Blessed Lord of Life, bless and watch over the needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Isaiah 65: 17 "Pay close attention now: I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. 18 Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating: I'll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. 19 I'll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; 20 No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don't enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal - anything less will seem like a cheat. 21 They'll build houses and move in. They'll plant fields and eat what they grow. 22 No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. 23 They won't work and have nothing come of it, they won't have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. 24 Before they call out, I'll answer. Before they've finished speaking, I'll have heard. 25 Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes - they'll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain," says God. (The Message)
The readings from this week have been a call towards the spiritual things to come. As God has addressed some of our earthly worries and concerns, God has pointed beyond to that which is coming. For us as humans, sometimes that seems a bit too "out there," and we don't see it as we should. This passage, written so long ago by the prophet Isaiah, speaks of God's heart and what God is making perfect in the future. Again, the concerns of the present age are addressed, but in perfect ways. "All earlier troubles, choas, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten." (v. 17) Then God addresses weeping and anguish; these too will be a thing of the past. Read again that list of things God will address and perfect. The day coming is summed up in that picture that seems so incredible to us now of the wolf and lamb eating side by side, and the lion and ox eating straw; death will be wiped away. This is a picture of that shared in Revelation many years later.
Does that mean that for now God is not involved or that God does not care? In no way! God is aware of our sobs and cries, our hurts and our pains. God is aware of how cruel life can be sometimes, but this passage is a call to hope and trust. Not only as a message to be received, but to be shared. If the world outside the church ever needed a strong message it is now; God wants the world to hear through us.
PRAYER: Loving God, allow me to live my life in a way that shows the hope and trust that cannot be found elsewhere. Let me seek to be Yours in all that I do today. Let my life be a message and let it be heard by all who need it. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
