Being honest as I read God’s Word
Isaiah 53: Through his bruises we get healed.
Right off, let me say that I believe in divine healing. In fact, I think the Lord has provided physical healing for me. I also believe it is okay to read the Scriptures devotionally. That is, while I think I need to be careful about the context and intent of Scripture when studying, preaching, and teaching that it’s okay for me to read something and draw a more personal meaning out of it. I need to be careful when I do that because I can end up a long distance from where a passage is supposed to take me, but it can also be to my benefit to more freely explore the Word from a devotional point of view. That brings me to this passage. Isaiah is describing the Suffering Servant who will be Jesus. Specifically, he’s talking about how he’ll be abused for our sins. In poetic form he describes that abuse and how it will benefit us. The entire passage is about our salvation: Jesus is beaten to the point of disfigurement, ripped and torn and crushed and bruised for our salvation. When I get to the line about his being bruised for my healing I know that Isaiah hasn’t suddenly changed the subject from Christ suffering to save our souls to his suffering that I might be healed of my health problems. The “healing” he’s talking about is a healing of my broken relationship with God, not healing from cancer or heart problems or diabetes. With all that in mind, I need to remember to read this passage in light of what Isaiah is actually talking about and not want I want him to be talking about. Devotionally, I can connect this to passages like that in the Book of James in which we’re given instructions about praying for the healing of the sick. Realistically, though, I need to be honest in acknowledging that this passage doesn’t teach that Christ’s suffering was so I could be healed of physical infirmities.
Take Away: Christ suffered that our relationship with the Lord, broken by our sin, might be healed.
Category: Pastor Scott
Devotional on Isaiah
God’s plan: my hope
Isaiah 53: We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
No one has to convince Isaiah that his people are sinners. There’s ample evidence of that. Also, no one has to convince him that sin brings death; it’s everywhere. What he needs help with is a way back out of this mess. They’re lost to the point of having no hope of returning. The way back has to be provided by God, Himself. So how can a righteous God redeem an unrighteous people? The answer is in this powerful chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy. The horrible sins of his nation will be gathered up and put on the shoulders of the holy Suffering Servant. Their sins will become his sins and as the meek lamb being sacrificed in their rituals symbolically dies for their sins, he’ll literally give his all to restore them to God. God’s plan: my hope. The message of salvation was desperately needed by those of Isaiah’s day and it’s just as necessary today. The wonderful thing is that it’s all true. In spite of my sin, my rebellion, and my “wandering off” God is providing a way back through Jesus Christ.
Take Away: God’s plan: my hope.
Devotional on Isaiah
God’s plan all along
Isaiah 53: Still, it’s what God had in mind all along.
The accuracy of Isaiah’s depiction of the Suffering Servant must have amazed the writers of the gospels. They wrote of something they had seen with their own eyes, yet their words mirror that which Isaiah saw only by faith hundreds of years earlier. However, Isaiah doesn’t only tell us of the sufferings of the Messiah. He tells us why it happened. God planned it. What happens at Calvary isn’t something that’s “done to Jesus.” Instead, it’s something that Jesus “does for us.” The Lord knew that we’d never just “get over” sin. He knew that the broken relationship between us and him was broken beyond that which could be repaired by some minor patch up job. There was only one hope of redemption and that hope was that the Son of God, the Suffering Servant, would carry our sins even to the grave. It’s what God had in mind all along.
Take Away: There was only one way to salvation and Jesus, through the cross, provided that way for all.
Devotional on Isaiah
Life after death – what a concept!
Isaiah 53: Life, life, and more life.
Isaiah prophetically sees the Suffering Servant, the man born to die for the sins of the world. He also sees, maybe not with total clarity, life after death for the Messiah. From our common point of view following death there’s deterioration. Even as Isaiah describes the terrible destruction of the Suffering Servant, he finds himself talking about abundant life. Our understanding of what happened at, and after, Calvary isn’t superior to Isaiah’s but we do have a clearer knowledge of those events. Jesus goes to the cross and there suffers and dies for the sins of the human race. His lifeless body is then placed in a tomb. Then, early on Sunday morning, the after-death process is abruptly halted. Rather than deterioration, life, new life, springs forth. Resurrection! That’s reason enough for Isaiah to conclude his mourning over the death of the Messiah with a surprising “life oriented” twist. However, there’s even more. As the suffering and death of Jesus is for us, so is his resurrection. We have hope of spiritual and physical life beyond this world because of what happens at that tomb. At one point Jesus says that he came that we might have abundant life. That promise is made sure the first Easter morning. Isaiah’s vision of “life, life, and more life” not only tells the story of the Suffering Servant, it’s our story too.
