Truth Encounter, Box 580, Midlothian, TX (2026)

05/30/2026

Could it be that there is a love story that goes a lot deeper than “Sleepless in Seattle?” The New Covenant Marriage –The Redemption Picture" this week on www.truthencounter.com .

05/29/2026

Dave’s Devo: Refugees Again In Need Isaiah 21:13-17

Isaiah has already given inspired revelation about how Moabite refugees fleeing the Assyrian military invasion were to be treated by the Judeans. Now Isaiah pictures another group of refugees fleeing into the Arabian desert, away from the oases and off the main road east and west. So, what does Israel’s God have to say about meeting the needs of refugees stranded in the Arabian desert and what does he remind us about pridefully trusting in the power of mighty warriors and weapons?

“A heavy prophetic burden concerning Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia (in the sparse brush off the main road) you camp.
O caravans of the Dedanites bring water to meet the thirsty. O inhabitants of Tema, meet the fugitives with bread for they are fleeing before the sword, from before the drawn sword, from the bent bow, from the intensity of the battle. Take note! This is what the divine Master said to me, ‘Within one year, like a servant bound by contract would figure it, all the glory of Kedar will be finished. And the survivors of the bowmen, the survivors of the powerful warriors of the sons of Kedar, they’ ll be few.’ Count on it! The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

Isaiah writes his prophecies about Arabia, the tribes of the desert that Muhammad (founder of the Islamic religion) united in the 7 century and then conquered the Middle Age world all the way into France and the gates of Vienna. Here they are the powerful traders carrying the incense trade in caravans down in the south Arabian desert east of the Red Sea and they are the rescuers God challenges to give food and water to all the refugees fleeing from the Assyrian armies who terrorized the entire area, including the attacks of Tiglath-pileser III, 738; Sargon II, 715 (possibly 710 also); and Sennacherib, 703, 689. But then even these rescuers needed to be rescued.
Picture of Middle East Map https://i0.wp.com/www.diversitystyleguide.com/wp-content/uploads/middle_east.jpg?w=544&ssl=1

As Isaiah predicts, the Assyrian armies went on to humble the pride of the bowman and soldiers of Kedar. In the beginning of Isaiah’s prophecy powerful Arabian tribes give sustenance from those fleeing from Assyrian power, but at the end of the prophecy their power his broken. They become the needy.

LORD, continue to enable Mary and me to use the blessings you've given us to meet the needs of those who are suffering. Help us realize how quickly the giver can become the one in need. Protect me from making statements about refugees based on my own political or social viewpoints but instead to allow your Spirit to give me your heart--the heart Isaiah communicates in his inspired words. And use relief organizations today to help relieve the suffering. Remove the political and ethnic barriers that are blocking the aid.

05/28/2026

Dave’s Devo: Sleepless, Anxious Nights Isaiah 21:11-12

I’ve had students and friends share about their fears. Tossing and turning, sleepless anxious nights. looking out the window to the east at three in the morning, longing for the dawn-a sign of light. But then even the sunrise doesn’t dispel the internal darkness and having to wrestle with the most agonizing sorrow and dread. You ask for answers and there’s only the sound of silence.

In one of Isaiah’s shortest oracles he exposes this deep internal angst. “Dumah” in Hebrew means “silence.” It was also the name of an oasis in the desert on the major highway east from the mountains of Edom, also called Seir, to lower Mesopotamia. Seir is an old name for the mountainous wilderness south and east of the Dead Sea. You’ve heard of a city in this area called Petra made famous by the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Isaiah’s prophesy is about a time before Petra, built by the Nabateans, after the descendants of Esau called the Edomites disappeared from history. As in our Devo yesterday, Isaiah again sees a watchman but this time what does the watchman see and hear about the destiny of the Edomites?

“A heavy prophetic burden concerning Dumah. Silence.
Someone calls to me from Seir.
Watchman, what is left of the evening?
Watchman, what is left of the night?
The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask, and come back yet again.’” Isaiah 21:11-12

If we track the story of Edom it begins with Esau the older brother of Jacob. He was a powerful man, a hunter, who loved a good wild game meal, but could care less about the promise to his great grandfather Abraham that in his line the great serpent slayer would come and bless the world (Genesis 12, 15, 17).

Esau sold this birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:23-34.) They both became powerful nations with Jacob generating the twelve tribes of Israel, giving birth to his fourth son Judah and eventually David and ultimately the legal line of Jesus.

