June 22 – Isaiah 50
Isaiah 50 is a short little chapter. Surprise! Only 11 verses to read, today. God does not weary of telling His children He loves them and wants them back, does He? He reminds the Israelites once again in the first part of this chapter that they are only in trouble because of their own sinful choices. He’d love to help them. But they are not willing. Jesus says something so similar in Matthew 23:37 NIV: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
Our God wants our love and our willing hearts. He’s not interested in robots who are forced to do His will and the very nature of love is such that it can’t be forced. Not real love. So. He waits. He grieves. He calls and pleads. That’s how much He loves us. Do you have a child who has walked far away from the path marked out for him or her? God understands the pain you feel. You can enter into a “fellowship of suffering” with the Almighty God over this. Loving can be painful at times. But love is worth it.
In the latter part of Isaiah 50, we are given more glimpses of Jesus, the suffering servant. I am so thankful He did not turn back from the cross. Somehow Isaiah gets to see some of the agony Jesus felt at going forward with the horrific death of crucifixion and the even more horrifying reality that when He took the sins of the world on Himself, He was separated from God for a terrible moment in time. Isaiah 50:5 tells us that Jesus did not rebel or turn back. Isaiah 50:7 tells us that He set His face like stone or flint, determined to do God’s will. Oh, we cost Him so much!
My verse: Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God.”
My response: Lord, help me remember to trust You even when all is dark and I can’t see the light – for You are Light and You exist in might and glory despite the veil in which we live here on earth.
