Abiding Forever-ness

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, for the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God abideth for ever.  -- Isaiah 40:7-8  (Darby)

The opening verse in this passage is offering withered grass as a metaphor for people.  We don't particularly like being reminded of our mortality.  In verse 7 the grass withers at the touch of God's breath blowing on it.  Another simple way to condense these two verses might be, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away."   We think of these words as the words heard at funerals we may have attended.  Yet, withered grass, is not dead grass.  With water, care, and the removal of obstacles to its sustenance grass is quite hardy, as are people. 

What kind of things cause you to wither?  What obstacles, crises, and challenges blow into your life giving you pause to sigh, "Life it too much for me?"  Does the thought that your challenges are put there by God make you feel better about them or worse?  Truthfully, thinking that God is large enough to see further ahead of my development and is providing me experience and in-depth experiential learning makes it a little easier.  More than that, however, is the immediacy with which the second verse of the passage follows the withering -- namely, the promise that God's word is abiding forever.

WIth the Messiah's coming arrives the living water that keeps our lives rooted in Abiding Forever-ness.  Staying rooted and grounded in Abiding Forever-ness brings the sustenance to endure the withering ocassions and lessons that fade our hope and yet stretch our faith.  Remaining connected to Christ, reminding ourselves perpetually of the Christ's inside knowledge of us, taking HIs hand and surrendering to being led keeps our own abiding-ness engaged  Our spirits, at times, may be withered and faded, but holding on through the droughts keeps us eternally safe.

Prayer:
Master of Hope and Abiding Presence, grant us the serenity of resting in you throughout all that we might be pushed to learn.  In Christ's name.  Amen.  

How Low Can You Go?

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.  -- Isaiah 41:14 (Darby)

How weak, imperfect, and low can we be and still have God help us?  As low as a worm says Isaiah.  Redemption is a word that means to buy back, so a redeemer is one who does the buying back.  God, the Holy One of Israel buys back even the lowliest of worms, and then without hesitation stands solidly with this ragtag group of misfits, who seem to have trouble staying on the straight and narrow.

Staying on the straight and narrow seems to be the "stuff" that parents, priests & clergy, moralitsts, and the smugly righteous all seem to think is life's goal.  Yet if this is so, if it were within our power to do that, why is scripture so littered with the examples of those who couldn't?  Why does it say in multiple places, particularly in Isaiah, that the crooked ways will be made straight and the rough places smoothed by the Messiah who is to come?  Why are the first words uttered by heavenly beings and the Divine, "Fear not?"  Because the legalists and righteous can be so rigidly unforgiving and unaccepting perhaps, that it is what we've come to expect from angels and the Savior?  

No.  The Divine model in this verse, and in hundreds of other examples, points to a God who is willing always to help, love, and forbear.  Model behavior, precise moral tip-toeing and devout uprightness bringing you to the epitome of Perfection is not embraced any more deeply than is the lowly worm who struggles to extract itself from the wet mud before it drowns.  All are beloved ones, all redeemed by The Master, all accepted into the circle of the sacred family of God.

Prayer:
Help, help, help us Lord not to be afraid to walk the crooked, twisting paths while Your Son goes before us making a new way.  Amen.

Letting Go of Lostness

And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.    --Isaiah 42:16 (Douay-Rheims 1899)

Floundering or "feeling one's way along" is a fairly common human experience.  The Jewish people had landed in Babylon and suddenly they were no longer sure of who they were.  It is a difficult thing to hold onto one's identity when everything familiar is stripped away.  For a time nobody knew where to turn.  They looked for guidance, but there was nobody to be found that they could respect or trust.  The Prophet Isaiah comes on this scene and tells them God does know you are here.  God knows how you got yourselves into this pickle.  You've walked very arrogantly without God, and now you are in a tough spot.  But God is keeping up the Promise and is sending one who will bring light, and straighten out this mess.


Many of the verses in the 42nd chapter of Isaiah strike Christians as foretelling of the Advent of Jesus the Messiah.  Without the Messiah's coming becoming blind on the crooked path of life is almost a certainty.  Jesus comes to us and shows us a new way.  The shackles of sinful failure are cut loose.  The gift and grace of forgiveness lifts the scales from our dismal view of ourselves.  Hope comes into bloom again.  God has not forsaken us at all.  


No matter how bruised and beaten up in life you are; no matter how lost or struggling God does hear and sends the help meant for you in particular.  Hard to believe at times, yes; but certainly God's enduring presence is the promise given from scripture.


Prayer:
Dear Lord, no matter what our circumstances are be with us.  Lift the low places in our road, smooth out the rough places, and carry us safely into sacred space with You daily.  In Christ's name.  Amen.