Esau generated a powerful people. Genesis 36 lays out the genealogy of the descendants of Esau and reports they settled in the hill country of Seir. Moses tells us how God didn’t allow the Israelites to take any of their territory as they marched around the territory of Edom on the way to Canaan (Deuteronomy 2:4-5). But near the end of Israel’s wilderness wanderings the prophet Balaam saw a vision of their defeat (Numbers 24:17). The watchman in Isaiah’s prophecy listens and looks but is answered with silence. What will happen to this people who like their ancestor didn’t care about the promise that God would send a deliverer from Judah?

When Judah did fall to Babylon in the next generation after Isaiah, the Edomites treated the weak Judean refugees left after Nebuchadnezzar’s scourge with brutality, and Obadiah removes God’s silence. The Edomite’s pride, belief in their human invincibility, and disregard of the Messiah who would eventually come from Judah and David brought them down (Obadiah 2-4). Ezekiel joins in describing that their land would become a desolate waste (Ezekiel 25: 12-14).

LORD, help me to learn from the destiny of the Edomites to never treat Jesus, your Anointed One, with disregard or contempt. Help me not to live to be macho, to believe that living for the thrill of the hunt or the taste of the game is all there is. And help me warn anyone like Esau to humbly come to Jesus before they face the judgment you bring against anyone who prides themselves in their strength.

05/27/2026

Dave’s Devo: Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon Isaiah 21:1-10

Our daughter and son-in law live in Tuscaloosa, and when the EF-4 tornado suddenly struck on April 27, 2011, leaving a path of destruction and death for 80.68 miles, we waited in fear and trembling--waiting to hear if they were okay.

In the Ancient Middle East when whirlwinds suddenly struck from the desert to the south of Israel or to the south of Babylon, there were no meteorologists with Doppler radar or sirens to give warning. Isaiah uses the unexpected death of tornadic winds to picture an attack that would suddenly level the city of Babylon.

Who would be involved in this attack? How did the prophet respond emotionally to the horrifying destruction of war his prophetic vision caused him to see, and what can we learn about dependence upon man-made gods and human pride and power?

“A heavy prophetic burden about the Desert by the Sea: As swirling powerful winds from the Negev, sweeping from the desert, it comes from the desert, from a land of terror. A hard vision has been announced to me: ‘The one who acts treacherously continues to act treacherously. The one who acts in violent destruction continues the violence. Go up, Elam! Media, lay siege! I will bring to an end the groaning!’
Because of this my body is racked with anguish. Sharp pains have seized me like the pains of a woman about to deliver a baby. I’m twisted in pain by what I hear, shaken by what I see. My heart staggers, trembling with dread; the twilight I longed for becomes a horror. They set and arrange tables, spread out rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!
Indeed, this is what the Master said to me, ‘Go, post a watchman and have him report what he sees. When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.’ And the watchman shouted, ‘I stand vigilant all day upon the watchtower, and I continue standing at my post all night. Look, there! Here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses and he gives back this response: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! Day and night, all the images of her gods smashed to the ground!’ My threshed and winnowed one, child of the threshing floor. I report what I have heard from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel!” Isaiah 21:1-10

Because southern Mesopotamia flooded with water until canals controlled the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates, an ancient name for Babylon was the Sea Land, and Isaiah sees it becoming a desert because of invasions of war. Again, Isaiah uses a series of powerful word pictures—horrifying, unexpected whirlwinds, violent treachery and destruction, the gripping pains of a woman bent over by the pangs of childbirth, complacent rulers setting a table and feasting, a watchman looking day and night for the first indication of an approaching army, one chariot driver announcing the news that Babylon has fallen, and Judah pictured as grain left on the threshing floor.

Weaving together the leveling of Babylon in 689 by Sargon of Assyria with the fall of Babylon in 586 BC to the Medes and Persians, Isaiah challenges King Hezekiah of Jerusalem to not enter into a mutual defense treaty with the Babylonians because the city would fall in Hezekiah’s lifetime and then in the next generation Nebuchadnezzar would be used to sift the Judeans like wheat, but in the end Babylon would fall.

Why should we never trust in human rulers or man-made gods? Because they will always collapse and be blown away by the whirlwind of the true God.

LORD, again help me to see how Isaiah felt deeply and agonized about the destruction and death that invasions and war bring. Help me to also heed his warning against putting my trust and allegiance in any man-made empire or gods.

