Isaiah 17
"Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,"
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

These few verse stuck out for me because even in the context of God carrying out His judgement on the nations in the surrounding chapters and verses, there is continuation. Everything that happens in this world has a purpose, and we have to be sensitive to the Will of God. For myself, I pray that I will learn to trust that everything is in God's control. Not just to thank God blessings and opportunities but also to give thanks for closed doors and misfortunes, because these experiences are the refining fire that makes us worthy vessels and fruitful vines.

Categories: Thoughts

Isaiah 11
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord"

When reading Isaiah, sometimes I forget the enormity of this book as a book of prophecy . Reading it now, we see its fulfillment in Jesus and can maybe even take that for granted, but imagine reading it then and the sense of hope it gives, that all of mankind's woes will be swept away. In fact all the world's troubles, shortcomings and will disappear and will become as the perfect place God had intended.

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest."

"They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"

What can be our response to this? We now live in the end times, in full knowledge of Christ's second coming. People, now more than ever are trying to "fix" the world's problems through their own strengths and devices and even though we aren't directly affected, wars are still fought over things we sometimes don't understand. As Christians we need to recognise that Christ is our living hope and continue to live in a manner that is worthy of that hope. Does our lifestlye, our plans and our behaviour reflect this?

Also consider that while Isaiah was written, those who read it gain knowledge of this hope but while we read it we gain knowledge of its fulfillment in Christ.

Categories: Thoughts

Isaiah 5
"I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard;
My loved on had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleaered it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit."

A metaphor of God as a planter of vineyard, this passage speaks of the frustration of the Lord and all his efforts He placed on His nation Israel. I find it a very identifiable image, a person who gives his best to a cause, a pursuit or a person, only to find it not bearing the results he expected. Looking for good grapes but only finding bad fruit.
For God, He chose Israel as a nation, nutured it. Gave them victories in battle, led them to the best lands to settle down...
"The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress."

For us, we are God's chosen in this day and like Israel, God is constantly nuturing us, giving us blessings and trials in order to develop our character and faith. I pray that when the time comes for the harvest, we are able to present him with good fruit.

Categories: Thoughts