July 25th, 25: Turning from Idols to True Strength: Lessons from Isaiah and 1 Peter

Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today’s episode, your host Hunter guides you through another inspiring leg of our year-long journey in the Scriptures. On this 25th day of July, we dive into Isaiah chapters 43 through 45 and wrap up with 1 Peter chapter 4. Hunter reminds us that the heart of our time together is not just reading the Bible, but being transformed by the God who is love.

As we reflect on passages about God’s faithfulness, the folly of idolatry, and the call to rely on the true Source of life, Hunter encourages us to see beyond self-reliance and to trust in the one Creator of heaven and earth. Through beautiful prayers and thoughtful insights, we’re invited to approach each day with a heart open to God’s peace, love, and provision. Settle in, open your heart, and get ready for some “soul food” as we read, reflect, and pray together.

TODAY'S DEVOTION:

Ashes or Bread?

In Isaiah 44, we’re given a stark image: “the poor deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can't help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, is this idol I'm holding in my hand a lie?” There’s a deep truth here about the human heart. When we look for life, sustenance, or salvation from the work of our own hands—be it idols of wood or deeper idols of self-sufficiency—we end up with ashes, nothing that can truly satisfy. There’s a lie at work, a pride and self-reliance that blinds us from the reality of our true need.

The good news is that Jesus has shown us a better way. Remember how Jesus, in his hunger in the wilderness, refused to turn stones into bread? Instead, he relied on His Father, looking to the true Source of life. He lived for us what he calls us all to believe: that there is only one God, not a god of our own making, not the god of our own striving or efforts—but the Creator of heaven and earth.

Even in his teaching, Jesus encourages us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” reminding us to look to the Source of everything, to rely not on ourselves but on God’s faithful provision—day by day, moment by moment. There’s an old Jewish prayer still prayed today: “Blessed are you, O God of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” That’s a prayer that Jesus himself would have known and lived by.

We are not made to feed on ashes or to bow to idols of our own hands, not even the idol of self-reliance. Instead, we’re invited to look to God, to receive from him all that we need. He is faithful. He is the sustainer and giver of life, and he alone is worthy of our trust, our prayers, and our worship.

That’s my prayer for my own heart today: That I would turn to the God who brings forth bread from the earth, that I would be faithful to pray for daily bread, trusting him as the source of all things. That’s my prayer for my family—for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that’s the prayer I have for you.

May it be so.