05/26/2026

Dave’s Devo: The Naked Prophet Isaiah 20:1-6

The power of Stephen Spielberg’s Schindler’s List or Herman Wouk’s War and Remembrance is that they force us to face the dark, heinous evil that nationalism, anti-Semiticism, A***n supremacy, and victimization generated in N**i Germany.

I’ve shared how I’ve stood in Auschwitz in the gas chambers and looked up at holes where the German guards dropped Zyclon B onto naked Jews who thought they were taking a shower. In less than half an hour the women, children, and older men and women were dead and other captive Jews were forced to carry the bodies a few feet to the cremation oven.

If the nakedness of these precious men, women and children in the images offends our sensibility and we fail to look hard at what actually happened, then we have no right to claim that we believe every word of the Bible is inspired because in the 8th century when the LORD wanted to warn the Jews in Judah about what would happen if they trusted the strong, powerful rulers of Egypt, he faced them with what the Assyrians did to Ashdod only thirty miles to the west of Jerusalem when they trusted in Egypt. And talk about a messenger of God embodying God’s revelation—look at what the LORD told Isaiah he needed to do.

“In the year that the field marshal came to Ashdod sent by Sargon, King of Assyria. In that year he attacked and captured it. At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah, the son of Amoz, as follows, ‘Go, remove your sackcloth from your body and your sandals from your feet.’ He did so, walking around naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, ‘Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot three years as a sign and ominous warning against Egypt and Cush, so the King of Assyria will drive into captivity the Egyptians and the exiles of Cush, young and old, with their rear ends bare to Egypt’s shame. Those who trusted in Cush and glorified Egypt—they will dismayed and ashamed. In that day those living on this coast will say, ‘Look, see what happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How can we escape?’” Isaiah 20:1--6

In 711 BC when Sargon, King of Assyria, sent his leading general against Ashdod, it was a powerful Philistine city. It had deposed the pro-Assyrian ruler Sargon had put on the throne with a pro-Egyptian ruler. Sargon made the city pay for their disloyalty.

In Isaiah’s previous prophecy about Cush and Egypt we’ve already seen how God devastated the land of the Nile. So as the 31-year-old Hezekiah saw what happened to Ashdod and saw Isaiah stripped and barefoot, he had to decide whether he would follow human wisdom and trust in those tall, proud rulers to the south or whether he would put all of his trust in the LORD alone.

In the climax and resolution of Isaiah Part One, we will get to see the decision Hezekiah made and its result. This faces me today with the decision: Will I worship God alone and resist powerful forces who are “using the cross of Jesus as a flagpole to fly the Stars and Stripes, or will I reject this idolatry.” *

LORD, help me to not shrink back from shamelessly embodying the truth you are revealing clearly in your Word through Isaiah. Help me see where devotion to powerful human rulers or political causes leads. Instead, I put my ultimate trust in devotion to Jesus alone.

05/25/2026

Dave’s Devo: The Future Highway From Egypt To Assyria Isaiah 19:23-25

Mary and I were with the rest of our Truth Encounter Holy Land friends standing on the Syrian border only a few miles south of Damascus, but we couldn’t go any farther. Syria was in the midst of a civil war and Syria and Israel were enemies. To drive through Syria all the way to Mosul in Iraq, site of Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, was totally out of the question.

We all wrestle with travel restrictions, but Isaiah pictures a future time when the roads will be open, even a super highway from Iraq to Egypt. It’s all part of his vision of a future when a Judean king, the Son of David, rules from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2,7, 9, 11), and one of the road projects of this true Messiah will be a highway direct from Mesopotamia to Egypt. Even more amazing—Israel, Egypt, and Assyria will all be the land of Yahweh-- all worshiping the true God, blessed by him.

“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. They will serve the LORD, worship him, from Egypt to Assyria. In that day Israel will be a third, with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the heart of the earth. The LORD of Armies will bless them saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt, my people, Assyria, my handiwork, and Israel, my inheritance.’” Isaiah 19:23-25

As we’ve been tracing Isaiah’s prophetic message to Egypt, the LORD’s swift arrival into Egypt brought his judgment-- a nation broken by drought and the resulting economic collapse. Isaiah portrays political and religious leaders hardened in their impenetrable foolishness, wallowing in their own drunken vomit. Egyptians cry out for guidance to their dead ancestors, are conned by occult soothsayers, and bow before idols they made with their own fingers.

