You can’t go back
and change the beginning,
but you can start
where you are
and change the ending.
—C.S. Lewis
God's way is easy.
Jeremiah 2
I was so struck by this passage in today’s chapter: “‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?… Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” (vs 13-14, 19)
God does the hard stuff.
God prefers the "handyman special."
Isaiah 66
If there was one thing my parents loved to do together, it was remodeling. When I was 10, we moved into the house my mom still lives in, and I don’t think there was one square inch of it that didn’t need remodeling. Consequently, there is now no square inch of the house that doesn’t have a remodeling “story” attached to it. No matter where I look, I will always see my mom and dad when I walk through the house and remember how, for much of my childhood, we could only watch Sunday morning cartoons if we were simultaneously using the heat gun to strip the paint off of old windows. (My mom says she doesn’t remember that part, ha ha.)
God always loses at hide-and-seek.
Isaiah 65
Many years ago, the Christian band Newsboys released a song titled, “God is Not a Secret to Be Kept.” And there’s a lot of truth to that. Those of us who know and love God shouldn’t keep Him to ourselves, and frankly, it would be quite hard to do so. When you’ve found something awesome, you want to share it with others!
God helps those who...
Isaiah 64
You can finish that sentence, right? God helps those who help themselves. But where did we ever get that idea? Certainly not from Isaiah 64. Here, he says quite the opposite: “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” (vs 4)
~ Merry Christmas ~
If ever the poor, weary world
needed a thrill of hope
or a reason to rejoice,
it’s now.
On this day,
when we give and receive
all the good gifts,
don’t miss out on
the very best Gift of all:
The Giver
God is legit.
Isaiah 63
This chapter of Isaiah begins with a question and an answer from God Himself: “Who is this Who comes from Edom, with crimson-stained garments from Bozrah? This One Who is glorious in His apparel, striding triumphantly in the greatness of His might? It is I, Who speaks in righteousness, mighty to save!” (vs 1)
God loves jewelry.
God will make it all better.
Isaiah 61
I’ll never forget when our oldest daughter first began to find her feet. For quite some time, she would pull herself up into a standing position at the sofa and take a tentative step to the right or left, only to come quickly crashing down on her behind. But then, one day, she started “cruising,” walking smoothly around the perimeter of the sofa while holding onto the cushions.
God loves multiplication.
Isaiah 60
I have seen many stories of late about the declining number of Christians in North America. In recent years, many denominations have been faced with the problem of how to “keep” the members they have, let alone trying to find ways to attract new ones. And now, this year, with all the Covid shutdowns, some churches are in worse shape than ever before!
God is not weak.
Isaiah 59
This chapter touches on one of the greatest theological questions of our time: how can there be an all-loving, all-powerful God when there is so much suffering in the world? For, certainly, if we had the power to end the suffering of someone we loved, wouldn’t we do it? That’s how many people come to the conclusion that (a) God must not be all-powerful and, thus, cannot do anything about our suffering or (b) God must either not love us or not exist at all.
God acts.
Isaiah 58
In this chapter, God exposed the Israelites’ empty practice of two religious rituals—fasting and Sabbath-keeping: “On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high… If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, (vs 3-4, 13-14)
God is not a snob.
Isaiah 57
To me, one of the most wonderful things about God is that He isn’t a snob. No matter who we are, no matter where we’ve come from, no matter what we’ve done, when God looks at us, He sees one of His precious children. There is nothing in Him that is aloof or standoffish. He has no interest in maintaining a pecking order in His creation. He will stoop to relate to His creatures anywhere, anytime.
God loves outcasts.
Isaiah 56
In this chapter, God addresses two groups of people who were considered outcasts in Israel: the eunuchs and the foreigners. Back in Deuteronomy 23, both groups had been forbidden from entering “the assembly of the Lord.” Incidentally, that phrase is only used three times at the beginning of Deuteronomy 23… and nowhere else in the Old Testament. So, all scholars don’t agree on what “the assembly of the Lord” means, but it likely had something to do with taking part in ceremonial or religious practices.
God must be odd ('cuz He never gets even).
Isaiah 55
I stole the title of this blog from the title of a chapter in my father’s book, Freedom Fighter: How God Wins the Universal War on Terror. That chapter is all about God’s amazing forgiveness. (I invite you to read the chapter online.) In many ways, God’s forgiveness does seem odd to us, because unlike most of us, God never holds a grudge. Ever.
God sees you as you will be.
Isaiah 54
This is one of those passages that I know I’ve read before since I’ve worked my way through the Bible more than once in my time. But this opening passage from Isaiah 54 has never stuck out to me—perhaps it does now because between the last time I read it and this time, I’ve become a mother:
God is beautifully unattractive.
Isaiah 53
Wow, talk about a jam-packed chapter. I feel like I could write a blog about every single verse! But I decided to focus on one of the things that I have always found most amazing about God: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (vs 2)
God's got you covered.
God wants to know what you're afraid of.
Isaiah 51
I’ve never been one to beat around the bush much. Unless I’m indulging in “girl talk,” I like to get down to business, straight to the point. I think that’s why I was so drawn to the plain talk in this chapter: “I’m the One comforting you. What are you afraid of—or who? Some man or woman who’ll soon be dead? Some poor wretch destined for dust? You’ve forgotten me, God, who made you, who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth. And here you are, quaking like an aspen before the tantrums of tyrants who think they can kick down the world. But what will come of the tantrums?” (vs 12-13)