Tag: Isaiah

Morning Musing: Isaiah 55:8

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“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

This is a bumper sticker verse. What I mean is that this is a verse that is commonly used as a stand-alone slogan. You can find decorative pieces at Hobby Lobby or other places that cater to a Christian audience with this verse on them. The thing about verses like this presented like that is they can mean just about whatever you want for them to mean. Lifted out of their original context, they become a kind of blank slate on which we can write our own story. This kind of thing feels really good, but it’s a terrible way to treat the Scriptures. 

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Morning Musing: Isaiah 62:1

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“I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem, until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation, like a flaming torch.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Do you know who the most impatient person in the world is? A four-year-old with something to say. I think we all know that feeling of having a message burning in our chest and needing so badly to get it out that we almost can’t stand it. As frustrating as it can be living with someone like that, we can all admit that it’s a miserable feeling. Do you know who else has that feeling beyond young kids who haven’t learned well how to evaluate the actual importance of what they have to say? God. 

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Morning Musing: Isaiah 26:3

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“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Where’s your mind? Ever been asked that? It was probably asked sarcastically when you said something that was possibly suggestive in some way. Or perhaps you were not paying as much attention in some sporting event as you needed to be and your coach told you to get your head in the game. Our minds are amazing things. The amount of information, they can process effortlessly and their ability to analyze complex data to find patterns is jaw-dropping. But sometimes it’s hard to keep them focused, isn’t it? 

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Digging in Deeper: Isaiah 30:18

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“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

The people of Israel were in a pretty hard spot.  They had turned on the Lord.  In fact, they had been turned away from the Lord for a long time.  They had been turned away from the Lord for a long time and it was beginning to show.  Their world was teetering on the edge.  Some of them had started to realize just how dire their situation really was.  They could read the international tea leaves.  They saw the Assyrian army moving steadily in their direction, gobbling up nations in their path and spitting out nothing but ruin and destruction.  But, instead of heeding Isaiah’s call to return to the Lord for their hope and salvation, they were running everywhere but to Him. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Isaiah 55:7

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“…let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

I love the last part of this.  When our God pardons us from our sins, we are not just barely forgiven.  He “abundantly pardons” us.  God doesn’t just say, “Well, you didn’t really measure up, but I’ll let you slide in just under the radar.”  No, He wipes our sins away as far as the east is from the west.  He forgives us completely and we are able to stand perfectly clean in His sight. Read the rest…