Take Away: As the suffering and death of Jesus is for us, so is his resurrection.
Devotional on Isaiah
Looking at the mountains, thinking of God’s love
Isaiah 54: Even if the mountains walk away…my love won’t walk away from you.
“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Those words from an old gospel song come to mind as I read this portion of Isaiah today. I recently enjoyed some time at Rocky Mountain National Park, one of my favorite places in the world. Jackie and I did some hiking and soaked in the beauty and the majesty of those wonderful mountains. Some people go to the beach for restoration of the soul, I go to the mountains. When Isaiah wants to compare God’s steadfast love to the most enduring, “for sure” thing imaginable, it’s the mountains that come to mind. However, he doesn’t say “God’s love for us is as lasting as those mountains.” Instead, he says, “Take a look at these mountains. See how solid and permanent they appear. Well, when those mountains are worn down to the size of anthills, God’s love for us will remain, undiminished.” Today, I thank God for his more-enduring-than-mountains love to me.
Take Away: The Lord’s love for us lasts…forever!
Devotional on Isaiah
I’ll take door number two
Isaiah 54: I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.
The Lord is stepping into their ruined lives and because of that things are going to change for the better. Through him, salvation is coming, restoration is on the way. Their current situation doesn’t reflect that. If their lives were on the stock exchange their value would be plummeting. However, God has, in his mercy, taken on their case and he’s going to personally see to it that things work out. I can’t ask for a finer promise. I look at the uncertainty of my life and wonder how things will come out. Not only are there the things I know about, there are likely things headed my way that, if I knew about them I’d be scared to death. That is, if that’s where I want to focus my attention. Instead, though, I have the promise of God before me. I can choose to worry myself to an early grave or I can choose to take God at his word that he’ll “see to it that everything works out for the best.” As might be heard in the old TV game show, I think I’ll take door number two.
Take Away: We have the promises of the Lord and it’s there that we take our stand.
Devotional on Isaiah
The real thing
Isaiah 55: Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water!
I like to drink my share of coffee and enjoy a diet Dr. Pepper once in a while. But when I’m really thirsty, I reach for a glass of water. Nothing quenches my thirst like a glass of cool, sparkling water. Spiritually speaking, there’s thirst-quenching water. I can turn to a million substitutes that promise satisfaction, but they’ll all let me down. For some reason, though, I tend to turn to almost anything but the Real Thing. No, I’m not talking about Coca-Cola! Into the market place of life Isaiah comes, shouting out his message of hope to those who’ve tried everything else yet are still dissatisfied with life. His message reminds us that there’s a genuine Source of satisfaction. That Source isn’t a “thing.” Rather, it’s a “Person.” Are you thirsty? Come to the water. His name is Jesus.
Take Away: Only Jesus, the “living water,” satisfies the soul.
Devotional on Isaiah
Surf’s up!
Isaiah 55: Seek God while he’s here to be found.
I’m coming up on four decades of ministry and along the way I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things. One of them is that there are “tides of the Spirit.” Even as the ocean has times of high and low tide, so do we (individuals as well as churches) experience such cycles in the spiritual realm. In my career as a pastor I have seen churches that seemed to be doing everything right but weren’t seeing the results one might expect. Then, to our delight, one positive thing kicks off a whole series of positive things. Suddenly, the efforts that had been fruitless before take on a new life and wonderful things start happening. I laughingly told someone once that I was thinking of writing a book telling how our church had seen significant gains over a two year period. The problem was that I had no idea of what to write; we were basically doing all the same things we had done in the years previous when there was nothing special happening. I’m sure that there were things associated with those memorable days that I simply didn’t see. For instance, secret prayer by some saints of God comes to mind. Still, the difference was that God moved, not because we got all our ducks in a row, but because of his own schedule and purpose. We were the happy recipients of it. Today, Isaiah reminds me, not only that there are tides of the Spirit, but that I must seize the moment when the tide is in. I move because God is moving. Because God is moving, some doors that have been closed to me might just be open for a while. You might say that when the tide is in it’s a good time to take a swim!
Take Away: As people who live in the Spirit we move when the Lord moves.
Devotional on Isaiah
Hearing God
Isaiah 55: I don’t think the way you think.
