Day 262: Point Blank

Welcome to Day 262 of the Bible 365 Podcast! I'm so excited you are joining me on this journey through the entire Bible this year. Reminder that each episode in 2026 will have a brand new devotional.

Today we'll be reading through Isaiah 30:12-33, 31-33:1-9; Galatians 5:1-12; Psalm 63; and Proverbs 23:22. Invite a family member or friend to join you as we grow in our knowledge of God through His Word.

I'm so glad that you are here!

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Welcome to day 262 of the Bible 365 podcast. My name is Randy Goudow and today we're going to be reading through Isaiah chapter 30 verses 12 through 33 and chapters 31, 32, and 33, verses 1 through 9, Galatians chapter 5, verses 1 through 12, Psalm chapter 63, and Proverbs chapter 23, verse 22. The translation I'm using throughout this podcast is the Berean Standard Bible, also known as the BSB. Let's read. Isaiah chapter 30 verses 12 through 33. Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says. Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fill, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like a potter's jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the waters from a cistern. For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, By repentance and rest you would be saved. Your strength would lie in quiet confidence, but you are not willing. No, you say, we will flee on horses. Therefore you will flee. We will ride swift horses, but your pursuers will be faster. A thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill. Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you. Therefore he rises to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for him. O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help. When he hears, he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your teacher will no longer hide himself. With your own eyes you will see him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you. This is the way, walk in it. So you will desecrate your silver plated idols and your gold plated images. You will throw them away like minstrel cloths, saying to them, Be gone. Then he will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork, and from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall. The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days. On the day that the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people and heals the wounds he has inflicted. Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction. He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray. You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel. And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and his mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst storm and hailstones. For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the Lord, he will strike them with his scepter, and with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the Lord brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as he battles with weapons brandished. For Topeth has long been prepared, it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and food. The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze. Isaiah chapter 31. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel, they do not seek the Lord. Yet he too is wise and brings disaster, he does not call back his words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers. But the Egyptians are men, not God, their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall, both will perish together. For this is what the Lord has said to me, like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey, and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor. So the Lord of hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights, like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it, he will pass over it and preserve it. Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel. For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made. Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man. A sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor. Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard, declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem. Isaiah chapter 32. Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land. Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently. No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel be respected. For a fool speaks foolishness, his mind plots iniquity, he practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the Lord. He leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink. The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive. He hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But a noble man makes honorable plans, he stands up for worthy causes. Stand up, you complacent women, listen to me, give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters. In a little more than a year you will tremble, O secure ones. For the grape harvest will fail and the fruit harvest will not arrive. Shudder, you ladies of leisure, tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waist. Beat your breast for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines, and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briars, even for every house of merriment in the city of revelry, for the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned, the hill and the watchtower will become caves forever, the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks, until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest. Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field. The work of righteousness will be peace. The service of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever. Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure places of rest. But hell will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths. Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely. Isaiah 33 verses 1 through 9. Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed. When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed. O Lord, be gracious to us, we wait for you. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble. The peoples flee the thunder of your voice, the nations scatter when you rise. Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locust. Like a swarm of locust men sweep over it. The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure. Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets. The envoys of peace weep bitterly. The highways are deserted, travel has ceased, the treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert. Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. Galatians 5, verses 1 through 12. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery. Take notice. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love. You are running so well, who has obstructed you from obeying the truth? Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough. I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be. Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves. Psalm chapter 63. O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My body yearns for you in a dry and weary land without water. So I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and glory. Because your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify you. So I will bless you as long as I live. In your name I will lift my hands. My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods, with joyful lips my mouth will praise you. When I remember you on my bed, I think of you through the watches of the night. For you are my help, I will sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you, your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it will go into the depths of the earth. They will fall to the power of the sword, they will become a portion for foxes. But the king will rejoice in God, all who swear by him will exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut. Proverbs 23, verse 22. Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Today's devotional is coming from Psalm chapter 63, verse 1. David says, O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my body yearns for you in a dry and weary land without water. Now I want to look at this line right here. Earnestly I seek you. One of the things over many decades of ministry, pastoral ministry, that I've observed is that there are a lot of people who say, Well, you know, I pray and God doesn't hear me. I've tried to call out to God, He doesn't answer, nothing really happens. And there is a big difference between flippantly throwing up a you know a generic prayer and someone who earnestly seeks the Lord. That word earnestly means to be open. It literally means open-heartedly, unguardedly, and unreservedly. So it's like saying, Oh God, you are my God. Open-heartedly, unguardedly, unreservedly, I seek you. Another way to understand earnestly is the word bluntly, abruptly, point blank. David was not playing around. He was saying, I am here to seek you, God. I'm gonna bear my heart, I'm gonna bear my soul, I'm gonna be raw and real, and in a way, I'm not letting go until you answer me. Why? Because, oh God, you are my God. And if He is our God, then why wouldn't we come before Him open-heartedly, unguardedly, unreservedly, and even abruptly and point blank to say, God, I'm seeking you. I want to know you, I want to hear you speak to me, I want you to show me what it is that I need to do with my life, or which direction I need to go. I need you to reveal yourself right now to my family, because my soul, my mind, my will, my emotions, every fiber of my being thirst for you. There is a lot more that I could say, but that's going to be offered today. Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. When is the last time that you earnestly sought the Lord? Let's pray. Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. And today we echo with David. Oh God, you are our God. Earnestly we seek you. Our soul thirsts for you. Our body yearns for you in a dry and weary land without water. Reveal yourself to us today. Draw us close by the presence of your Holy Spirit and reveal your Son to us. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed today's devotional. If you're getting something out of the Bible three sixty five podcast, consider sharing it with your family and with your friends. Please continue to pray for me. I am praying for you. Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow with day two sixty three.