For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.
– Isaiah 3:8
Did you hear that language? Let that soak in. This is God talking about the sin of his people in Jerusalem, Judah, how they’ve stumbled and fallen because their speech and their deeds are against God, defying his glorious presence. I read that and I think, “How can my speech be against God and defy his glorious presence? How can my deeds be against God and defy his glorious presence?” This is a picture of sin and the seriousness of sin.
Isaiah 3:8 encourages us to honor God with everything we do and say.
When we say something to someone else that’s not edifying to them, we are using speech that is against God, that’s defying his glorious presence. When we do something that we think, “Oh, it’s small. It’s not that big a deal. It’s just a small sin.” No, it’s a deed done against God, defying his glorious presence. And I read this and I just want to lead us to pray that our speech today and our deeds would be not against the Lord, but for the Lord, everything we say and everything we do. And instead of our speech and deeds defying his glorious presence, that our speech and deeds would magnify and honor and revere and point people to his glorious presence. Oh, just think about that. Your speech and your deeds today will either be against God or for God.
So God, we pray that you would forgive us for the ways we speak or act that are against you. God, we pray that you would even bring to our minds right now anyways over the last day or farther back that we’ve not confessed where our speech or our deeds have been against you, have defied your presence.
Isaiah 3:8 demands we honor God by taking our sin seriously.
Jesus, we praise you for dying on the cross for our forgiveness. We praise you for taking the penalty of our sin upon yourself, knowing once and no matter how small we might think it is against you, oh God, is infinitely worthy of infinite eternal judgment.
God, help us to see our sin rightly, properly, and appropriately. Help us to see our sins seriously. God, we pray for every action we take today, every thought, every desire, everything we do. God, we pray that it would be for you, that it would be glorifying to you, honoring to your glorious presence.
Yes, God, pointing people to your glorious presence. We want to be a reflection of you and your character today in our speech and our deeds.
Prayer for the Turkish Cypriot People
And God, help us to boldly share the gospel with our speech and through our lives, adorning that gospel, that points people to you and your glorious presence and your love for them. And God, we pray for the spread of this gospel, the good news of your love in Jesus to the Turkish Cypriot.
God, we pray specifically for this people group of 225,000… The small number of believers who are there among them. God, we pray that you would strengthen them, and help them to point people to your glorious presence around them. And we pray that you would bring many Turkish Cypriot men and women and children to salvation through the speech and deeds of Christians there and of people you send, missionaries, to spread the gospel to them.
Oh God, we pray all of this according to your Word in Isaiah 3:8. Help us to speak and act in ways that glorify your presence in us and around us. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