The things I think are vitally important don’t impress God all that much. Like a child who spends all her money on candy and then doesn’t have lunch money, I tend to focus on things that might feel good at the time, but won’t satisfy in the long run. My deafness is so great that even when someone shouts out the truth I can’t hear them. Instead, I hear the cry of materialism and am driven more by mass marketing schemes than by God’s word. All along, I think I ‘m being smart and that, in the long run, if I do it my way I’ll be a contented, happy person. Through Isaiah, the Lord responds that I’d better pay attention and do things his way. God sees things differently than I do. For instance, he sees surrender as the way to victory and death as the way to life. The “higher way” Isaiah mentions isn’t about God being smarter than I am. That’s a given. The higher thoughts of the Lord spoken of here are about how he wants me to live my life. I must retune my ears to hear his voice above the silliness of the crowd and then, in obedience, I am to align my life with his ways rather than those of the world.
Take Away: It takes practice and self-discipline to learn to hear the voice of the Lord over the noise of life.
Devotional on Isaiah
It’s more than a chicken in every pot
Isaiah 55: So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed.
As we near national elections we hear a lot from politicians. The common wisdom is that a person will say whatever they need to say to get elected. Hopefully, that isn’t always the case. A nation needs leaders who lead with integrity. Still, it isn’t hard for anyone who’s been paying attention to remember broken promises from vote seekers. Isaiah says that God has things to say and that the Lord doesn’t hesitate to make some promises. God’s message isn’t the common message of the world. After all, his ways are higher than our ways. Not only is his message unique, but his faithfulness to make good on that message is unique too. When God says I’m to live my life his way and that, if I do, I’ll have a better life, well, that’s a word I can take to the bank. The Lord’s at work, building a people worthy of being called his people. Even as rain falling from the sky is instrumental in producing bountiful crops, so does the Word of God produce good lives in those who hear and obey. The message of this scripture is that God isn’t just making so much noise when he says “this is the way I want you to live.” Rather, he’s giving me an approach to life that will produce the rich harvest of God’s blessings.
Take Away: The way of the Lord is the best way.
Devotional on Isaiah
All are welcome here
Isaiah 56: My house of worship will be known as a house of prayer for all people.
Previously, when I’ve read this passage, I focused on the “prayer side” of this message: that God’s house is to be a house of prayer and God’s people are to be a people of prayer. That theme is very much present in this passage, but it really isn’t the heart of its message. The core of this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy is the “all people” statement. God’s salvation, we’re told, isn’t just for the Jewish “insiders” but for the Gentile “outsiders” as well. Those with physical limitations whose worship experience is limited by the laws of Deuteronomy are not to be treated as second class worshipers. In fact, God promises that those who fall in the “outside” category yet are faithful to the Lord will be given an honored place, even more honored than that of the insiders. Everyone is invited to come to the “house of prayer for all people.” My response to this passage today is on two levels. First, I thank God for it because I’m one of the outsiders who have been granted access to the Lord. I wasn’t born to the right family but I’ve been adopted in. Second, I want to conduct my life with a strong realization that God welcomes people who aren’t like me. As one who’s been graciously granted access, I gladly join the “welcoming committee” that invites other outsiders in. Also, while I won’t take time to develop it here, the literal meaning of this passage reminds me that there are those who need special accommodation to fully participate in the activities at the house of worship. I want the church I attend to be as assessable as possible for those who have special needs and as welcoming as possible to people from all walks of life.
Take Away: The Lord welcomes me but he also welcomes people who aren’t like me.
Devotional on Isaiah
Trusting when God is silent
Isaiah 57: Because I don’t yell and make a scene do you think I don’t exist?
The Lord states his charge against a people who follow every god who comes along while ignoring the only One who’s real. Through the generations he’s done some awesome things, so it isn’t as though he’s been unseen or absent. Still, if a person wants a god who’ll perform on demand and can be manipulated by some magic incantation, well, to them, the Lord God might seem to be out of the picture. However, just because the Almighty won’t let them call the shots doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what’s going on. Even as they practice their secret sex-oriented religion he’s been watching, and he isn’t amused by it all. Every detail of their absurd, twisted efforts at religion is going to be brought to light as God assumes the role of both Judge and Prosecutor. On that day they can call on their wooden and stone gods all they want. There’ll be no answer because there’s nothing there that can answer. Thankfully, part of this message has nothing to do with me. I’ve no secret religion and no idols are hidden away in the closet. However, it’s to my benefit to take hold of the other point here. Just because God isn’t doing what I think he ought to be doing about some situation and just because he’s silent about some issue in my life doesn’t mean he’s distant or unconcerned. At times like that I simply have to conclude that God is God and that he’s operating at a level beyond my grasp. I may not always like it, but I don’t have to. I do, though, have to keep on trusting him. That’s part of being one of his people.
