Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a year podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today it is day 208.

We're reading today from Isaiah 37 and 38. We're basically halfway through Isaiah. It's pretty phenomenal. We're also reading from the the last two chapters of the Prophet Baruch, chapters five and six. Also proverbs chapter eleven, verses 25 through 28 28.

As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the revised standard Version, second catholic edition. I'm using the great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com bible in here. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes. As I said, today is day 208.

We're reading today from Isaiah 37 38 Baruch five and six proverbs, chapter eleven, verses 25 through 28 the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 37 Hezekiah consults Isaiah. When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes you back on the way by which you came. And this shall be the sign for you. This year, eat what grows of itself.And in the second year, what springs of the same. Then in the third year, sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it by the way that he came, by the same, he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. Sennacherib's defeat and death. And the angel of the Lord went forth and slew a 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went home and dwelt at Nineveh.And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his God Adramelech and Shahrazar, his sons slew him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Asarhaddon, his son reigned in his stead.Hezekiah's sickness. In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die. You shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord and said, remember now, o Lord, I beseech you how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight.And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. Go and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears.Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and defend this city. This is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised. Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps. So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah. After he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness, I said, in the noontide of my days I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol. For the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living.I shall look upon man no more among the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent. Like a weaver, I have rolled worshiping them. But say in your heart, it is you, O Lord, whom we must worship. For my angel is with you, and he is watching your lives. The futility of idols and idolatry. Their tongues are smoothed by their craftsmen, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver.But they are false and cannot speak. People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they would for a girl who loves ornaments. And sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it upon themselves, and even some of them to the harlots in the brothel. They deck their gods out with garments like men. These gods of silver and gold and wood which cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion.When they have been dressed in purple robes, their faces are wiped because of the dust from a temple which is thick upon them. Like a local ruler, the God holds a scepter, though unable to destroy anyone who offends it. It has a dagger in its right hand and has an ax. But it cannot save itself from war and robbers. Therefore they evidently are not gods.So do not fear them. For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen. When they have been set up in the temples, their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side upon a man who has dead body cast out in the darkness by the purple and linen that rot upon them. You will know that they are not gods, and they will finally themselves be consumed and be a reproach in the land. Better, therefore, is a just man who has no idols, for he will be far from reproach.The book of proverbs 1125 28. A. Liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. He who diligently seeks good, seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.He who trusts in his riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. And we give you praise this day and every day, confident that you hear our prayers, you know our need, and you meet us now. In Jesus name we pray.Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. Just like yesterday is so good in the book of the prophet Isaiah to be able to hear these stories that we already know.And again, you might think it's just repeating the same story, but how good is that that you know this story of the king of Assyria? You know his name, Sennacherib, who's kind of. He basically says, listen, I've defeated all these other nations that relied upon their gods. I'm going to defeat you as well. Hezekiah turns to the Lord.He turns to Isaiah and doesn't turn to Isaiah, turns to the Lord in the temple of the Lord with this letter that Sennacherib sends. And God hears his prayer and delivers him. This incredible defeat that the angel of the Lord rots, writes, accomplishes upon the camp of the Assyrians. And then later on, after God has rescued his people in Jerusalem from Sennacherib, Hezekiah gets sick. He prays to the Lord.And Isaiah, who had previously said, yep, this is going to end in death. Get your house in order, says, ha psych. God says, 15 more years. And we know what Hezekiah did with those 15 years and the consequences of that. But we also know that we have this incredible prayer in chapter 38 of Isaiah.And it's a prayer that I probably end up praying once a week, probably in the noontide of my days. I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. We have a thing called the liturgy of the hours that every religious sister, every religious brother, every priest, many deacons, many lay people, pray on a regular basis. And this canticle, essentially from Isaiah, chapter 38, is one of those things that we pray on a very, very regular basis.So just a gift to be able to read that aloud to you, because normally I'm praying it by myself. So what an incredible gift to pray it with you today. Also, baruch. Chapter five and six. Man.Oh, gosh, love it so much. Chapter five, we get some encouragement, right? So here is God proclaiming Jerusalem. Take off your garment of sorrow. Take off your garment of affliction, because put on forever the beauty of your glory from God.Put on the robe of righteousness because he's going to redeem you. Bring it back home. So good. Remember that Baruch is writing. He is a scribe, essentially, or compatriot with Jeremiah and that time of exile, he's saying, is going to come to an end.But also this letter, chapter six, the letter of Jeremiah to the captives, right? They're in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar is the king there. And here is what Jeremiah, through Baruch, wants to remind the people of. He wants to remind them that they're going to be surrounded by idols, and those idols are not real.Now, a couple things. One, you're going to be tempted to worship the idols and turn away. So first, number way. Number one, turn away from the living God. You're going to be tempted to do that.Don't do that. Number two, you're going to be tempted to be dazzled by these false gods, right? Why? Because they're made of gold and silver, and so you might actually be tempted to worship them. So number one, you'd be tempted to turn away from worship of God, the real God, true God.Number two, you might be dazzled by these gods of gold and silver, these idols of gold or silver. You might be dazzled by them, captivated by them. You might be tempted to give your worship to them. And thirdly, even if you're not tempted to turn away from the living God, you're not tempted to worship these false idols. You might be tempted to be superstitious when it comes to them.And so here is this letter from Jeremiah to the captives, and he's saying, yeah, do not be superstitious. These are what people. This is what people will do. But here's the deal. I love this in chapter six, verse 17.For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen that have been set up in the temples, that their eyes are full of dust. People have to wipe them off. People have to listen, don't. They're not real, so do not fear them. That's another thing that happens again and again, right?This. He says it again and again. They're evidently not gods, so do not fear them. That, do not fear them is do not be superstitious of them. Right.So again, you might not be tempted to worship them, you might not be captivated by them, but you also might have a little bit of a. Yeah, I don't want to risk it, though. So maybe I'll just, you know, dash a pinch of incense into the fiery bowl in front of one of these false idols. Because, you know, maybe I'm not gonna worship it, but I'm not also gonna just walk by without doing some superstition here. And that can be true for every one of us.All three of those temptations tempted to turn away from the worship God has asked from us. Number two is tempted to worship false idols. Or number three, even just be tempted to give false idols power by being afraid of them, by being afraid of superstition, by being afraid of something that has no power to rule us, has no power that we don't give to it. And so here is Baruch, who closes his book of the prophet Baruch, reminding those people in exile that you have a God who knows you. He is the true and living God, that you belong to him.He belongs to you. So do not be afraid of anything or anyone else. Such good words for us to hear today. Tomorrow we're going to continue with Isaiah. We're hitting actually the book of consolation in chapter 40.We have to go through chapter 39 1st, even though Isaiah, you know, even though in the Book of Woe, he's been pretty encouraging, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Isaiah also. We're hitting tomorrow though. Isaiah 39, 40.We're also beginning the book of the prophet Ezekiel. So one of the other major prophets, we're starting tomorrow, so I can't wait. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr.Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.

