KJV Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

To begin with brothers and sisters the Lord said Just Wait. The NCV says Isaiah 8:17 I will wait for the LORD to help us, the LORD who is ashamed of the family of Israel. I will wait for him. In life sometimes we just have to wait.

Sometimes we have to wait and just get in God’s presence. You can’t upload Love. You can’t download Time. and you can’t goggle all the answers in life. So just Log in with God’s presence and you will surely like the status of your life. in essence stay in God’s embrace and let’s have a graceful grateful and glorious day in the Lord.

And so I put two eggs in the cool water and waited for the pot to boil. It seemed forever, so I left and went in my office and turned on my computer. I found the Isaiah 8:17 text that said I will wait for the LORD to help us, the LORD who is ashamed of the family of Israel. I will wait for him.and so I went back and the water was boiling. Sometimes you just have to wait. and sometimes it’s long wait.

Let me prove it. 46 years ago In Houma there use to be a care dealership called Fournoff Cadillac, Oldsmobile and G.M.C. And on the show room floor there was a 1977 canary yellow Cadillac Seville. It was clean as the board of health. I said man I’d look so cool in that car after I graduate high school. Well I didn’t get the 1977 Cadillac, But 16 years later after college and a good teaching job, I did get my Burgundy Wine Red Cadillac. Sometimes you just have to wait. And then after you truly wait on the Lord, you’ll find out that what you’ve been waiting on all that time wasn’t nothing but a hunk of metal that ain’t worth hardly nothing no more.

All I’m saying is Sometimes when you get older you realize that some things you waited for were superficial and materialistic. So now I’m going to wait on God for the right things.

Tell your neighbor Wait on the Lord for the right things.

And when you look back over your life,The truth is aren’t you glad you didn’t just rush into some things… because when it came out in the wash that thing wouldn’t have been good for you at all.

Isaiah 8:17 says I will wait for the LORD to help us, the LORD who is ashamed of the family of Israel. I will wait for him. This portion of the text that said the LORD who is ashamed of the family of Israel struck a nerve. As I researched the text I said why is the LORD ashamed of the family of Israel? Hummm? Why? What did they do? In my African American ebonics I asked “What Israel done done now”?

Let’s get in the text find the answers. Brothers and sisters God let Israel’s enemies and adversaries over take them because of their blatant disobedience.

A.) Point 1. Israel will be overpowered by Assyria no matter who they get help them.

1. Isaiah 8:1 is teaching, talking, and telling is that God made Isaiah write down a special word and then get both Uriah the priest and Zechariah the priest to witness it. In other words let’s make this legit.

2. And so Isaiah and the prophetess got together and had a baby boy named ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’

Ma Hair Shala Hash Baz 3x.

3. The name MA HAIR SHALA HASH BAZ means stuff is going to get messed up pretty quick. I mean fast and in a quick and in a hurry , so quick until Isaiah, before your baby boy can talk and say mama and daddy you will be invaded by Assyria and Assyria is going to strip all your precious stuff away.

4. In verses 5-8 The Lord tells Isaiah why. God said Isaiah, “! Tell them since they can’t embrace the gentle slow moving pool of Shiloam where there is healing in the water at , And since they are terrified by the circumstances of the enemy. I’m going to let the enemy flood them over and their circumstances will mess them up. And church you should never let your circumstances dictate how you view God.

5. Circumstances from a biblical perspective are The nasty things you see when you take your eyes off of God. In reality, it’s not good to see God through the eyes of your circumstances, because your circumstances will make God look small, weak, and far away to you. But if you look at your circumstances through God’s eyes, with God in the lead, then God will draw close to you and God will show you His great Power.

Tell your neighbor: See It Like God see it. God will take care of you.

B.) Point 2. God’s Judgement’s Will not be Resisted

1.God said go ahead and try it, try it, and try it again and it still won’t work.

Look at verses 9-10 Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. 10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

2. Obedience is better than sacrifice. All of this is because of Israel’s disobedience towards God. The text says Israel you’ve got alliances with Syria and ye shall be broken in pieces broken in pieces, yeah broken in pieces. You can hire a thousand ten thousand a Hundred thousand soldiers to fight with you Israel, but If God is with Assyria, then Assyria is going to win. God meant for Israel to lose because of their disobedience.

