October 19, 2026
DAILY DEVOTION
Opening Prayer
Gracious and Generous God, we come before Your Word with humble hearts, seeking Your presence and wisdom. Holy Spirit, open our minds to understand, soften our hearts to receive, and shine Your light on every line we read. May this time with Scripture renew our hope, strengthen our love for You, and equip us to live as Your people who reflect Your glory. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Bible Reading
Isaiah 54:11-17
11-17 “Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
and all your walls with precious stones.
(The Message)
Reflection
If you’ve ever had a home renovation, you know there are always some things that need to come down. This could mean taking down a wall, removing old floor tiles or moving some plumbing. The truth is, some of those old features need to be cleared out before we can start building back up.
During a workshop I attended recently, one of the questions we were asked to consider was: “If your life were a home renovation project, what would be removed and destroyed before the rebuilding work could begin?”
How might you answer that question?
God promises, in this verse from Isaiah 54:11 that he will rebuild the “afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied” with precious stones. Life can sometimes throw us into tough times, making us feel like we’ve been hit by a storm and left feeling unsettled and without comfort. Maybe you’ve been through something like that, or maybe you are right now.
Our commitment to follow Jesus includes the decision to allow God to initiate a reweal process within us where God can rebuild us from the difficult and painful experiences we endure. This rebuilding is not an easy process for us, it requires trusting the Creator, the “Master Builder,” to lay the groundwork for his plan and purposes for us.
I find the writer C. S. Lewis description of this extremely helpful to remember.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
As Jesus followers, we need to allow “the master builder” to break up our shaky foundations and to rebuild our lives. This may mean giving up things we once held as important, it may mean asking for forgiveness from God, and acknowledging where we have been going wrong, by placing too much emphasis on surface things.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read how we can be made new. The Apostle Paul remids us of the promise that “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” You see, "In Christ" is the key, it is the foundation for renewal.
Our passage from Isaiah 54 above tells us that God does not rebuild us with the same old stones. God’s promise is to rebuild us with “stones of turquoise, Lay your foundations with sapphires, construct your towers with rubies, Your gates with jewels, and all your walls with precious stones.” Did you hear that? God rebuilds us with precious stones! We may feel like a “storm battered” city, but God’s promise is that we will become something new, a new creation and we can shine like the precious stones that Jesus rebuilt us with.
God promises, in this verse from Isaiah 54:11 that he will rebuild the “afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied” with precious stones. Life can sometimes throw us into tough times, making us feel like we’ve been hit by a storm and left feeling unsettled and without comfort. Maybe you’ve been through something like that, or maybe you are right now.
Our commitment to follow Jesus includes the decision to allow God to initiate a reweal process within us where God can rebuild us from the difficult and painful experiences we endure. This rebuilding is not an easy process for us, it requires trusting the Creator, the “Master Builder,” to lay the groundwork for his plan and purposes for us.
I find the writer C. S. Lewis description of this extremely helpful to remember.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
As Jesus followers, we need to allow “the master builder” to break up our shaky foundations and to rebuild our lives. This may mean giving up things we once held as important, it may mean asking for forgiveness from God, and acknowledging where we have been going wrong, by placing too much emphasis on surface things.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read how we can be made new. The Apostle Paul remids us of the promise that “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” You see, "In Christ" is the key, it is the foundation for renewal.
Our passage from Isaiah 54 above tells us that God does not rebuild us with the same old stones. God’s promise is to rebuild us with “stones of turquoise, Lay your foundations with sapphires, construct your towers with rubies, Your gates with jewels, and all your walls with precious stones.” Did you hear that? God rebuilds us with precious stones! We may feel like a “storm battered” city, but God’s promise is that we will become something new, a new creation and we can shine like the precious stones that Jesus rebuilt us with.
This is not a cosmetic repair; it is a loving, thorough reconstruction by the Master Builder who sees the whole design. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:4-7 "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Lord, you see my broken places and you promise to rebuild. Give me courage to let you remove what must be taken away, patience through the work, and faith to stand on the new foundations you lay. Make me a living testimony of your restoration. Amen.
Application
Receive God’s work. Let God have the space to remove what must go so He can lay new foundations.
Live as the new creation. Trust that in Christ the old has passed away and you are being made new—able to reflect God’s glory like precious stones.
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