Isaiah 33:6,24

Isaiah 33 deals a fair bit with God’s greatness, in regards to His protection of Jerusalem, and His judgment of the wicked (verse 1). It is a really really good chapter, and I encourage everyone to read it! I found the very last line interesting,

‘No one living in Jerusalem will say, “I am sick.”
The people who live there will have their sins forgiven.’ (Isaiah 33:24)

Either this chapter is only a symbol, where Jerusalem stands for the Church, which I find unlikely since up to that point it has dealt with literal events to do with Jerusalem. Either that or there will be a day when all that live in Jerusalem will be saved (this has obviously not happened yet)! This is great news.

However, I wanted to focus on verse 6.

‘He will be your safety.
He is full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
Respect for the LORD is the greatest treasure.’ (Isaiah 33:6)

This is the New Century Version –I have a feeling the NKJV would have something like ‘Fear of the LORD is the greatest treasure.’ How much do we treasure the fear of the Lord? How much do we respect Him?

As humans, we treasure a lot of things. As non-Christians, there are a multitude of things that we can treasure (some legitimate too!). From sport, music, friends, nature, knowledge, leisure, stories, food, to family, love, peace, equity and ‘moral’ things like that. And different people will have a different set of treasures, and one that they treasure above all else. One that drives them. One that gives them their supposed ‘purpose’. But when we become Christians, we are born anew, and all our priorities change. What we treasure is completely different. And here it says that the greatest treasure is Respect for the LORD. As Christians, we still feel the pull from the world, telling us to treasure things that we oughtn’t. They might be more of the ‘moral’ ones now. But we should be careful. None should be more treasured to us than our respect for God. Our fear of God. This should be our purpose and drive for life. Why? Because He is ‘full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge’.

Challenge your priorites. What do you really hold dear? Maybe it is time to change it!