Focus
Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.
Read
The Peaceful Kingdom
11 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Reflect
What a promise we see come in this passage. One of my favorite things about the Bible is how you can see Christ appear in almost every passage. I especially love when He is referenced specifically in the old testament because it proves the character of God all the more. In our passage this morning, Isaiah is speaking of Christ coming and when He does, it is not to sit idly by and be praised. It say that when He comes, enemies will end their squabbles and He will judge and rule with righteousness and faithfulness. In short, it is a promise of a savior.
Imagine living in a time when you had to make your own sacrifices, follow the rules to a tee, and then if you mess up, make up for it before it was to late. That is a hard life to live. You don’t have the option to speak to God and ask for forgiveness from home or work or your car. So when this promise is made in Isaiah, a new way of life is being promised. A savior to come and be the sacrifice above all sacrifices. Christ was not just a symbol of hope for eternal salvation, He was also a promise to fulfil the covenant that God gave back in Genesis. Imagine that same wonderful and amazing news in today’s world. You don’t have to do anything you can to get ahead in life, you don’t have to pretend to be perfect, or even act like you have it all figured out, instead you rely on the shoot that came from Jesse. You rely on the teachings of Christ and just like hope was restored through the words in Isaiah, hope can be restored to our lives today.
Pray
Father God we praise you and thank you for showing us Christ and your promise throughout all of scripture. You remind us that you are in control from Genesis to Revelation and for that we are thankful. We love you Father for giving us salvation through Christ on the cross and for that, we ask that you would forgive us today for the sins we commit against you. We pray, Father that it would always be your will that is done, not ours and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
