This devotion is a weekly ministry of the Pee Dee Baptist Association, comprised of 32 Southern Baptist churches in Dillon and Marlboro Counties.  For more information, call 774-8062.
Featured this week is Rev. Chris Alderman, the pastor of Little Rock Baptist Church, Little Rock.

Walking by the Light of Your Own Fire
Isaiah 50:10,11, “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.”
This message from the Lord was given to the nation of Israel in her captivity. Instead of repenting, she falsely accused Him, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” To which the Lord responded, “Can a woman forget her nursing child? I have engraved thee upon the palms of My hands.” (Isaiah 49:14-16)
The Lord sends Isaiah to Israel with this message of conviction and restoration. #1 – There’s a pre-requisite stated in verse 10: fear the Lord and follow His voice. This is the same message Jesus gave to His disciples, “Drop your nets and follow Me.” It is the same message that He gives to every person in every generation, “Repent, confess your sin, believe in the Lord Jesus, accept Him as your Savior, and follow Me.”
#2 – There a problem stated in verse 10: The Israelites that feared and followed God were said to be “walking in darkness and hath no light.” This is not a reference to their relationship to the Lord, for He is light and in Him is no darkness. Rather, it is a description of the conditions surrounding them. Those following the Lord were in the minority. They lived among a morally corrupt and spiritually dead people. The Lord describes it this way: “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” As God-fearing, born-again, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians, we face similar conditions today in our country. It is morally and spiritually dark and getting darker quickly. What are we to do?
#3 – The prescription is found in verse 10: trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon our God. As the church becomes more like the world, we are to stay upon our God. When marriage is attacked and redefined, we must stay upon our God. When human babies are aborted at an alarming rate, we must stay upon our God. When the Church ordains divorced men for service as pastors and/or deacons, we must trust in the Lord and stay upon our God. When the Church decides to put women in the pulpit to preach, we must trust in the Lord and stay upon our God. We’re being run over by this onslaught of sin and “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.”
The temptation is to give in on these issues. It’s easier if we just go along with it. But that is a recipe for disaster. The Israelites put it this way in verse 11 (my paraphrase), “It’s better to walk by a little light than to stand here in the dark all by myself.”
We live in a world that is opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but tell it anyway. We live in a world that believes in no authority but themselves, but tell it anyway. We live in a world where people can’t be told they’re sinners because of their “fragile psyche,” but tell them anyway so that they may repent and be saved.
We Christians must be warned, as the Israelites were, that if we walk by the light of our own fire, “this shall ye have of Mind hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (verse 11)