The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:10-11.

In Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” Acts 17:28 NKJV.

There is a journey we can only make with the help of Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit. I used to think the verse, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4), meant when we experience dying physically. Not anymore. The valley of the shadow of death is this broken world we inhabit and especially, the self within me I have made into an idol. That’s why the first verse above speaks so strongly to me today. The death He died…He died to sin…And because He was willing to do that for us, In Him…we live and move and have our being. I have had to die to sin when my selfish nature has been called out and I needed to repent and ask for forgiveness. The hardest lessons are learned in greatest need…valleys of death. And when we stop leaning on our own understanding, our own justifications, we find the love of God guiding us forward with a voice so gentle it can be missed. When we can’t, our hearts can become tender in our need for God, or they can become hardened and we turn away from the only help that will truly help us.

And our chapter, Isaiah 22, is about that lesson writ large because it encompasses Jerusalem then and Jerusalem today; and the people living then and all of us living now. We sin. We glorify the self and we don’t care who we hurt because we are the only ones who matter. Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates. The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest. You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool. You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. v. 7-11. And what did Isaiah experience in these visions? Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.” v. 4. But what were the people doing? 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 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!” v. 12-13. And one who should have been a steward? Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man. He will roll you up like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master’s house. I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position. v. 17-19. In the notes below it said that even that steward chosen to replace the one thrown out would also fall (22:25).

Can we not see what God sees so clearly? He died to sin because sin is so heinous we are walking in a valley of death. All of us. I have met my “idol”…and it is me. But thanks be to God…The death He died…He died to sin once for all…and that is so important for every one of us! Because the life He lives, He lives to God. And He is ready to share in that life with us. And when we choose life lived with Him, we find that in Him we live and move and have our being. He shows us how. Step by step, lesson by lesson, encouragement by encouragement. Turn to God. He’s here. Always.