Week 131, Day 3: The sign
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 7:1-25
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Sorry for the delay in posting. I am planning to go back and catch up with the posts for chapters 5 & 6 tomorrow. In chapter 7 God offers king Ahaz of Judah a chance to request a sign that God will deliver him and destroy Judah’s enemies. I like how God describes this request in verse 11. God says for Ahaz to request a sign as deep as Sheol or high as heaven. Whatever you can dream of, this is your chance to ask that God do it to provide evidence for this message. Ahaz doesn’t want to test God – which is a good response. God goes ahead and gives Ahaz the sign. What is the sign that is deeper than Sheol or higher than heaven, i.e. not in your wildest dreams would you imagine this is possible? That a virgin will become pregnant and have a child named “God with us”. We sometimes get so familiar with this prophecy and event that we fail to be impressed with how significant this sign is. A virgin having a baby. Who could believe it? And yet what we see here is that way before it ever happened, God has foretold of it. Amazing!
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Week 130, Day 5: The Branch
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 4:1-6
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
We have another reference to the time when the Messiah will come. In chapter 2 we spoke of the mountain of the house of the Lord being established. Now we have a day when th Branch of the Lord would be beautiful and glorious. It seems clear that the branch is a term used to refer to Jesus (Isaiah 11:1, Jer 23:5). In His day we are told that the filth of the daughters of Zion will be washed away and the bloodshed of Jerusalem will be purged. Jesus came proclaiming a call for repentance and laid down His life so that all could have forgiveness of sin. The reference in verses 5 & 6 to the protection and refuge that God would give onr Zion I believe is a reference to the spiritual blessings that the children of God are afforded through Jesus. We have comfort, aid, peace and encouragement given to us by God. No matter what the storm that faces us in life we are able to weather these things through the help of our Lord.
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Week 130, Day 4: Remove all Beauty
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 3:1-26
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
In God’s judgment against His people He will cast down those who are proud and haughty (vs 16). The Lord would take away their ornaments and decorations (vs. 18-23). Anything that they used to promote their pride and take stock in would be removed. They would be humbled before God and have to exchange all their fine things for scraps. We are often guity of taking blessings for granted. Life has always been good and so we do not see it for all the wonderful things it holds. It is almost like we think that life has to be so good and enjoyable. Given time and a lack of focus anyone can let material blessings and prominence go to their head. There have been many Christians who have gotten a big head and been puffed up in their own sight. Such actions unfortunately call for God to bring them low. Let us endeavor to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God and not put our trust in any earthly trinkets.
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Week 130, Day 3: The Mountain
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 2:1-22
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Isaiah speaks about the days when the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and all nations will stream to it. This mountain would be established when the law went forth from Zion (vs. 3). We see a reference to this when Jesus appears to the apostles after the resurrection and tells them to go & wait in Jerusalem. Jesus says that repentance would be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. It would start from Jerusalem and go out to all the nations and this message of repentance was a key part of the gospel message that the apostles and disciples took with them starting from Jerusalem. So Isaiah is speaking here of the beginning of Jesus’ church. It has risen to greater prominence than any nation of man and its citizens do not learn war or fight in conquest anymore. Instead our warfare is of a spiritual nature. We pierce men’s hearts with the word of God and bring men to submit to Christ through convicting them of the truth of God’s word.
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Week 130, Day 2: The Alternative
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 1:1-31
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Isaiah tells Israel that they are going to be punished for their multitude of sins. God was however not going to completely wipe them out like Sodom & Gomorrah but would preserve a few. The alternative would be very bleak in deed. But even for those few who would survive it would not be easy. They would have their dross smelted away (vs. 25). God would burn away the impurities in these few who were preserved. The alternative for them was to continue to grow worse along with the rest of Israel. I know there were few like Isaiah who had kept serving God but I wonder if even the few who were trying to serve God didn’t have a very difficult time doing that well. We see many today who want to serve God from sincerity and yet the influences of those around them cause them to miss keeping what God wants done. I wander if this is where some of the purging comes into play. Those bad traits and attitudes that even the godly people had picked up would be melted away through the heavy hand of God. On the other side of the fiery ordeal would be a person who could serve God purely and more devoutly. I wonder how hard it is for us to look back on hardships and think about what the alternative could have been in our situation if we had not clung to God through the trough times. Can we see purging and growth in our life through pain and hardships?