you back on the way by which you came. And this shall be the sign for you. This year, eat what grows of itself.

And in the second year, what springs of the same. Then in the third year, sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it by the way that he came, by the same, he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. Sennacherib's defeat and death. And the angel of the Lord went forth and slew a 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went home and dwelt at Nineveh.

And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his God Adramelech and Shahrazar, his sons slew him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Asarhaddon, his son reigned in his stead.

Hezekiah's sickness. In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die. You shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord and said, remember now, o Lord, I beseech you how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight.

And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. Go and say to Hezekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears.

Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and defend this city. This is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised. Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps. So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah. After he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness, I said, in the noontide of my days I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol. For the rest of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living.

I shall look upon man no more among the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent. Like a weaver, I have rolled worshiping them. But say in your heart, it is you, O Lord, whom we must worship. For my angel is with you, and he is watching your lives. The futility of idols and idolatry. Their tongues are smoothed by their craftsmen, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver.But they are false and cannot speak. People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they would for a girl who loves ornaments. And sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it upon themselves, and even some of them to the harlots in the brothel. They deck their gods out with garments like men. These gods of silver and gold and wood which cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion.When they have been dressed in purple robes, their faces are wiped because of the dust from a temple which is thick upon them. Like a local ruler, the God holds a scepter, though unable to destroy anyone who offends it. It has a dagger in its right hand and has an ax. But it cannot save itself from war and robbers. Therefore they evidently are not gods.So do not fear them. For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen. When they have been set up in the temples, their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side upon a man who has dead body cast out in the darkness by the purple and linen that rot upon them. You will know that they are not gods, and they will finally themselves be consumed and be a reproach in the land. Better, therefore, is a just man who has no idols, for he will be far from reproach.The book of proverbs 1125 28. A. Liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. He who diligently seeks good, seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.He who trusts in his riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. And we give you praise this day and every day, confident that you hear our prayers, you know our need, and you meet us now. In Jesus name we pray.Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. Just like yesterday is so good in the book of the prophet Isaiah to be able to hear these stories that we already know.And again, you might think it's just repeating the same story, but how good is that that you know this story of the king of Assyria? You know his name, Sennacherib, who's kind of. He basically says, listen, I've defeated all these other nations that relied upon their gods. I'm going to defeat you as well. Hezekiah turns to the Lord.He turns to Isaiah and doesn't turn to Isaiah, turns to the Lord in the temple of the Lord with this letter that Sennacherib sends. And God hears his prayer and delivers him. This incredible defeat that the angel of the Lord rots, writes, accomplishes upon the camp of the Assyrians. And then later on, after God has rescued his people in Jerusalem from Sennacherib, Hezekiah gets sick. He prays to the Lord.And Isaiah, who had previously said, yep, this is going to end in death. Get your house in order, says, ha psych. God says, 15 more years. And we know what Hezekiah did with those 15 years and the consequences of that. But we also know that we have this incredible prayer in chapter 38 of Isaiah.And it's a prayer that I probably end up praying once a week, probably in the noontide of my days. I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. We have a thing called the liturgy of the hours that every religious sister, every religious brother, every priest, many deacons, many lay people, pray on a regular basis. And this canticle, essentially from Isaiah, chapter 38, is one of those things that we pray on a very, very regular basis.So just a gift to be able to read that aloud to you, because normally I'm praying it by myself. So what an incredible gift to pray it with you today. Also, baruch. Chapter five and six. Man.Oh, gosh, love it so much. Chapter five, we get some encouragement, right? So here is God proclaiming Jerusalem. Take off your garment of sorrow. Take off your garment of affliction, because put on forever the beauty of your glory from God.Put on the robe of righteousness because he's going to redeem you. Bring it back home. So good. Remember that Baruch is writing. He is a scribe, essentially, or compatriot with Jeremiah and that time of exile, he's saying, is going to come to an end.But also this letter, chapter six, the letter of Jeremiah to the captives, right? They're in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar is the king there. And here is what Jeremiah, through Baruch, wants to remind the people of. He wants to remind them that they're going to be surrounded by idols, and those idols are not real.Now, a couple things. One, you're going to be tempted to worship the idols and turn away. So first, number way. Number one, turn away from the living God. You're going to be tempted to do that.Don't do that. Number two, you're going to be tempted to be dazzled by these false gods, right? Why? Because they're made of gold and silver, and so you might actually be tempted to worship them. So number one, you'd be tempted to turn away from worship of God, the real God, true God.Number two, you might be dazzled by these gods of gold and silver, these idols of gold or silver. You might be dazzled by them, captivated by them. You might be tempted to give your worship to them. And thirdly, even if you're not tempted to turn away from the living God, you're not tempted to worship these false idols. You might be tempted to be superstitious when it comes to them.And so here is this letter from Jeremiah to the captives, and he's saying, yeah, do not be superstitious. These are what people. This is what people will do. But here's the deal. I love this in chapter six, verse 17.For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen that have been set up in the temples, that their eyes are full of dust. People have to wipe them off. People have to listen, don't. They're not real, so do not fear them. That's another thing that happens again and again, right?This. He says it again and again. They're evidently not gods, so do not fear them. That, do not fear them is do not be superstitious of them. Right.So again, you might not be tempted to worship them, you might not be captivated by them, but you also might have a little bit of a. Yeah, I don't want to risk it, though. So maybe I'll just, you know, dash a pinch of incense into the fiery bowl in front of one of these false idols. Because, you know, maybe I'm not gonna worship it, but I'm not also gonna just walk by without doing some superstition here. And that can be true for every one of us.All three of those temptations tempted to turn away from the worship God has asked from us. Number two is tempted to worship false idols. Or number three, even just be tempted to give false idols power by being afraid of them, by being afraid of superstition, by being afraid of something that has no power to rule us, has no power that we don't give to it. And so here is Baruch, who closes his book of the prophet Baruch, reminding those people in exile that you have a God who knows you. He is the true and living God, that you belong to him.He belongs to you. So do not be afraid of anything or anyone else. Such good words for us to hear today. Tomorrow we're going to continue with Isaiah. We're hitting actually the book of consolation in chapter 40.We have to go through chapter 39 1st, even though Isaiah, you know, even though in the Book of Woe, he's been pretty encouraging, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Isaiah also. We're hitting tomorrow though. Isaiah 39, 40.We're also beginning the book of the prophet Ezekiel. So one of the other major prophets, we're starting tomorrow, so I can't wait. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr.Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.