3. Then in verses 11-12 God says to Isaiah Don’t be a part of that mess. Don’t get in it . Don’t buy into it. Don’t embrace it. And Don’t side with it. Walk away Isaiah. Because it’s a confederacy. Watch the text. Verse 11 says “For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

This tells me that God is saying “Isaiah you better learn how to have your own mind”. My professor said at Southern University you got to get you stuff together If your friend jumps off the Mississippi River Bridge you gon jump too We then the next time I give you an assignment do or I’ll fail you.

When you’re young sometimes you can do so dumb things. And God is saying to Isaiah Son don’t go along with them. It’s a confederacy. A Confederacy is an unlawful alliance that is conspiring to commit treason. 2x. And God is saying to Isaiah you’re the priest, you’re the prophet and you’re the preacher. Preacher your job is to tell them the truth in love not to get caught up out there with what they are doing. And listen I’ve learned that if people can get you to believe absurdities then they can get you to commit atrocities. Let’s read the text again from the NCV this time.

11 The LORD spoke to me with his great power and warned me not to follow the lead of the rest of the people. He said,12.“People are saying that others make plans against them, but you should not believe them.Don’t be afraid of what they fear; do not dread those things. “Isaiah!!! Don’t be with that mess” But tell them they had better fear ME said the Lord.

Let me prove it. Look at verse 13-15 Let’s read together “Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

God is saying you better tell them to recognize Me said the Lord.Brothers and sisters God is Great and Terrible. And we never ever want to find ourselves on the wrong side of an angry God. Because if the Lord don’t help us we won’t do so well. and we are the cause of the trouble. We have made the Good Lord angry at us. And the bible says God started whipping Israel. And when God is whipping you He ain’t letting up because God’s Judgement’s Will not be Resisted

Tell your neighbor: Don’t make God have to whip you nah

Then the text teaches us a valuable lesson

C.) Point 3.Make an Agreement and Wait on the Lord

Look at verse 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples From the NCV 16.Make an agreement. Seal up the teaching while my followers are watching.*17  I will wait for the LORD to help us,the LORD who is ashamed of the family of Israel.I will wait for him.

18 I am here, and with me are the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and proofs for the people of Israel from the LORD All-Powerful, who lives on Mount Zion.

God is saying I’m giving Israel a chance to get things right . And what I get out of the text is that “It’s time sensitive”. Verse 16 says Make that agreement. Form that covenant then seal it while the teaching is good. That’s why the old folk use to say, “get it while the getting is still good” because after while that road is going to grow up on you. Then verse 17 says that we have to wait on God to move for us. Wait nah Pastor should we get it while it’s good or should we wait on the Lord? Both and here’s why the text is saying to stop trusting in hoo doo and voo doo and start trusting in God and Trust Him Right Now. Put that old witchcraft stuff away, put that Halloween stuff, away put the scary costumes away, put casting spells away, and Stop trusting in folk that do that kind of evil dealing. Isaiah is warning Israel against necromancy and magic. You can’t be bothered with that stuff and still call yourself a Christian.

Pastor can you back that up? Yeah look at verse 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?. Then from the NCV 19 Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers, who whisper and mutter, what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead?

The bottom line is that God does not want engaging in witchcraft, because it’s of the devil.

Lastly

20 You should follow the teachings and the agreement with the LORD. The mediums and fortune-tellers do not speak the word of the LORD, so their words are worth nothing.

verse 20 says stop listening to folk who can’t change your situation. Because people that practice witchcraft will make you see your circumstances all alone and full of self. But if you’re rooted and grounded in the Word of God you’ll see God above your circumstances.

21 People will wander through the land troubled and hungry. When they become hungry, they will become angry and will look up and curse their king and their God.

And that is why we need to make an agreement with God quickly. People want to blame somebody when things aren’t going to well and some people will actually try to blame God for their mess. yes Indeed.

Then finally 22 They will look around them at their land and see only trouble, darkness, and awful gloom. And they will be forced into the darkness.

Lastly If we make the agreement with God quickly then you and I can wait patiently wait on the Lord. and God will see us through.

Wait on the Lord and be of good cheer because ye shall reap if you faint not.um um um