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Week 130, Day 1: Unquenchable Love
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 8:1-14
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
There is much about this chapter that is not clear to me. It is hard to follow all the langauge and topic. But it stands out to me how love is described as unquenchable in verse 7. Our society has a skewed view of what love is. Many often confuse love with concepts that are more descriptive of lust. But on the other hand many do not strive to have love in their marriages. Due to a lack of effort towards the relationship the feelings for each other die out. This is a very sad thing to see. So when it is recorded here how love can be something that is unquenchable I think it is encouraging. Love does not have to fade with time or slowly burn out. Love can endure and increase. But it will not do that without time and attention on our part. If you do not like how your love life is going then ask what are you doing to help it along? How are you acting and giving in the relationship that would encourage and make a place for love to grow and thrive. A relationship is a two way street. It is rarely all someone else’s fault that things “die out”.
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Week 129, Day 5: The need for desire
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 7:1-13
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
I think in chapter 7 we have another exposure to the rekindling of romance in this relationship. The language used by Solomon to romance his love is foreign to us but I think there are some things to note here. First, he speaks about different aspects of her body this time which could indicate how they have grown more accustomed to each other as they have now been married for a period of time. There should be a drawing closer to one another. When we read that a man is to cleave to his wife this isn’t just the thought that they are roomates. Cleaving requires an action on each person’s part. They are to make efforts to draw closer to one another. Solomon’s inclusion of other descriptions here could reflect some of that thought of him being more familiar with her now that they have been married for a while.
The other concept that I want to comment on relates to verse 10. The Shulamite is pleased that her beloved desires her. Men are mostly drawn by the physical. Women however need to feel affection and loved. Men need to express their desire for their wife in more ways than just through physical gratification. That certainly has vital part in the relationship but the wife has to understand that she is more to him than just an object of his desire. He needs to show that his affection for her is more than just a physical attraction. This is something that is a challenge for most men and yet is longed for by the wife. Men need to let the wife feel his affection and love for her.
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Week 129, Day 4: Compliments
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 6:1-13
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
One thing that does seem to help “smooth” things over in any relationship is to compliment someone for the good that they do. In this chapter we have Solomon again praising the Shulamite’s beauty. This seems to point to them getting through some of those difficulties in chapter 5. Whenever a marriage is full of negatives and always where one spouse is harping on the faults of the other then it will be hard to have any sort of pleasant dwelling together. For some people it is harder to look for the good in others. I do think it is good to try to limit the negative comments and try to help stress the positive whenever possible. This can help you spouse feel better about themselves and help them want to do better in other areas at the same time. Compliments shouldn’t be given if not meant but they are a way of verbalizing to your spouse your care and affection. This is especially important for men to do. We tend to be more negative, ungrateful and not as verbal. But the small ways of expressing care go a long way to smoothing over any challenges that do come up along the way.
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Week 129, Day 3: Trials in Marriage
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 5:1-16
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Some of the thoughts in this chapter are difficult to follow exactly but there is one area that I want to focus on. The man comes to the door and knocks on it. The wife is asleep and is therefore groggy when he calls to her. By the time she is persuaded to come to the door to open it he has alread decided to leave. This seems to be one of those examples of difficulties that can arise during marriage. He has traveled all night to be with her and she dismisses him because she is sleepy and already in bed. Married couples face a miriad of trials and challenges. One of them rest in the difference in the way men and women think. It seems that most of the difficulties are rooted in these different mindsets/ emotional ways. In order for any married couple to be happy they need to understand the way the other thinks and have a mindset that they will strive to make the other happy. In this case the husband made an effort to be with the wife because he longed for her. But the wife wasn’t receptive and spurned his advance because of timing. He turned away from her and left because of this. I’m sure there have been many times that married couples have had to deal with challenges surrounding what they want or what their spouse wants. Be careful to give attention to the physical and emotional needs of your spouse, even when you really don’t feel like bothering. The result of not working at such things will be easily felt by your spouse and cause damage to your closeness. This damage could spread bigger cracks and begin the process of destroying the unity in your marriage.
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Week 129, Day 2: Love Language
Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 4:1-16
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
We often are tickled by the phrases and comparisons used in this chapter. But one thing we need to make sure to note is that this is right after the wedding has taken place. The newly married couple are in the bloom of love and he lavishes praise upon her. One quality that he praises is her chastity. He compares her to a garden that is locked up. And now he is coming into this garden to eat of its fruits. No other has been there and he is the only one who can enter. Marriage is a very blissful things when it is constructed and built upon godly principles. It is sad how many people bring so much bagage and scars into their marriage with them. The purity of the couple helps equip them to face things together. Many unfortunately enter this important relationship with guilt and consequences from past sin.
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