worshiping them. But say in your heart, it is you, O Lord, whom we must worship. For my angel is with you, and he is watching your lives. The futility of idols and idolatry. Their tongues are smoothed by their craftsmen, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver.

But they are false and cannot speak. People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they would for a girl who loves ornaments. And sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it upon themselves, and even some of them to the harlots in the brothel. They deck their gods out with garments like men. These gods of silver and gold and wood which cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion.

When they have been dressed in purple robes, their faces are wiped because of the dust from a temple which is thick upon them. Like a local ruler, the God holds a scepter, though unable to destroy anyone who offends it. It has a dagger in its right hand and has an ax. But it cannot save itself from war and robbers. Therefore they evidently are not gods.

So do not fear them. For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen. When they have been set up in the temples, their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side upon a man who has dead body cast out in the darkness by the purple and linen that rot upon them. You will know that they are not gods, and they will finally themselves be consumed and be a reproach in the land. Better, therefore, is a just man who has no idols, for he will be far from reproach.The book of proverbs 1125 28. A. Liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. He who diligently seeks good, seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.He who trusts in his riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. And we give you praise this day and every day, confident that you hear our prayers, you know our need, and you meet us now. In Jesus name we pray.Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. Just like yesterday is so good in the book of the prophet Isaiah to be able to hear these stories that we already know.And again, you might think it's just repeating the same story, but how good is that that you know this story of the king of Assyria? You know his name, Sennacherib, who's kind of. He basically says, listen, I've defeated all these other nations that relied upon their gods. I'm going to defeat you as well. Hezekiah turns to the Lord.He turns to Isaiah and doesn't turn to Isaiah, turns to the Lord in the temple of the Lord with this letter that Sennacherib sends. And God hears his prayer and delivers him. This incredible defeat that the angel of the Lord rots, writes, accomplishes upon the camp of the Assyrians. And then later on, after God has rescued his people in Jerusalem from Sennacherib, Hezekiah gets sick. He prays to the Lord.And Isaiah, who had previously said, yep, this is going to end in death. Get your house in order, says, ha psych. God says, 15 more years. And we know what Hezekiah did with those 15 years and the consequences of that. But we also know that we have this incredible prayer in chapter 38 of Isaiah.And it's a prayer that I probably end up praying once a week, probably in the noontide of my days. I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. We have a thing called the liturgy of the hours that every religious sister, every religious brother, every priest, many deacons, many lay people, pray on a regular basis. And this canticle, essentially from Isaiah, chapter 38, is one of those things that we pray on a very, very regular basis.So just a gift to be able to read that aloud to you, because normally I'm praying it by myself. So what an incredible gift to pray it with you today. Also, baruch. Chapter five and six. Man.Oh, gosh, love it so much. Chapter five, we get some encouragement, right? So here is God proclaiming Jerusalem. Take off your garment of sorrow. Take off your garment of affliction, because put on forever the beauty of your glory from God.Put on the robe of righteousness because he's going to redeem you. Bring it back home. So good. Remember that Baruch is writing. He is a scribe, essentially, or compatriot with Jeremiah and that time of exile, he's saying, is going to come to an end.But also this letter, chapter six, the letter of Jeremiah to the captives, right? They're in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar is the king there. And here is what Jeremiah, through Baruch, wants to remind the people of. He wants to remind them that they're going to be surrounded by idols, and those idols are not real.Now, a couple things. One, you're going to be tempted to worship the idols and