Passage: Isaiah 51:1-11
The LORD’s Comfort for Zion
1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the LORD:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the LORD comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 "Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 "Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations."
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Journal: The facade of our home is stone. We have a stone bench built into the retaining wall at the front of the house. We have a couple of Bible verses etched into granite and placed on the back rest of the stone bench. One of the verses is Isaiah 51:1, to remind us that we are God's children, that He has saved us from our sinful nature, and that we now are to reflect His glorious image. [v. 1 -- "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug."] The quarry from which we were dug is dark and desolate, for it is the outcropping of our sinful nature and the stone found there is cold and rough. He has exhumed the cold stone, our very souls, and placed it in a warm garden, full of new life and hope. [v. 3 -- "For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song."]
The warmth of God's garden allows His children to look forward to the consummation of our faith, a faith that He has so lovingly gifted. [v. 6 -- "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed."] The cold and rough rock has been shaped and crafted, and is mortared into a wall of His garden that will stand for eternity. Each stone has a place, and the stones fit together in perfect scope and structure. The fallen world becomes the rebuilt paradise.
We have seen the "quarry from which [we] were dug" and the "salvation [that] will be forever." This past and future must impact our present. The darkest circumstances in our present, those difficulties that are sure to come, still cast a shadow over the complete blackness of our past, and are illuminated and endured by our future hope. [v. 7 -- "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings."] Our sadness will soon turn into singing. [v. 11 -- "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."]
The LORD’s Comfort for Zion
1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the LORD:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the LORD comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 "Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 "Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations."
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Journal: The facade of our home is stone. We have a stone bench built into the retaining wall at the front of the house. We have a couple of Bible verses etched into granite and placed on the back rest of the stone bench. One of the verses is Isaiah 51:1, to remind us that we are God's children, that He has saved us from our sinful nature, and that we now are to reflect His glorious image. [v. 1 -- "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug."] The quarry from which we were dug is dark and desolate, for it is the outcropping of our sinful nature and the stone found there is cold and rough. He has exhumed the cold stone, our very souls, and placed it in a warm garden, full of new life and hope. [v. 3 -- "For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song."]
The warmth of God's garden allows His children to look forward to the consummation of our faith, a faith that He has so lovingly gifted. [v. 6 -- "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed."] The cold and rough rock has been shaped and crafted, and is mortared into a wall of His garden that will stand for eternity. Each stone has a place, and the stones fit together in perfect scope and structure. The fallen world becomes the rebuilt paradise.
We have seen the "quarry from which [we] were dug" and the "salvation [that] will be forever." This past and future must impact our present. The darkest circumstances in our present, those difficulties that are sure to come, still cast a shadow over the complete blackness of our past, and are illuminated and endured by our future hope. [v. 7 -- "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings."] Our sadness will soon turn into singing. [v. 11 -- "And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."]
