Not Your Typical Church Lady

If you had asked me a few years ago what I thought of reading the prophets in the Old Testament, I would have made a face. If you ask me that same question today, you will get a completely different answer. In my daily Bible readings, the book of Isaiah has been especially intriguing. New things and passages have been popping out at me. It might be the new translation I've been using this year.

To be honest, I'd like to put it all here for you, but there is just too much. It's also difficult to pick where to start and stop with any passage, because my wish is for you to read it in context. If you don't mind, I will pick a starting point and trust you to read before and after it on your own to get a bigger picture. We'll begin in Isaiah 30.

"Therefore here is what the Holy One of Isra'el says: 'Because you reject this word, trust in extortion and rely on deceit, this sin will become for you a crack bulging out high on a wall, showing signs it is ready to fall; then suddenly all at once, it breaks.' He will break it like a clay pot, ruthlessly shattering it into pieces so tiny not even a potsherd remains for taking fire from the fireplace or scooping water from the cistern. For this is what Adonai ELOHIM, the Holy One of Isra'el, says:

"Returning and resting is what will save you; calmness and confidence will make you strong-but you want none of this! 'No!' You say, 'We will flee on horseback!' Therefore you will surely flee. And, 'We will ride on swift ones!' So your pursuers will be swift. A thousand will flee at the threat of one, you will all flee at the threat of five, until you are left isolated, like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill'" (Isaiah 30:12-17, CJB).

Does any of that resonate? This whole chapter is so interesting. "Returning and resting is what will save you; calmness and confidence will make you strong-but you want none of this!" That part caught my attention. It feels like there are many today who are not returning and resting, nor are they calm and confident. It is with God that we must do all these things. I do like a good nap, but the rest we speak of here is of a spiritual nature. Being in God's presence, trusting that he will walk beside us in this world and the next gives us calmness and confidence. All of these things are healing to our souls.

Rest in God is necessary. One of the Ten Commandments is to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Later in Isaiah it says, "If you hold back your foot on Shabbat (Sabbath) from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI's holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI – I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor, Ya'akov (Jacob), for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken" (Isaiah 58:13-14, CJB).

So what will it take to convince a person to return and rest, to be made strong with calmness and confidence? Isn't that something everyone should strive for? So why aren't we? What's the deal here folks? It's deep self-examination time. What is stopping you? What are you afraid of? Why? Ponder that.

"Yet ADONAI is just waiting to show you favor, he will have pity on you from on high; for ADONAI is a God of justice; happy are all who wait for him!" (Isaiah 30:18, CJB).

Ah, see, we can still have a happy ending! We fail over and over, clumsily stumbling along, stiff-necked know it alls who don't need any help. Even in spite of it, God is waiting for us. He is waiting for each one of us to turn our eyes up to him and walk trustingly in his direction. He is waiting for us to be willing to come to him for the spiritual (and physical) rest we so desperately need. What if. What if we all tried returning and resting in God? I know I could use a spiritual respite. Wouldn't you like one too? Let's try it and see what happens. I bet we'll be shocked, amazed and refreshed.