The Wednesday Word 12.01.2021

 

Isaiah 9:2-7   New Living Translation

2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice.

They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest

 and like warriors dividing the plunder.

4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.

5 The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire.

6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

Of all the wondrous things described in this text, the part that touches me the most is found in verse 4. While I have not spent my life under foreign domination or bound in servitude, I have been ruled by tyrants of my own making. Among many, there are insecurity, indecision and inertia. Then there are guilt and fear, the granddaddies of them all. Isaiah spoke of a time to come when a Savior would end oppression for the enslaved people. I was a different kind of an enslaved person. I lived under the unbearable weight of my own shortcomings.

Some twenty-odd years ago, I came to understand that the heavy burden I carried was of my own choosing. I let it keep me away from the God who loves me. I came to understand that, in spite of my failures, the Savior foretold by Isaiah loves me, too. He loves me enough to take that heavy burden off my shoulders and show me a better way to live. He feels the same way about you. What burden do you needlessly carry? Jesus can help you with that…something to pray about.

Don’t forget to look for the Lord today. Vicki H.

                                                                                                photo by Red Hat Factory 


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