience. Yet, with the world crumbling around them, the Lord continued reaching out to His people with a message of forgiveness and hope if they would turn to Him and follow His way.

The prophet Isaiah said, “[The Lord] will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure” (Isaiah 33:6).

Today, as in the Old Testament era, God has given us a choice about the foundation on which we will build our lives. We can follow our own desires, or we can embrace His eternal principles revealed in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand—all other ground is sinking sand” (Edward Mote). —David C. McCasland

Father in heaven, we acknowledge You as our sure foundation. Our security and hope are in You.

The Lord Himself is our strong 

foundation in life.

INSIGHT: This brief section of Isaiah comes immediately after the prophet has pronounced six “woes” (contained in chapters 28 through 33:1). Now, beginning with 33:2, Isaiah prays in expectancy, despite the Assyrian forces threatening Jerusalem. He looks not to the city’s military strength or diplomatic skill for deliverance, but to God. “At the uproar of your army, the [invading] peoples flee” and “scatter,” said Isaiah (v. 3). The loot left behind when the Assyrians fled would be “harvested as by young locusts” (v. 4)—the citizens of Jerusalem themselves. No wonder Isaiah saw God as “the sure foundation” and the “rich store of salvation” (v. 6).  

Isaiah’s original audience expected a Messiah, and Isaiah prophesied of Him in 28:16—“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” In Matthew 21:42, when Jesus told His critics, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” He was referring to Himself as that Messiah.

What tempts you to panic today? Christ is our deliverer. He provides a sure foundation and a rich store of salvation to all who turn to Him. Tim Gustafson

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