July 18 | God wants to help us!

Today’s Reading:

Read Isaiah 28:23-29; Isaiah 30:18-26

You’ll need a blindfold for today’s reading. Choose a family member to blindfold. Give the blindfolded family member verbal instructions that will move them from one point to another – safely! One person in the family should be giving the right instructions. Have the other family members call out silly instructions that will not get the person from one point to another! Repeat several times and have fun with this!

In today’s reading, Isaiah prophesied that God’s desire was for good for the people not for evil. Isaiah pleaded with the people to hear what he was saying! He reminded them that God “gives wondrous advice. He gives great wisdom.” Isaiah wanted the people to listen to the prophecy and do what God said! He knew that God wanted what was best for them.

Isaiah explained that God’s desire was to show mercy and compassion. (Isaiah 30:18). God’s promise was to be with the people and to bring restoration and redemption. God promised that “whether (they) turned to the right or the left, (their) ears would hear this command behind (them), “This is the way. Walk in it.”

God was using Isaiah to warn the people, but He also used Isaiah to share His promises of goodness and kindness with them.

Application/Prayer:

Talk about what happened when you had fun with the blindfold game today. Was it easy or hard for the blindfolded person to hear the right instructions? Thank God that He promises that if we listen closely, we will hear him say, “This is the way. Walk in it.”

July Memory Verse:

“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.”

John 5:24

Using the daily reading prompts from George H. Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life, here’s how to use this devotional:

Bring your Bible! Your kids need to see that everything you are reading to them or learning about comes from an actual Bible!
Each day starts with a reading prompt. Read the selection as a family. If your kids are readers, encourage them to read along with you.
After you’ve read the passage, read the short devotional thought that goes along with each passage.
Prayer and application are important any time we read God’s word! After each devotional, there is a challenge to help apply what your family has read that day.
There is a reading for six days of the week. The last reading of the week is a Gospel Conversation Prompt to help you connect the reading from the week with God’s plan for salvation.