turn away. So first, number way. Number one, turn away from the living God. You're going to be tempted to do that.Don't do that. Number two, you're going to be tempted to be dazzled by these false gods, right? Why? Because they're made of gold and silver, and so you might actually be tempted to worship them. So number one, you'd be tempted to turn away from worship of God, the real God, true God.Number two, you might be dazzled by these gods of gold and silver, these idols of gold or silver. You might be dazzled by them, captivated by them. You might be tempted to give your worship to them. And thirdly, even if you're not tempted to turn away from the living God, you're not tempted to worship these false idols. You might be tempted to be superstitious when it comes to them.And so here is this letter from Jeremiah to the captives, and he's saying, yeah, do not be superstitious. These are what people. This is what people will do. But here's the deal. I love this in chapter six, verse 17.For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen that have been set up in the temples, that their eyes are full of dust. People have to wipe them off. People have to listen, don't. They're not real, so do not fear them. That's another thing that happens again and again, right?This. He says it again and again. They're evidently not gods, so do not fear them. That, do not fear them is do not be superstitious of them. Right.So again, you might not be tempted to worship them, you might not be captivated by them, but you also might have a little bit of a. Yeah, I don't want to risk it, though. So maybe I'll just, you know, dash a pinch of incense into the fiery bowl in front of one of these false idols. Because, you know, maybe I'm not gonna worship it, but I'm not also gonna just walk by without doing some superstition here. And that can be true for every one of us.All three of those temptations tempted to turn away from the worship God has asked from us. Number two is tempted to worship false idols. Or number three, even just be tempted to give false idols power by being afraid of them, by being afraid of superstition, by being afraid of something that has no power to rule us, has no power that we don't give to it. And so here is Baruch, who closes his book of the prophet Baruch, reminding those people in exile that you have a God who knows you. He is the true and living God, that you belong to him.He belongs to you. So do not be afraid of anything or anyone else. Such good words for us to hear today. Tomorrow we're going to continue with Isaiah. We're hitting actually the book of consolation in chapter 40.We have to go through chapter 39 1st, even though Isaiah, you know, even though in the Book of Woe, he's been pretty encouraging, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Isaiah also. We're hitting tomorrow though. Isaiah 39, 40.We're also beginning the book of the prophet Ezekiel. So one of the other major prophets, we're starting tomorrow, so I can't wait. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr.Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.

dead body cast out in the darkness by the purple and linen that rot upon them. You will know that they are not gods, and they will finally themselves be consumed and be a reproach in the land. Better, therefore, is a just man who has no idols, for he will be far from reproach.

The book of proverbs 1125 28. A. Liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. He who diligently seeks good, seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.

He who trusts in his riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. And we give you praise this day and every day, confident that you hear our prayers, you know our need, and you meet us now. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. Just like yesterday is so good in the book of the prophet Isaiah to be able to hear these stories that we already know.

And again, you might think it's just repeating the same story, but how good is that that you know this story of the king of Assyria? You know his name, Sennacherib, who's kind of. He basically says, listen, I've defeated all these other nations that relied upon their gods. I'm going to defeat you as well. Hezekiah turns to the Lord.

He turns to Isaiah and doesn't turn to Isaiah, turns to the Lord in the temple of the Lord with this letter that Sennacherib sends. And God hears his prayer and delivers him. This incredible defeat that the angel of the Lord rots, writes, accomplishes upon the camp of the Assyrians. And then later on, after God has rescued his people in Jerusalem from Sennacherib, Hezekiah gets sick. He prays to the Lord.