The deadly reality is that it is the real LORD God who is judging Egypt, Assyria, and his own disobedient people. But in our passage today Isaiah sees a glorious resolution. Unlike the plagues in Exodus, this time God’s plagues are meant to face Egypt with the reality of their rebellion against him, to turn their hearts to the true God, and submission to God’s Messiah ruling from Jerusalem over all the earth. This will be the time of peace we yearn for, when even the Middle East won’t have obstructed borders. This will be when Jesus, the Messiah, returns to set up his kingdom as we learned in our study of Revelation 19.

LORD, as I listen to Isaiah’s powerful description of your judgment when false gods and human pride reign, expose my own false devotion and control by any human leaders. Stop the anger and animosity I’m seeing between brothers and sisters in the church more passionate about political leaders than they are about obeying Jesus who refused to use his omnipotent power to destroy his enemies, but instead died for them. On my face before the Messiah I submit to Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father, the King of Kings. Please reach Egyptians and Iraqis with the truth that today the Jesus, the ultimate ruler of the world, offers them forgiveness if only they open themselves to the power of the cross and his resurrection.

Could it be that there is a love story that goes a lot deeper than “Sleepless in Seattle?” The New Covenant Marriage –The Redemption Picture" this week on www.truthencounter.com

05/23/2026

Can you break promises, especially your marriage promises and expect to find meaning, purpose, and yes, happiness in life? "What Is?—The Covenant" this week on www.truthencounter.com.

05/22/2026

Dave’s Devo: The Terror Of Judah Isaiah 19:16-22

Seeing the news reports of synagogues bombed and Jews murdered, we must not ignore the rise of anti-Semitism. We must never forget that Jesus, our Savior, is a Jew. We must also understand that anti-Semitism flows from rejection of the fact that one day a Jew will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Jewish prophet Isaiah did predict a future when even the land of Egypt would tremble at the mention of Judah. But before we close Isaiah’s prophesy and label his words as only Israeli nationalism and pride, we must track carefully what Isaiah has to say about this “terror,” and where this fear is to lead.

“In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with terror before the upraised hand of the LORD of Armies that he is raising over them. The ground of Judah will be to Egypt terror. Everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified because of what the LORD of Armies is planning against them.
In that day five cities in Egypt still speak the language of Canaan and swear oaths of allegiance to the LORD of Armies. One of the cities will be called the City of Destruction. In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt and stone monuments to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and testimony to the LORD of Armies in the land of Egypt. They will cry out to the LORD for deliverance from those oppressing them, and he will send them a savior, the one who will deliver them from their oppressor.
The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings and make vows to the LORD and fulfill them. The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague and he will heal. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their cries and heal them.” Isaiah 19:16-22

The terror Isaiah describes coming from Judah is not a human army—Jew or Gentile. It is the power of God himself, the God who has been telling us this week in Isaiah that it is his plans against Egypt that will prevail. He is the one who allows the drought, the famine, and here, plague and terror.

Remember in the Exodus how God used plagues to justly punish the Egyptians, especially the tyrant Pharaoh for murdering Jewish babies and enslaving his people? Well, here the plague isn’t meant to destroy the Egyptians but to face them with reality. Their idols, their prideful religious and political rulers, their involvement in the occult have only brought them to ruin. But in their plagues, there is hope. They can open themselves to reality, the reality that the God of the Jews is the universal, supreme LORD of heaven and earth.

Isaiah predicts there will come a future time when the Egyptians humbly break and cry out to the true LORD. He will respond, and they will be saved and delivered. And God doesn’t need any help from human armies or violence. If we claim to be devoted to Jesus today, we must remember that he told Peter to put up his sword. We are to humbly proclaim that we, too, are sinners and invite all to join us in welcoming the Prince of Peace into our lives.

LORD, help me today to support my Jewish and Israeli friends as they grapple with slurs and threats. Help them open their hearts to the fact that Jesus is the ultimate Jew, their Messiah, who gave his life for their sins and mine. Please, LORD, use true believers in Egypt today to help bring revival where hearts will repent and trust in Jesus, the Jew who gave his life for the sins of the world.

Can you break promises, especially your marriage promises and expect to find meaning, purpose, and yes, happiness in life? "The Covenant" today on www.truthencounter.com.

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