January 26, 2026 Devo

A few years back, there was a 77-year-old man in South Carolina named Peter Kremlick who was involved in an accident. He swerved to miss another car and hit a utility pole. He had some small cuts and bruises and took a pretty good bump on the head. But when the paramedics arrived on the scene, he refused to let them look at him and refused to go to the hospital to be checked out. Some hours later, he began to get confused and started having headaches. He ended up unconscious and taken to the hospital, where he died from complications from the head injury he had refused to have looked at.
Can you imagine how exasperated the paramedics must have been when they heard this news? Their whole job is about helping people at the time when they need it the most. All he needed to do was swallow his pride and let the medics take a look at him. If he had let them take him to the hospital, where the doctors could have taken X-rays and scans of his head, it is very likely that they could have saved him. But his rejection of them led to his own demise. Both those who loved him and those who could have helped him were heartbroken as a result.
That’s what was going on for Ahaz and the people of Judah. All God wanted to do was help them. All He wanted to do was to keep them from making the same mistakes His people to the North were making. God LOVED them. He wanted to HEAL them and SAVE them. Look at the precious words again God spoke through Isaiah. “My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah.” Can you hear the tenderness of God in that statement? Can you hear the heartbreaking plea of a Father who was simply trying to protect His child from themselves? But Judah’s rejection sealed their own fate. They were victims of their own pride and refused God’s help.
Please hear my heart today. If God is nudging you, listen to Him! If you hear Him warning you, pay attention to that warning! If you find yourself flinching a bit from conviction in your heart, turn your face TOWARD the Lord, not away from Him. He is your Healer. He is your Helper. His plans, purposes, and desires for you are for GOOD. His grace and healing are constantly flowing toward you. Don’t make the mistake our friend made. When the Doctor shows up, let Him in! The life you save may be your own. That’s God’s Word for you today.