Isaiah 55:1-5

Isaiah 55:1-5 

English Standard Version 

  So much of my own understandings of God are rooted here in the first few verses of Isaiah 55.  There is so much that draws me in, and so much that I struggle with.

  It begins with a radical shake-up of our economic understanding.  In the world, those with more get ahead.  The one who dies with the most toys wins, right?  Not in God's economy.  In God's economy, there is this wild abundance that is given away freely to all who seek.  In God's economy, wine and milk have no price, so there is truly no distinction between rich and poor.  The categories into which we put people are dissolved before the face of God, for all come as beggars and discover a storehouse of treasure that is awaiting us.  We are invited not only to come and eat, but to delight ourselves.  God commands us to delight!  For all of those who twist religion into a joyless exercise in deprivation, the prophet Isaiah tells us that God has made us for delight and intends to bring us to a place of joy!  The exercise of our faith should be one that points to delight, and we should remember that God longs for us to find our lasting joy in God.  Whenever we experience delight in this world, we are reminded that this is what we are made for, and God wants us to enjoy that forever.  The delight we find in our earthly lives is evidence that we are made for more, and the sorrow that we experience in life is a reminder that things are not the way they should be.  In a world with heartbreak around every corner, it can be challenging to find delight.  May we not despair and lose hope.

  The prophet asks us why we spend our money on that which is not bread, on labor that does not satisfy.  It's a question for the ages.  We spend so much money on things that cannot provide the delight that God provides.  We spend money seeking pleasure, seeking entertainment, seeking diversion, and in the best cases that money can give us a hint of the delight and joy we have in God, but it cannot purchase that in full, because only God can do that.  We'll work ourselves to the bone trying to get more, trying to satisfy our cravings and our need to justify ourselves, but only God can give us true satisfaction, only God can fully justify us.  God does this willingly, but we so badly want to do this on our own, that we work and we work and we work.  We exhaust ourselves, only to discover that what our hearts needed, what our hearts longed for, is waiting as a free gift.

  May we delight in what God offers, and may we find wisdom in not chasing the empty promises of those things that promise, but cannot give, what only God can give.

Isaiah 54:11-17

Isaiah 54:11-17 

English Standard Version 

  There are a thousand things whispering at you right now.  There is a voice from the freezer, speaking the language of ice cream, saying 'Come and eat me!'  There is the voice of the urgent, of the deadlines, crying out for you to hurry more, to push harder, to strive more, to try and keep up because you're falling behind.  There may be the voices of children crying out in need, or parents asking for something.  There is the voice of your boss, directing you.  And there's another voice, a deeper voice, that whispers in the dark of the night, telling you that you're not good enough, that you've not done enough, that you'll never be enough (or is that just me that hears those whispers?).  These voices each whisper (ok, the children haven't yet learned how to whisper, but work with me here), and together the voices collect like the waves of the ocean, crashing upon the beachheads we've worked so hard to establish, pulling us back into the watery chaos, and leave us gasping for breath on the shore.  

  There is another voice, a deeper voice, one that speaks across the ages and whose voice resonates from eternity to eternity.  It is the creative voice that formed you out of nothing and has called you back from the depths.  This voice cries out to you and says 'O afflicted one, there is chaos behind you but beauty before you, so fear not, afflicted one, for I have made you and redeemed you and in my realm there shall be precious gems on the walls and precious peace in your heart and in the hearts of your children.  O afflicted one, the battle is not yours to fight, for the whispers that rage like a storm shall be banished like the night when the sun begins to rise.  O afflicted one, the smith labors to make all things ready for the final blow that will vanquish the enemies that rise against you.  O afflicted one, the voices that tempt you to despair shall be silenced, for greater is my voice that assures you that life shall prevail, that hope is not in vain, and that the truth is that you are precious, beloved, and free.'

  In whatever chaos crashes against your shores today, I pray that you hear God's voice, and that you know the power behind the voice that calls you by name.  In so many ways, we are each afflicted, and yet in the greatest way possible, we are free in Christ.

Isaiah 54:9-10

Isaiah 54:9-10

English Standard Version 

  I often use the phrase "it's not the end of the world if...", meaning that whatever I'm talking about probably isn't of cosmic importance.  There are other phrases we use, sometimes wondering if something is a sign of the end times, often in jest.  

  It's hard for us to fathom, but someday, it will be the end of the world.  I don't know what that will look like, and I suspect I won't be around to see it, but the mountains will depart and the hills will be removed, among other things.  Everything we know, everything we see, will fade away.  At that time, God's love will not depart from you, and the compassion of God will still dwell with you.  

  When all else is gone, God will love you still.  When nothing else remains, there will be love, and more than you can imagine.

  What will you do today to share that love with someone else?

Isaiah 54:4-8

Isaiah 54:4-8 

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever been making a recipe, following it as closely as possible, when you accidently add waaay too much of one ingredient?  At that point, you've got a very important decision to make -- how committed are you to this recipe?  (And do you have anything else to cook?)  If you've committed, you've got to find a way to compensate, to rebalance the recipe and try to salvage it.  You may still be able to taste the ingredient in the final product, but if you're done it right, the recipe will be just right after all.

  When Isaiah talks about the shame of your youth, he doesn't say you won't have it.  Isaiah doesn't pretend that sin doesn't take place, or paint an image of the church as only for the perfect.  (Reminding us, yet again, that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints, as Augustine says.)  There is shame in the youth, but it is forgotten, for God as the chef has so perfectly prepared the final recipe that the bitterness of sin is overcome by the sweetness of the Gospel, and no trace of the shame is left.  

  So do not dwell on the sin of your youth, but rather focus on the hope of the Gospel.  God has restored you, redeemed you, and sends you out into a broken world with a message of hope and joy.  With everlasting love, God's compassion will be upon you.