Take Away: I don’t have to always understand but I do have to always trust.
Devotional on Isaiah
Hope of restoration
Isaiah 57: I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit crushed.
God is the Almighty and I’d better never forget it. His ways are higher than mine and he’s right at home in Eternity. This awesome God is a demanding God. He calls me to live in fellowship with himself and his standard for me is nothing short of holiness. If I rebel it’s not his purpose that is broken, but me. However, this God is not untouched by that brokenness. He not only sits on his throne way up in Heaven, but he also inhabits the world he created. When my sins have divorced me from the Lord and I begin to realize the awfulness of those sins I find that he’s been there, reaching out to me all the time. The same God, this high and towering Being, cares for me even in my ruined state. He longs to transform my “spirit-crushed” life into something wonderful and new. His language to me is filled with powerful and welcome words: healing, leading, comforting. As I reach up from the bottom, I realize that God has been there all the time, reaching down from the top.
Take Away: God is the God of Second Chances.
Devotional on Isaiah
Beyond having church
Isaiah 58: This is the kind of fast days I’m after….
The people Isaiah ministers to know how to do religious things. They stay busy with worship activities and doing what we’d call Bible studies. They practice prayer and fasting, spiritual disciplines that need some serious attention in the lives of most of us Christians today. However, they’re dissatisfied with the results of this frenzy of religious activity and complain to God about it. The Lord’s reply, through Isaiah, focuses on their failure to translate their “church” activities into their everyday lives. If they want to please God they’re going to have to tackle injustice, exploitation, and oppression in their world. They’re going to have to not just fast a meal or a day, but to share their food with those who are hungry, invite the homeless into their homes, and show loving concern for the needy of the world. Aren’t you glad that, these days, we just have to believe in Jesus and not worry about all that extra stuff? You know that isn’t true. Could it be that the problem of the powerless Church is that we think all our religious activities is what God wants when he’s clearly stated his demands in passages like this one? I do want God to answer my prayers and I want his blessing on my life. Maybe it isn’t that I don’t fast enough meals as much as it is that I don’t care for the hurting, down-and-out people he sends into my life.
Take Away: There’s more to religion than just going to church on Sunday.
Devotional on Isaiah
Admitting personal failure
Isaiah 59: There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you.
Ever since Adam blamed Eve, and in reality, blamed God, people have tried to pass the buck for their sin. “God’s too strict” or “the temptation is too great” or some other lame excuse is used as a defense for spiritual failure. As a pastor I’ve probably heard more than most. I immediately think of lines like: “I was absent from church for two weeks and no one called me” or “the church just isn’t as spiritual as it ought to be.” Isaiah has heard enough and he reacts especially to excuses that place the blame for spiritual failure on the Lord. He tells his people that the thing that has come between them and God is none other than themselves. It’s their sin that has messed things up and until they admit that things are only going to get worse. Listen, I know that the church has a responsibility to reach out to people; even people who know better than what they’re doing. The church is accountable before God when it fails along this line. However, Isaiah’s message places the blame for personal failure directly on the shoulders of the one who willfully sins against God. Don’t blame God, the church, your spouse, your boss, or your friends for your sin. Take responsibility for your own actions, confess, and make it right. You’ll find that the grace of God is sufficient and that brings a whole lot more peace than making excuses does!
Take Away: Take responsibility and make things right.
Devotional on Isaiah
The battle of the ages
Isaiah 59: So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation.
The Lord God looks out to the horizon and sees the ugly advance of sin. Before him is a sea of lies and hate and evil and death. He looks to his right and left and sees no one who can raise the standard of righteousness. He comes to a decision. He, himself, puts on armor for battle: Salvation, Judgment, and Passion. There’s no one else who can take on the rising tide of evil; all others are tainted and overrun by this enemy. He, alone, will go into the battle with Righteousness as his strength. Two millennia ago that battle took place, not in the heart of God’s prophet but at a place called Calvary. There, God, the Son, does what no one else can do. On that old rugged cross the battle for righteousness is fought and won. With the fate of humanity in the balance this hero enters the conflict and defeats the enemy once and for all.
Take Away: Jesus fought and won the battle for humanity on the old rugged cross.
