Tag Archives: the book of Isaiah

““All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. . .  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”  (Isaiah 40:6b, 8, NIV)

In the spring of each year, we are reminded of the splendor of nature as lawns and fields green-up; and flowers add color to every scene.  It is wonderful to behold, but we know it lasts only for a season — even if it is repeated next spring.

Isaiah reminds us that we, too, are like the grass and the flowers: Magnificent in many ways, but also fleeting.  In the context of more than 6,000 years of recorded history, our singular 70 or 80 years of life is less than a dim flash.

Isaiah also reminds us that though we are less than a vapor, God’s word endures for all of time and eternity.  If we desire any permanence in what we do or say, it must be enveloped in and consistent with God’s word.  Such consistency comes only through the reading and the heeding of scripture.  – Luther

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“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”  (Isaiah 55:6, NIV)

God is omnipresent, yet, there are times when we feel closer to Him, and He seems more accessible than at other times.

When we are not pressed by circumstances, or stressed by the sense that things are out of control; it is in such mundane moments that we need to draw near to God.

Use the “boring” level stretches of time to cement your relationship to your heavenly Father.  Hunting for divine companionship while descending into the dark valley of trial, or while climbing the mountains of adversity are not the best conditions.  – Luther

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“The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.”  (Isaiah 26:7, NIV)

While it is true that — externally — the path of the righteous is full of “ups and downs”; internally, at the seat of our heart and spirit, the path is bubble-center level for the person who faithfully follows the leading of the Spirit.

If we allow it, the external, visible, tangible, temporal, physical pressures of living will dictate our internal, invisible, intangible, eternal, spiritual perspective.  Don’t allow it.  In fact, turn it around so that your view of things visible is always informed, guided, and determined by things invisible.

It is the serenity that the “Upright One” alone provides that allows you to, as poet Rudyard Kipling wrote, “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.”  – Luther

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