Edging

When I drive by certain houses, I almost stop to admire their beauty. In our town, on the way to the grocery store, there are at least two of these houses. Good symmetry in the architecture, well manicured lawns, solid boundaries.
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This morning (a Saturday) I awoke at 5:30am. After a bike ride, I started working in the lawn. I started edging. That is, I began digging up weeds, making the distinction between cement and lawn. The process was therapeutic. And in my eyes, our house and lawn look much better.
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Edging, I think, is a key contributor to our minds’ perception of beauty. It provides a beginning and an end. It gives our eyes boundaries. It keeps things in their rightful place.
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What do you think? Is edging a key to beauty, not just in lawns, but other areas as well?

Isaiah 51-53

Most Christians are familiar with Isaiah 53. It’s the passage about Jesus being the suffering servant. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. You remember that one, don’t you?

I will only comment on that passage by saying it is full of truth, solemn truth. It’s full of gravity and weight.

But I don’t want to expound on that passage, primarily because so many people have already heard about it. The chapters leading up to it, however, are not familiar to most. For that reason, they are of more interest to me.

Chapter 51 has two phrases to catch my attention: “Awake, awake” and “Listen to me.” For that reason, we need to pay attention. This chapter is chalked full of comfort to God’s people. “Don’t fear the enemy; fear Me,” is basically the Lord’s message.

The end of 51, however, is not so comforting. The Lord declares the punishment that’s coming before the comfort. Rather than going too far with that, the Lord (through Isaiah) goes back to proclamations of peace and rescue.

Which leads us back to the start…

Jesus…

The sin-bearing, suffering, despised servant…

Who becomes our Rescuer, our Salvation, our Lord.

Isaiah 47-50

Isaiah 47:8-11 is scary. It’s scary because it sounds like the American mindset, and we know how God judged the Babylonians for their mindset.

In chapter 48, the focus shifts off of Babylon, onto the Israelites. God tells them that all this happened because they would not listen. They had necks of iron and foreheads of bronze, aka they were stubborn, stiff-necked and bull-headed. The last verse sums up the message of the previous two chapters: “There is no peace for the wicked.”

Isaiah proclaims the coming servant of the Lord in chapter 49, along with the restoration of Israel. Can you imagine how wild that message would have seemed to the hearers? Their nation had deteriorated morally. They had been conquered and sent into Babylon in exile. And here, Isaiah is proclaiming the coming Messiah, the restoration to statehood, prosperity and peace. He continues this message in chapter 50, honing in on the coming Messiah and his obedience unto the Father’s plan.

May it never cease to amaze us that this was written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born.

Words – Where Do They Go?

Jason Mraz has a lyric in which he wonders where all of our words go. “Do they bend, do they break, over the flight that they take, and come back together again, with a whole new meaning and a brand new sense, completely unrelated to the one I sent?”

I have been wondering similar things lately. I reviewed some old notes today and remembered things I had long sense forgotten. I reviewed some old blog posts today and came to the same realization.

Sometimes, it seems our words get away from us. We write them, hoping to remember them, then we forget them, then we remember that somewhere we have them. So we come back to them, read them again, try to remember what we were going through when they came to us and why they ever left us.

This exercise made me realize something:

I want all my words back. Not that I want to erase or remove everything I’ve ever written. I just want all my words to be accessible and I don’t want to ever forget them.

Because words are powerful. Words can mess with us. Especially The Word. “For in the beginning was The Word. And The Word was with God. And The Word was God.”

Let that one stew in your mind for awhile. May you never forget it.

Isaiah 44-46

Starting with Isaiah 40, it’s like the whole tone of the book changes. The tone is upbeat. The verbiage is joyful and triumphant. The outlook is hopeful.

Chapter 44 continues that trend. The Lord, again, emphasizes that idols aren’t even in the same class. Little “g” gods are not the same as the big “G” God.

Chapter 45 has an amazing prophecy concerning Cyrus of Persia, along with some wonderful proclamations about the character of the Lord.

Chapter 46 goes back to the theme of chapter 44. And this is certainly a thought worth camping out on. Little “g” gods are not the same as the big “G” God.

He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the God above all gods. May we bow!

Isaiah 41-43

The Lord stands up for His people in 41. He also makes sure to clarify that He is the only Lord. No idols can compare.

My wife really likes 41:10. She has good taste.

The Lord’s chosen servant is described in chapter 42. He is going to do some BIG things.

Now listen to this one, from chapter 43: “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” For His own sake, He blots out, wipes out, does away with our transgressions. He won’t remember our sins. Praise Him!