March 16 - Cush / Ethiopia

March 16 - Cush / Ethiopia - Isaiah 18:1-7

The land of Cush actually includes modern day Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. Isaiah 18:1 calls it the land of 'whirring wings.' While this refers to the locusts that were prevalent there, it also refers to the flurry of messengers and envoys traveling between countries that were trying to establish relationships so as to hold off the press of the Assyrians. (Isaiah 18:1-3)

Contrast this with the Lord's demeanor in Isaiah 18:4, "I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

I often wonder what God thinks as He looks at our lives ... we run around like bees with whirring winds, rushing from one thing to the next, keeping everyone busy and rushing right along with us. We allow so little peace and quiet into our lives and generally fall into bed at night completely exhausted.

The One who is in charge of all of the nations of the world, all of the activities of mankind, nature, the heavens and all that exists can look at our incessant activity with words like this. He will remain quiet ...

A lesson that we don't learn easily from our Lord.

Isaiah tells us that the Assyrians will be like a vine that the Lord prunes and clears away. He spreads the branches so that the birds of prey will feed on them. This imagery is reiterated in Revelation 14:14-20 and Revelation 19:17-21 in the last days. (Isaiah 18:5-6)

The Cushites will bring gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, this happened during Hezekiah's reign (2 Chronicles 32:20-23). Isaiah also tells us in Isaiah 60:1-7 that the Gentile nations will bring gifts before the Lord as well.

Isaiah moves back and forth between prophecies for the immediate years to come and the last days. Many times he is able to simply expand the prophecy from the immediate to the far reaching.

His words have come down through the millennia to encourage us and to challenge us.