1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:
“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”
REFLECTION:
King Ahaz of Judah missed a crucial opportunity to trust God in troubled times. He was too frightened to trust God and too vain or proud to ask for the offered sign (v14). Ahaz’s leadership can be summarized in this way: “Faith played no part in his religion or his politics”.
When have you found verse 9—”If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all”— to be true for you? Recall the situation and your response.
Have a conversation with God about how you can better prepare to meet some real or imagined crisis. Pray that you will not lose heart.
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
REFLECTION:
Read this passage, paying attention to the dialogue between the angels and Isaiah.
As God’s mouthpiece to the nations, Isaiah experienced this unforgettable encounter with the Lord at the outset of his ministry. An angel-seraph flew down to Isaiah and touched his mouth with a burning coal.
The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. Explore your spiritual life to identify sensitive areas that would hurt deeply at God’s touch. Why are these areas the most sensitive? Consider what your relationship with God might look like, now and in the long term, if He purified these areas of your life.
Invite God to burn these sensitive areas of your life so you can serve him more effectively. Ask two people who are close to you what they believe to be areas of your life in need of refining of God’s touch. Be prepared to consider answers that may be hard to hear but are beneficial.
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
REFLECTION:
Read this passage slowly as if you were with the owner in the vineyard. Notice the care that was lavished on the vineyard, the sweat, the hard labour, and the anticipation. Then go with the owner at harvest time, and observe the owner’s dismay when the product was only evil-smelling, bitter, wild grapes.
In which ways has God lavished his care on you? Was it a bumper crop? Or a bitter harvest? How is God’s work in you similar to that of the vineyard owner?
God calls you to respond to Him. Pray for one specific sweet fruit to grow in your life.
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
