Join With Us as We Watch For the Light Together This Advent
Feast For All: Day 5
Day 4 Advent Reading
Isaiah 11: 1-3, 6-9
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
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.
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD…
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.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
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.
How do we understand judgment? We speak so much of a loving God, what do we do with judgment? What do we do with fear?
I like how Isaiah 11 begins with a shoot coming from the stump. That in judgment, there is pruning–or even more-so. A stump itself appears at first as no hope for the tree. But the promise is for life. That along with chainsaws, there becomes more room for growth. And this leads to one day wolf and lamb lying down together. All this to be led by a little child.
I share with you a song based upon this text. This song is from the group where Lisa and I met, the Newman Singers. On That Holy Mountain. May this season of advent be magical as you enter into the wonder of what God has done, and what God continues to do.