-
The disappointment of the American Church
The Lord loves his Church. He has worked through all her failures over the centuries. He will still work with this current slice of the Church. I dated a note in my digital Bible when I read this passage: Isaiah 5:5–7 (NIV) 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away…
-
The work of the cross in fasting
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:6-7,…
-
Serious heartbreak
The past 9-10 years have opened up so much spiritually for me. The hardest has been spiritual disappointment, which has led to more determination from me to go deeper with God and walk away from a lot of “form without the power.” Still… the heartbreak is there. This week’s OT passage from Isaiah captures this powerfully. It is difficult to…
-
Making peace
The prayers I carry for the conflict in Israel can somewhat weigh me down. I have to set aside a lot of chatter in media and social media. Thankfully, my Scripture reading now has me in Isaiah and I am drawn in by these words: Isaiah 2:4 (NLT) 4 The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer…
-
Face the darkness and see a great light
I am reading an Advent devotional put out by Christianity Today and Rich Villodas reflects on Isaiah 9:1-2 in a powerful way. Villodas pastors in New York City and is a native New Yorker. He admits he’s never been to the 9/11 Memorial. He hasn’t gone because it is a reminder of intense darkness.
-
The Great Hope of Advent
We have entered into Advent. It is a time of longing. This season brings a renewed sense of longing for the second coming of our Lord. Each year brings a new perspective to me. Sometimes it is remembering his first coming and the longing of Israel. This time it is a longing to see the Lord truly come in justice.
-
Keeping perspective
It is good to camp in Isaiah 40 from time to time. In an age where it is easy to be upset because of whatever economic or political situation is going, we need the long view. We are not satisfied with the long view any longer, which is why I need Isaiah 40.
-
The One who is WITH us
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isa. 53:3) We want a warrior Messiah. We want the Jesus mean and wild. We want the celebrity Jesus all too often. So, when Jesus comes and identifies with the…
-
In the wilderness
When the pandemic hit earlier this year, it was during Lent. A popular saying I heard among liturgical friends was this: “This is the Lentiest Lent I’ve ever Lented.”
-
All can be “well” and we can STILL be blind
One of the common mistakes we make in diagnosing current times is “how things are going.” If things are going reasonable “well” for us, we can’t see what might wrong beneath the surface, or care to explore that beneath the surface. In the U.S., we can say, “Hey, the economy is humming along (for us saying it, of course), so…
Tag: Isaiah
