LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Yesterday we began a study of how we should respond to the corruption of sin in the world. We were challenged to think about responding with compassion rather than anger. But that can be very difficult when the people who are sinning are doing everything they can to defend their situation so they can continue in it. Here’s how Isaiah describes the siege of Jerusalem in chapter 22.

• The Babylonians have surrounded them.
• Their choicest valleys are filled with chariots of the enemy.
• The cavalry is at the gates of the city.
• The defenses of the city have been destroyed.
• There are breaches in the walls.

The response of the people is interesting. They are destroying anything and everything they had built in the city to reinforce the walls. They are doing everything they can to protect the lifestyle they love. But that is not the response God wanted from them. He did not ask them to defend the city – it was futile for them to attempt it because He had brought it upon them as a consequence of their sin. There was only one way they could avoid the punishment – repentance. God’s message to them was clear. “The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.” But they only wanted to protect the little world they had built for their own enjoyment.

I see that played out every day in the media and in the lives of people all around me. They do everything they can to defend their positions so they can enjoy their lifestyles. Now they have turned to attacking anyone who speaks out against what they are doing. We truly are living in the last days when the messengers of truth from Jesus Christ will be persecuted as people defend their ungodly positions.

But the people did not repent. Instead they planned one final party to satisfy the desires of their flesh. Isaiah 22:13 describes it. “But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”  

They had a chance to turn from their wicked ways and surrender to God in brokenness and humility. Instead they chose to pursue their passions one last time. When they did, they sealed their fate. God says, “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for.” How sad. There is a point in man’s rejection of God when God declares them to be eternally rejected by Him. They have refused to surrender to the call of the Holy Spirit for forgiveness, and for this they cannot be forgiven.

My friends, this is the culture in which we live today. But beware lest you think it is only “them” who are doing it. Let’s all check our lives as well and make sure we are not defending any positions in our lives that are not of God. Let us be holy and blameless before Him at His appearing, which I believe is coming soon.

Pastor John