Devotional on Isaiah
That we may be one
Isaiah 60: I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen.
Sin separated them from their Maker and destroyed their nation. God sent their enemies to conquer them and then to scatter them throughout the world. Now, the Lord is making plans to gather his people from the four corners of the earth and make them into a nation of especially blest people once again. Isaiah encourages them that it won’t be long now before it happens. What plays out in the history of Israel reflects the larger journey of humanity. We read in Genesis of the fall of the human race in the Garden and the resulting “driving out” that takes place. Later on, Cain’s sin causes him to, again, be driven out. Then, after the Flood God tells the renewed human race to fan out and populate the face of the earth. Instead, they gather at Babylon to build a tower. The Lord confounds their languages, forcing them to scatter into many different people groups. This, though, isn’t the final intention of God. When the time is right, he’ll gather his people to himself. Jesus tells his followers that God wants to make us one. He encourages us that in his Father’s house there’s room for all and that he’ll take us there. Even as Isaiah describes a reuniting of Israel, the larger picture of the Bible describes God’s plan to reunite humanity in an eternal relationship with him. Since that’s God’s plan we can be sure that he’ll “make it happen.”
Take Away: The Lord’s intention is to unite the human race with one another and, especially, with himself.
Devotional on Isaiah
How wonderful to have a message of hope
Isaiah 61: The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.
Through the years of his ministry Isaiah brings a variety of messages to his people. Often, his words are those of warning and condemnation. At other times, his sermons contain wonderful words of hope and comfort. That’s the kind of message we hear from him in this passage. Isaiah considers it an honor to be commissioned and empowered to preach good news to a people who are living as captives in Babylon. His message is one of encouragement to the poor and heartbroken; to those who mourn and wilt under the burden they carry. This message is so powerful that hundreds of years later Jesus selects Isaiah’s words to describe his own ministry. The message of hope is Isaiah’s and then it’s Jesus’ and now, well, now it’s mine. The proclamation of God’s favor, his healing mercy and grace, isn’t just Isaiah’s and, while it uniquely belongs to Jesus, I can lay claim on it too. For those in Babylonian captivity and for those today that are bound by sin, this is good news.
Take Away: In Christ, we have Good News for people desperately in need of some Good News.
Devotional on Isaiah
The people with the blessing
Isaiah 61: I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my soul!
As Jesus begins his public ministry he picks this portion of Isaiah’s writings as his text. Our Lord’s ministry will heal heartbroken people and pardon those held captive by sin. Jesus doesn’t read the entire “year of the Lord’s favor” sermon from Isaiah, but in that sermon Isaiah continues proclaiming all the good things God is about to do for his people. God is turning toward them in favor and there will be blessing upon blessing. They’ll be the recipients of the covenant God made with Abraham and with David and the whole world will know them as the people with the blessing. At this point in the message Isaiah becomes so excited about what God’s about to do that he declares that he’s exploding in praise from deep in his soul. Since Jesus picks these words to describe his ministry to the world we who follow him read this sermon of promises, not from only a historical point of view, but as though it’s directed to us, personally. In our lives we’re set free from the dominion of sin and enjoy “the year of the Lord’s favor.” Of course, we still deal with the ups and downs of life, but there’s a deep satisfaction that comes from being a people God has blessed. Even as Isaiah is moved to explosive praise by this promise of the Lord, we too are filled to overflowing with praise and thanksgiving for what the Lord has done, and is doing, in us.
Take Away: How wonderful it is to be a people God has blessed.
Devotional on Isaiah
Beulah Land
Isaiah 62: You’ll be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah.
The best known song of singer and songwriter Squire Parsons is “Beulah Land.” That song is inspired by this passage, in fact those words are found nowhere else in the Bible. Isaiah is describing God’s love for the people he created, picturing it as being like the love a groom has for his bride. Things haven’t gone well for Israel up to this point. Their sin separated them from God and brought destruction to their land. As a people they’ve earned the nickname “Rejected” and their land can be rightly called “Ruined.” Because of God’s love and forgiveness everything’s going to change. The “Rejected” people will be restored and the “Ruined” land will be brought back under the protection of the Lord. The new name for God’s people will be “Hephzibah” or “My Delight” and the land will be called “Beulah” or “Married” meaning that the land will reflect its unique connection to the Lord. Squire Parsons took the idea of a land uniquely the Lord’s to refer to heaven and his song is that of God’s people who long to go to that place that’s God’s very own.
Take Away: The love and forgiveness of the Lord for us changes everything about us.