But face the facts, all you oppressors, and then wring your hands. Listen, all of you, far and near. Prepare for the worst and wring your hands. Yes, prepare for the worst and wring your hands! Plan and plot all you want—nothing will come of it. All your talk is mere talk, empty words, Because when all is said and done, the last word is Immanuel—God-With-Us. God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said: “Don’t be like this people, always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don’t fear what they fear. Don’t take on their worries. If you’re going to worry, worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies. The Holy can be either a Hiding Place or a Boulder blocking your way, The Rock standing in the willful way of both houses of Israel, A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass to the citizens of Jerusalem. Many of them are going to run into that Rock and get their bones broken, Get tangled up in that barbed wire and not get free of it.” * * * Gather up the testimony, preserve the teaching for my followers, While I wait for God as long as he remains in hiding, while I wait and hope for him. I stand my ground and hope, I and the children God gave me as signs to Israel, Warning signs and hope signs from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who makes his home in Mount Zion. -Isaiah‬ ‭8:9-18‬ (msg)

Lord, today I am grateful for the roadblocks that you place on the road that leads to destruction. And when I run head-long into a stone, I pray it knocks the willfulness from my heart as well as from my head so that I may Live, Your Child, hoping and trusting only in You.

Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. -Psalms‬ ‭26:1-2‬ (nlt)

And if God declares me innocent – He must be able to make me innocent, for He cannot lie; He is Truth.

“Yes, indeed. I never tell stories, even in fun.”

“How good of you!”

“I couldn’t if I tried. It would come true if I said it, and then I should be punished enough.” 

-George MacDonald, The Golden Key