People Matter Daily Devotional: September 30

A Word From God’s Word
Dull their understanding, close their ears and shut their eyes. I don’t want them to see or to hear or to understand, or to turn to me to heal them.

Isaiah 6:10 (TLB)

A Word From Kelsey Trautwein
Various distractions keep you captive in your spiritual life: technology, stress, school, work, sports, and relationships, to name a few. You can spend time reading the Bible and praying, but if you do not fully submit every aspect of your life to God, your Spiritual life will never reach full potential. In fact, God told Isaiah he would not allow Israel to understand Him as long as they allowed themselves to be captive to secular things. He literally said, “I don’t want them to see or to hear or to understand.” (Isaiah 6:10) God refuses to reveal himself to us when we allow ourselves to be captive to the world we live in.

God loves us too much to give up on us. God will put us through situation after situation until we finally realize we are captive by sin and have the sincere desire to change our ways. Unfortunately, it often takes many hardships for us to learn our lesson. Isaiah asked God “Lord, how long will it be before they are ready to listen” and He replied, “Not until their cities are destroyed—without a person left—and the whole country is an utter wasteland and they are all taken away as slaves to other countries far away, and all the land of Israel lies deserted!” (Isaiah 6:11-12) Fortunately, for us, God is never far away. Jeremiah 29:13-14 says “you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, ‘declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” What is keeping you captive from fully seeking God today?

Kelsey Trautwein served on the High School Mission Team this past summer as well as a Crew Leader for VBS. She is a student at Williamsville North High School.

A Word With God
Lord, give me the sincere desire to turn away from my captivity and the faith to know You will lead me back to Your righteous path. Amen.