And Isaiah, who had previously said, yep, this is going to end in death. Get your house in order, says, ha psych. God says, 15 more years. And we know what Hezekiah did with those 15 years and the consequences of that. But we also know that we have this incredible prayer in chapter 38 of Isaiah.

And it's a prayer that I probably end up praying once a week, probably in the noontide of my days. I must depart. I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. We have a thing called the liturgy of the hours that every religious sister, every religious brother, every priest, many deacons, many lay people, pray on a regular basis. And this canticle, essentially from Isaiah, chapter 38, is one of those things that we pray on a very, very regular basis.

So just a gift to be able to read that aloud to you, because normally I'm praying it by myself. So what an incredible gift to pray it with you today. Also, baruch. Chapter five and six. Man.

Oh, gosh, love it so much. Chapter five, we get some encouragement, right? So here is God proclaiming Jerusalem. Take off your garment of sorrow. Take off your garment of affliction, because put on forever the beauty of your glory from God.

Put on the robe of righteousness because he's going to redeem you. Bring it back home. So good. Remember that Baruch is writing. He is a scribe, essentially, or compatriot with Jeremiah and that time of exile, he's saying, is going to come to an end.

But also this letter, chapter six, the letter of Jeremiah to the captives, right? They're in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar is the king there. And here is what Jeremiah, through Baruch, wants to remind the people of. He wants to remind them that they're going to be surrounded by idols, and those idols are not real.

Now, a couple things. One, you're going to be tempted to worship the idols and turn away. So first, number way. Number one, turn away from the living God. You're going to be tempted to do that.

Don't do that. Number two, you're going to be tempted to be dazzled by these false gods, right? Why? Because they're made of gold and silver, and so you might actually be tempted to worship them. So number one, you'd be tempted to turn away from worship of God, the real God, true God.

Number two, you might be dazzled by these gods of gold and silver, these idols of gold or silver. You might be dazzled by them, captivated by them. You might be tempted to give your worship to them. And thirdly, even if you're not tempted to turn away from the living God, you're not tempted to worship these false idols. You might be tempted to be superstitious when it comes to them.

And so here is this letter from Jeremiah to the captives, and he's saying, yeah, do not be superstitious. These are what people. This is what people will do. But here's the deal. I love this in chapter six, verse 17.

For just as one's dish is useless when it is broken, so are the gods of the heathen that have been set up in the temples, that their eyes are full of dust. People have to wipe them off. People have to listen, don't. They're not real, so do not fear them. That's another thing that happens again and again, right?

This. He says it again and again. They're evidently not gods, so do not fear them. That, do not fear them is do not be superstitious of them. Right.

So again, you might not be tempted to worship them, you might not be captivated by them, but you also might have a little bit of a. Yeah, I don't want to risk it, though. So maybe I'll just, you know, dash a pinch of incense into the fiery bowl in front of one of these false idols. Because, you know, maybe I'm not gonna worship it, but I'm not also gonna just walk by without doing some superstition here. And that can be true for every one of us.

All three of those temptations tempted to turn away from the worship God has asked from us. Number two is tempted to worship false idols. Or number three, even just be tempted to give false idols power by being afraid of them, by being afraid of superstition, by being afraid of something that has no power to rule us, has no power that we don't give to it. And so here is Baruch, who closes his book of the prophet Baruch, reminding those people in exile that you have a God who knows you. He is the true and living God, that you belong to him.

He belongs to you. So do not be afraid of anything or anyone else. Such good words for us to hear today. Tomorrow we're going to continue with Isaiah. We're hitting actually the book of consolation in chapter 40.

We have to go through chapter 39 1st, even though Isaiah, you know, even though in the Book of Woe, he's been pretty encouraging, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Isaiah also. We're hitting tomorrow though. Isaiah 39, 40.

We're also beginning the book of the prophet Ezekiel. So one of the other major prophets, we're starting tomorrow, so I can't wait. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Fr.

Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.