The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
Isaiah 64:4 RSV — From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.
It’s not the focus of this chapter, but this verse speaks to an intuition I have carried for a long time. There is one God. We all have different names and faces and ideas of what He is, but that doesn’t change His nature.
Isaiah 63:9-10 RSV — In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
I appreciate David Guzik’s commentary on these verses.
Isaiah 62:1 RSV — For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
Zephaniah 3:17: The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
Ephesians 3:18-19 RSV — may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
God’s promise is everlasting love.
I am thoroughly confused by the difference between Zion and Jerusalem. I have read that one represents a spiritual city and the other a material one, but sources disagree on which is which. I have also read that they were separate cities and Jerusalem expanded to include Zion.
Whatever that truth turns out to be, God plans on joining His believers as a bridegroom joins his bride.
Isaiah 61:1-2 RSV — The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
Luke 4:18-21 RSV — “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
As I prepare to get married, this next passage speaks to me:
Since getting engaged, I have felt a closer relationship with God. I didn’t expect this. I suppose part of my purpose in this life is to be a father AND a husband. I haven’t been sure about that for the last seven years, but this chapter of single-fatherhood is set to close.
Psalm 59:16-17 KJV — But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
Isaiah 41:13-14 KJV — For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Philippians 4:13 KJV — I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Isaiah 40:28-29 KJV — Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isaiah 59:20 RSV — “And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.
Isaiah 60:12 RSV — For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
Isaiah 60:18-20 RSV — Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
I dream of a time when we are all gathered on a new Earth, in a glorified Zion. There is no more darkness, the sky is filled with the light of the moon and stars and sun.
Isaiah 59:5-6 RSV — They hatch adders’ eggs, they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.
When we sin, the fruit of our labor is rotten. No one can eat it. When there is enough sin, no one eats, no one is clothed, and we are not safe from the dangers of nature.
Matthew 23:23 KJV — Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Isaiah 58:9-10 RSV — Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. “If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
We are the instruments for the Holy Spirit’s work in the world. We must be open to serving our fellow man and lifting their burdens.
As I find my path more clearly, the opportunities to help others multiply. Yet, it never seems like enough.
Romans 8:38-39 KJV — For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Isaiah 57:1 KJV — The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Mary’s birthday is in a couple days.
This is a complex chapter, but offers me comfort in knowing that she has been taken away from the evil of this world.
I don’t fully see how the Founding Fathers used this Scripture to establish a nascent empire, but Thaddeus Russell does establish that this country was fundamentally designed to be expansionist.
Genesis 1:22 KJV — And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Matthew 28:16-20 KJV — Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
