ISAIAH
Chapter 9
Hope on the horizon
The choices of God's people brought darkness and distress upon them.
But God reveals that there would be something to look forward to.
Into that great darkness and hopelessness,
there would be a dawning of a great light.
Bondages would be broken, oppression would end.
A child would be born from among them
who would govern with justice and righteousness.
His kingdom would have no end.
This would be accomplished by the Lord Almighty.
From the leaders of the people to those they led,
all had succumbed to pride and the arrogance of the heart.
None were innocent.
They did not stop to reconsider their ways;
they did not choose to return to the God they had abandoned.
Despite the devastation, they determined to rebuild.
They had great ideas.
While God had instructed that altars be erected with uncut rocks,
the people decided to use dressed stone in the process of rebuilding,
and they opted to plant cedars to replace the fig trees ~ upgrading, as it were.
So God continued to allow their enemies access.
Wickedness is as fire, consuming all that is around.
It is not selective in its choice of fuel; it uses what is available.
It continued to destroy, both land and relationships.
Twila Charles Leichty
April 2, 2009
* * * * * * * * * *
ISAIAH
Chapter 10
Those who have made unjust laws and issued oppressive decrees
to acquire wealth and power of their own
will be no better than those they have taken advantage of
on the day of reckoning.
The power that God allowed access to His people,
to humble them,
had a growing ambition,
that of seizing Jerusalem as it did the surrounding land.
The very sin that was offensive in His people,
a proud and independent spirit,
focused on its own power and sufficiency,
is addressed by God with the foe:
“Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it,
or the saw boast against him who uses it?”
(verse 10:13a)
Strength was taken from the enemy's hand.
It's victory is time-limited.
It will know the sting of defeat, destruction is in store,
for it's pride, self-reliance, is a stench in God's nostril.
It will not be allowed to continue.
God welcomes back a remnant people,
those who have seen and acknowledged their waywardness,
and reassures them His anger against them will not last forever.
He will come to the side of His people and act in their behalf.
Those who do not honor and worship God will be brought down.
Twila Charles Leichty
April 2, 2009
Chapter 9
Hope on the horizon
The choices of God's people brought darkness and distress upon them.
But God reveals that there would be something to look forward to.
Into that great darkness and hopelessness,
there would be a dawning of a great light.
Bondages would be broken, oppression would end.
A child would be born from among them
who would govern with justice and righteousness.
His kingdom would have no end.
This would be accomplished by the Lord Almighty.
From the leaders of the people to those they led,
all had succumbed to pride and the arrogance of the heart.
None were innocent.
They did not stop to reconsider their ways;
they did not choose to return to the God they had abandoned.
Despite the devastation, they determined to rebuild.
They had great ideas.
While God had instructed that altars be erected with uncut rocks,
the people decided to use dressed stone in the process of rebuilding,
and they opted to plant cedars to replace the fig trees ~ upgrading, as it were.
So God continued to allow their enemies access.
Wickedness is as fire, consuming all that is around.
It is not selective in its choice of fuel; it uses what is available.
It continued to destroy, both land and relationships.
Twila Charles Leichty
April 2, 2009
* * * * * * * * * *
ISAIAH
Chapter 10
Those who have made unjust laws and issued oppressive decrees
to acquire wealth and power of their own
will be no better than those they have taken advantage of
on the day of reckoning.
The power that God allowed access to His people,
to humble them,
had a growing ambition,
that of seizing Jerusalem as it did the surrounding land.
The very sin that was offensive in His people,
a proud and independent spirit,
focused on its own power and sufficiency,
is addressed by God with the foe:
“Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it,
or the saw boast against him who uses it?”
(verse 10:13a)
Strength was taken from the enemy's hand.
It's victory is time-limited.
It will know the sting of defeat, destruction is in store,
for it's pride, self-reliance, is a stench in God's nostril.
It will not be allowed to continue.
God welcomes back a remnant people,
those who have seen and acknowledged their waywardness,
and reassures them His anger against them will not last forever.
He will come to the side of His people and act in their behalf.
Those who do not honor and worship God will be brought down.
Twila Charles Leichty
April 2, 2009
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