Category Archives: Isaiah

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me. ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes. “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Isaiah 58

Dear God, oh, how I don’t want to be one of those people. I don’t want to be someone who, well, just has to be right, has to elevate myself over someone else, or has to hold a grudge over perceived wrongs done to me or others. I don’t want to be someone who is pious for piety’s sake. I want to be someone who worships you and loves you.

I think it’s the false piety that offends me the most in others and scares me the most about the potential I have for it myself. It’s the being religious and not truly worshipping you. It’s being self-righteous instead of repenting and basking in your forgiveness. The tendency I see in myself and others is the wont to make my faith in you and relationship with you more of a philosophical way of living my life instead of a life born out of communion and relationship with you.

Father, make this real. Make my life lived with you authentic. I am truly sorry for how I failed and how I continue to fail. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for allowing this Gentile to approach the king. Help my life to simply be a fleshing out of my relationship with you and not an empty shell with a Christian veneer.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.” “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

Isaiah 1:10-17

Dear God, I don’t even want to know what Isaiah would have to say on your behalf to the Christian church in our country today, let alone to me as an individual. I think I would rather live in a self-righteous, ignorant bliss that I’m right, everyone else is wrong, and they should all be doing things my way.

I’m particularly disturbed by how much the church has become in politics. I think we have bought the lie that political power equals influence in our culture. The ability to legislate a morality will enable us to influence that morality from the top down–through our authority–as opposed to through our submission to you.

So, assuming that the Christian church in America today is a fair representation of Israel in Isaiah’s time, what would you have to say to us through these verses? Having just come out of the Christmas season, I find this part of Isaiah’s words troubling:

As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!

What do you think of our treatment of Christmas? How do you feel about us waging a war to be able to say “Merry Christmas” as opposed to “Happy Holidays?” Did that please you or did that disgust you? Do we burden you? Can you even stand to look at us at Christmas time?

Father, I feel like I am on this continual journey of repentance and submission. I’m sorry for the ways in which I grieve you. I know that I do, but I really do not want to. So speak to me (gently if you can) and reveal to my eyes the parts of my life that disgust you. And help me to be the voice in my family, community, and world that you need me to be for your glory’s sake.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

“I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.

“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed. I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.

“But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel! You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense. You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults.

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

Isaiah 43:16-25

Dear God, thank you for blotting out my sins. Thank you for making a pathway through the wilderness. I am sorry for growing tired of you. I am sorry for the times when I refuse to ask for your help. I am sorry for taking back the life I gave you and trying to live on my own. I am sorry for burdening you with my sins and wearying you with my faults. Thank you that you have overcome all of my humanness through what you did by sending Jesus to live, die, and rise again. Thank you.

Father, there isn’t much more to this. Your words through Isaiah are just a great reminder that I am foolish, sinful, selfish, and shortsighted. But you are gracious beyond my foolishness. You are forgiving beyond my sinfulness. You are loving beyond my selfishness. And you are compassionate beyond my shortsightedness. Thank you, Father. Thank you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead. ” But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.” Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey. For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted. “Then the Lord will bring things on you, your nation, and your family unlike anything since Israel broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you!” In that day the Lord will whistle for the army of southern Egypt and for the army of Assyria. They will swarm around you like flies and bees. They will come in vast hordes and settle in the fertile areas and also in the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny places. In that day the Lord will hire a “razor” from beyond the Euphrates River —the king of Assyria—and use it to shave off everything: your land, your crops, and your people. In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left. Nevertheless, there will be enough milk for everyone because so few people will be left in the land. They will eat their fill of yogurt and honey. In that day the lush vineyards, now worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become patches of briers and thorns. The entire land will become a vast expanse of briers and thorns, a hunting ground overrun by wildlife. No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will graze there.

Isaiah 7:10-25

Dear God, this is yet another verse taken out of context. The original “verse of the day” from Bible Gateway was:

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

Modern Christians read that and think, “Jesus! Yay, Jesus!” Or they think, “See, there was prophecy about Jesus. Yay!” But this is one little verse of hope–actually, it was just a sign–in the midst of calamity. The setting was not good into which this child of a virgin would be born, and the prophecy doesn’t claim that the life circumstances of everyone around at that time will get better. And you said this to a seemingly good king who loved you.

I talked a couple of days ago about prosperity gospel and how much I am against it. Now, I find myself wondering over the last few months if we aren’t seeing the beginning of our own nation’s decline. Are we seeing a rotting from within? I even see it within the church. Divisiveness. Hatred. Satan’s Plan A is working to perfection, and things like social media are fueling it. The idea that our nation is called “The United States” is almost laughable because we are not united among the states, within the states, or even within communities. Everyone is fighting so hard for their own rights they are losing sight of each other, and social media seems to be the fuel.

Father, it’s funny that children want to have sex before they are ready and their parents want them to wait as long as possible. It’s because the parents know what’s on the other side of it. The irony is that they parents still practice as much sexual immorality as they try to prevent among their children. The same is true for social media. I was on a call this week where we talked about the dangers of social media among children and the mental health consequences, but when I brought up our own addictions to it as adults the conversation got uncomfortable and quiet. But right now it feels like the water is rushing through the dam and I have no idea how to stop it. I don’t know that it can be stopped, so I am just going to love you as best as I can today. I’m sorry for where I fail in these areas. I’m sorry for my own hypocrisy. I’m sorry I’m not a better ambassador for you. Please forgive me, and, Holy Spirit, please help me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.” “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

Isaiah 1:10-18

Dear God, this is all so devastating to hear, and yet, I know this is as much for us (me) today as it was for the Israelites thousands of years ago.

