The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
Isaiah 10:1 KJV — Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
I’m especially bias towards seeing libertarian concepts in Scripture. Woe will befall men who write laws that are not in accordance with God’s will.
Isaiah 9:2 KJV — The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
This is how I feel as someone who came to discover Jesus in his heart in his late thirties.
I was saved less than a year before my wife took ill and passed away. We didn’t know it, but we were baptized in the shadow of death.
When my Mary returned to her home in Heaven, the full spectrum of Light shone down. My conversion had been calm, but this revelation filled me with a powerful Love that endures to this day.
Isaiah 9:6 KJV — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
My story is a mystery. Why Jesus found me that summer, I do not know. But He knew that I would need all of His counsel, might, and peace in the coming years.
I spent a lot of time in chapter 9 today, but don’t feel like I penetrated much into its meaning. I’m sure I will return here and be shown more.
Isaiah 7:9 NRSV If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.
Ahaz, king of Judah, chooses military alliances over the Word of God.
It doesn’t go well for him.
Isaiah 6:2-7 KJV — Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
The header image comes from this informative article: The Seraphim Mosaic in Hagia Sophia.
These Byzantine representations of the seraphim will influence my next tattoo.
This is the only place that the seraphims are mentioned in Scripture. However, the Hebrew word, “śārāp̄” is translated as “fiery serpent” in several other Old Testament books.
Many sources refer to the seraphims as the “burning ones.” Their inoculation against the live coal, Isaiah’s initial fear, and their ability to cleanse sin all point toward carrying out a similar function as the serpents of Scripture.
A messenger’s importance is in direct relationship to the danger it poses.
Romans 11:25 NKJV — For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
God’s people are repeatedly referred to as a vineyard in Scripture. Isaiah 5 laments over how we have wasted our spiritual gifts and grown wild with undesirable fruits.
Hell is the inversion of proper order.
Isaiah 3:24 KJV — And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Out of the chaos of disobedience, the Lord brings forth order and peace.
Isaiah 4:2 KJV — In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
Isaiah 4:6 KJV — And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
I accept Jesus Christ as my tabernacle and refuge. Wrapping around the madness of the material world, He is order and beauty.
Isaiah 2:5 KJV — O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Although this chapter is a prophecy of the latter days, the call to action is present. Today we can walk in the light of the Lord.
No matter the future, today is for living.
Chapter 1 focuses on the spiritual death and dryness of Judah and Jerusalem.
God declares that this “dross” must be burned away and that the people will be returned to faithfulness.
To renew, we must clear completely the habits that separate us from God. This is a difficult process that demands the sacrifice of our worldly attachments.
Since I started carrying a permanent image of a dreaming Jacob, he’s been showing up more often.
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.
This Scripture appeared in my devotional reading and it struck me that I have read very little of the book of Isaiah. My Student Bible contains a plan to read it in 63 days. I’m looking forward to my first independent study of one of the books of the Old Testament.
