Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
“This message came to me the year King Ahaz died…” (Isaiah 14:28 NLT)
Observation
On the whole, today’s reading has to do with God’s judgment on the nations surrounding Israel/Judah…how God does, indeed, have a plan involving all nations (“I have a plan for the whole earth” Isaiah 14:26 NLT)…and how God will, in fact, work justice/act justly throughout the whole earth toward the whole world.
The thing that’s captured my attention is how Isaiah understood this reality…how prophetic understanding was given Isaiah regarding these realities…during a time of significant transition.
It’s clear from the sequence of readings that scholars date these prophecies as being given near the time of transition from King Ahaz to King Hezekiah. Isaiah specifically says about his “Philistine” prophecy that “This message came to me the year King Ahaz died…” (Isaiah 14:28 NLT). From a better known passage in Isaiah, we know that Isaiah encountered God and received his calling “in the year that King Uzziah died” (Isaiah 6:1 NIV).
I’m thinking, this morning, of how reluctant we are (certainly how reluctant I am, anyway) to embrace seasons of transition or uncertainty. Nobody likes walking on shaky ground! But today’s reading reminds me of how often God uses times of change to show us things we’d otherwise not see, to spark in our hearts a fresh hunger for Him, or perhaps to unsettle us enough to move us off dead center.
Things are certainly unsettled for our nation these days—or so it seems to me. Things are certainly unsettled in the world at large. Maybe that's evidence of God working out His perfect plans!
Maybe things are unsettled for you, as they are in some ways for me. May the Lord help us to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), to hold to His unchanging hand (to borrow a phrase from a great African-American spiritual), and—in uncertain times—to “learn of Him” (Matthew 11:29), finding in Him “rest for our souls”.
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3 comments:
Judgment is coming. Looking at the make up of our economical situation, let alone the moral failure within the framework of our society, we (the Bride of Christ) need a MAJOR transition. Now is the time to seek the Lord - not to save our pocket books or our homes (as those things are all transitory), ….but to seek the Lord for His direction….His mercy….His favor….I don’t care where the economy goes, if I’m not following the Lord, I lose…and my family suffers. Maybe it is time to really move into forgiveness for those who have wronged us and grow up into the full stature of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4).
Reluctance to change is so common. In fact, "Who Moved My Cheese", the world's bestselling book on change has sold over 24 million copies. The leader of the organization I work for has stated on many occasions that, "The only constant in this organization is change." IMHO, our best bet is to embrace change, since we likely cannot escape it. In fact, our new life in Christ began with a "change".
2 Corinthians 5:17 (King James Version)
17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
We do need to FIX our eyes upon Jesus, to move forward and upward!
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