I can’t help but think of some of the churches I know of who, from my perspective (and I could very well be wrong) have made a idol out of worshipping on Sunday morning. During the pandemic they continue their meetings as normal (some of which still don’t take basis safety precautions such as no masks). I know I can take a passage and interpret it any way that I want, but this whole part about worshipping vainly in your name makes me think about that:

When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.

We are such stubborn people, and I am included in this. So how am I being stubborn? How am I depending on your grace to save me instead of just turning loose of my sin and having a legitimate relationship with you?

Father, I am sorry I waste as much time as I waste. I use too much of my time each evening doing unproductive things like watching YouTube videos instead of being productive on other projects you might have for me. Help me to continue to move towards the man you need me to be. Love others through me. Use my life for your kingdom. Move me out of lethargy and into the actions you have for me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.

Isaiah 48:17

Dear God, I was just praying with my wife about you teaching us through some of the struggles we are experiencing. And to be clear, I am not complaining about the struggles. You have been better to us than we deserve. In fact, I hesitate to even use the word struggle when I compare my life to the lives of friends, but there are challenges to face, and I don’t want these challenges to be wasted. I want to be able to look back and see that I grew close to you through them.

That leads me to thinking about some of my friends who are struggling. Some are facing health issues. Some are facing issues with their children. One lost a child to a tragically random act of violence. Going back to this verse teach all of them, and me, what is good for us along this path you have for us, and show us the path to follow. Show me how to support my friends. Bring glory to yourself and not to me.

Father, I have a pastor friend who likes to say, “Never waste a good crisis.” That makes sense. It’s the crises of my life that you use to grow me and draw me closer to yourself. So I submit myself to you along this path. Shine through me and help me to live a life that brings you glory and your kingdom and will being dong into earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. ” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. ”
Isaiah 12

Dear God, before I sat down today, I thought that I should probably spend some time i worship this morning. And then the verse of the day from Bible Gateway was the second half of Isaiah 12. Since the chapter is only 6 verses long, I decided to look at the whole chapter and make them my praise to you.

For context, the “in that day” refers to prophecy that you will restore Israel and bring them all home. There are times when I wonder if Christians in our country haven’t tried to replace Israel in your heart. Do we want the United States to be the country you preserve and restore? Is that why there is this great support for Israel from a political perspective among Christians, but there is a prejudice against Jewish people? We know you care about the land, and we appreciate the fact that Jesus came from there when he was on earth, but outside of that we don’t like Jewish people (and I say “we” as a Christian, although I’ve never personally understood prejudice against Jewish people or even knew it existed outside of Nazi Germany until I was an adult–I was grateful for that ignorance).

But I digress. Today I want to worship you. I want to worship you even when you are angry with me and have to deal with me. I want to worship you when I struggle through a life situation, and I want to worship you when things are good. I am sorry for expecting things of you that were unreasonable. I am sorry for being disappointed with you, although I am grateful to have been shown the error in my thinking and what I can expect from you.

I marvel at how you move in this world. I marvel at your security in who you are. You are able to love me when I love you and let me go when I want to go. Help me to love my children that wisely. Please pursue them and help the to bind the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. I don’t want any more for them than they would experience your full presence and the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and self control that goes with it. That they would feel the freedom of extending grace and heal from the damage done to their hearts over the years. Hold them as your own children, Father.

I worship you for how you provide for the work I do to serve others. Make my eyes bigger. Make my vision bigger. Help me to see the needs with which you want me to be involved, give me the courage to jump in and address those needs, and please bless each step of my path.

My life is yours, Father. I offer it to you as a living sacrifice. Grow in me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Isaiah 6:1-5

Dear God, I completely take you for granted. I am probably much too casual with you. What would happen if I really came face to face even with an angel, but less you? I think Isaiah’s retort in verse five is pretty appropriate: “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Instead, I wake up in the morning, I read some scripture (among other things), and then I will often either do this prayer journal to you in the morning or in the evening. There is usually no sense of awe about it. I’m not often cognizant of the difference between you and me. I don’t revere you as you should rightly be revered. I just talk to you as a friend. A guide. A father. Is that actually how you want it? Is that why you did this thing with Jesus and the Holy Spirit the way you did? You want me to know that you are God and I am not, but you also want me to be able to crawl up in your lap and just talk with you.

Maybe verses seven and eight give me an insight because they are your exchange with Isaiah after his proclamation:

With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. ” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? ” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

You gave him his redemption (which you have also given to me), and then you gave him a job to do.

Father, here am I. Send me!

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

But look! The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! He will cut down the proud. That lofty tree will be brought down. He will cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One. [Chapter 11] Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.
Isaiah 10:33-11:10

Dear God, the passage for today was the first 10 verses of chapter 11, but I thought the last couple of verses of chapter 10 were important because they reference how the stump in 11:1 came to be. You had cut down the tree of Assyria. Out of that destruction, after that time of suffering under Assyria, you brought Jesus. Of course, as it turned out, Jesus came while Rome was in charge. But he still brought an entirely new covenant. He brought healing. He brought forgiveness. He brought peace. I could go in depth on the metaphor. The new Branch. The old root.

The people who first heard and read this didn’t have any idea what it meant. They had no idea how this would all work out. They didn’t know where, when, or who. All they knew was that there was hope.

For me, I have seen some frustrating things unfold in my life. I’ve been discouraged at times. But you are teaching me that you are doing things I cannot see. You are giving me hope. I don’t have to know where, when, or who? I don’t have to know how. But you have spoken to my heart and assured me that there is hope. My job is to put my trust in you, worship you, love you, and love my neighbors.

Father, thank you. Thank you for hope. Thank you for peace. Thank you for justice. Thank you for encouraging humility. Thank you for opportunities to love others and serve you. Thank you for everything you’re doing that I can and cannot see. Thank you for what you have done and what you will do. Thank you that you care at all. You don’t have to.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen