“Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
~ Isaiah 31:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you like horses? Have you ever ridden on a horse? Do you hope to have a horse when you become older? Before your grandpaa started first grade in the one room rural schoolhouse near the farm where your grandpaa grew up, your grandpaa’s dad had horses. Before your grandpaa was born, your grandpaa’s dad used horses to help him do his fieldwork. When he was a little kid, your grandpaa liked to ride in the small, shallow box that was attached to the back of hay wagons. The box was used to put feed in for the horses that were used to pull hay wagons. When you grandpaa was a little kid, horses were used to pull wagons of bundles of oats to a threshing machine to be threshed. Some guys and gals just like to have horses around to ride on them. Some guys have used horses in battles that they have fought for the guys, gals and kids who were living in their countries. Egypt was one of the countries where horses were used in the battles that their soldiers fought. Egyptian soldiers used horses to pull the chariots that they used to fight with in battles while other Egyptians soldiers rode horses into battles. Because they used horses when they went into battles against whoever they were fighting, Egypt became a very powerful country. When some of the Israelite people group’s guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals, who were living in the land that God had given them to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . saw how powerful and important that Egypt had become, these guys and gals decided to go to Egypt to live. How happy do you think that God was that some of His specially chosen guys and gals went to Egypt to live? Isaiah 31 is Isaiah writing about how God felt about His specially chosen guys and gals who went to Egypt to live. 750 years or so before Isaiah scribed the missive that he sent to God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living throughout the land of Judah and especially it seems in the city of Jerusalem, God had led His specially chosen guys and gals out of Egypt. God definitely did not want His specially chosen guys and gals to go back to Egypt to live – even though at the time living life in the land of Egypt was probably easier than it was living life in the land of Judah. God was not happy that His specially chosen guys and gals were putting their trust in a country – which was Egypt, which relied on horses to help them fight their enemies instead of trusting in Him to help them defeat their enemies – as He had been very ready to do what verse 5 says what God the Spirit breathed on Isaiah to write, “Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”‘
Each year – in August, your dad’s grandpa was one of the farmers who were part of a threshing run. Each year a half a dozen or so farmers who were neighbors of each year would help each other during threshing time. Your grandpaa’s dad owned the threshing machine and the tractor – which was a Case, which was used to turn the belts on the threshing machine. Even though August was always the hottest month of the year in the state – which was South Dakota, where your grandpaa grew up, your grandpaa always really looked forward to threshing time. Your grandpaa’s dad grew a lot of oats for feed. When the fields of oats ripened – which was when the heads of the oats had turned to a golden white color, your grandpaa – after he was old enough to drive his dad’s M John Deere tractor, would drive the M John Deere as it pulled a binder that would cut the oat stalks near the ground and then it would tie using twine the oat stalks into bundles. Your dad’s grandpa rode on a metal seat that was on the binder. If something happened that had something to do with the binder – such as noticing that the twine had broken or that the binder’s scythe had hit a clump of dirt which was keeping the scythe from cutting the oat stalks or . . . your grandpaa’s dad would stop the tractor that your grandpaa was driving by pulling the rope that was always attached between him and the tractor’s clutch. After a field of oats had been cut, the individual bundles of oats had to be stood up in shocks. Your grandpaa got to be a pretty fast shocker. Shocking oats is to stand up the individual bundles of oats into shocks of eight individual bundles of oats. When all the farmers where your grandpaa grew up as a kid who helped each other each year in a threshing run had all their fields of oats cut and shocked, the farmers would then begin the threshing run. When your grandpaa became older, your grandpaa would using a tractor pull grain wagons full of oats from the threshing machine to unload in a building – called a granary, in which farmers stored their harvested oats.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that God is going to allow you to have all kinds of life experiences that will help you know that trusting in Him is the way to go. God wants you to never forget that if you put your trust in Him that He will always be there to help you. God wants you to know that He is not pleased when you put your trust in an animal – like a horse, to help you. God wants you to know that He is going to sooner or later destroy every guy and gal who has denied Him through putting their trust in other things – such as in idol gods that have been made from wood, stone or metal. When Isaiah wrote what became the Isaiah Book, Isaiah was very concerned about the behavior of God’s specially chosen guys and gals towards God. As a prophet who was ordained by God to go to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and especially in the city of Jerusalem, Isaiah had been tasked to go to guys and gals who had tuned out God from their lives. How are you living your lives? Are you living your lives trusting in God or are you living your lives in ways that have gotten guys and gals to want to trust in you? God wants you to know that He – as God the Spirit, is always there on your behalf to war against evil.
Isaiah 31 (369)