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Advent Daily Devotional

THIS WEEK

Daily Devotional 2022 Day Eight

Posted on Dec 6, 2022 in Daily Devotional, Sunshine |

Advent Devotional 8
December 6, 2022
Isaiah 42: 1-9
42Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
   my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
   he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
   or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
   and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
   he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
   until he has established justice in the earth;
   and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

5 Thus says God, the LORD,
   who created the heavens and stretched them out,
   who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
   and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
   I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
   a light to the nations,
7    to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
   from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the LORD, that is my name;
   my glory I give to no other,
   nor my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
   and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
   I tell you of them.
“Here is my servant” begins our text. Who is this servant? God’s messiah. Who is this
messiah? Isaiah gives no name. Isaiah only gives a description. The messiah is the one who
will bring justice. What does justice look like? It is doing things in accord with the “right
order”. God’s order. Doing the right thing. Righteousness.

It was once thought that Israel was to be a priesthood to the world, teaching justice and
righteousness to all creation. But Israel turned away from God and looked to idols. Isaiah
tells us that because of Israel’s’ idolatry, God would do a new thing. The new thing would be
not a nation priesthood, but a particular messiah. A servant. That servant was to be Jesus.
Jesus came to restore order to the world. Jesus came to teach us to do the right thing. If we
do what Jesus teaches, , live the Jesus way, justice and righteousness are the result. This is
what we were and are waiting for, but we must play our part. Something to ponder in
Advent.

Daily Devotional 2022 Day six

Posted on Dec 3, 2022 in Daily Devotional, Sunshine |

December 3, 2022

Day 6

Isaiah 42: 1-4

42Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3 a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Back in 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers introduced Mile Tomlin as their new head coach. Dan Rooney, Steelers president said this when introducing Tomlin.

“We feel Mike Tomlin is the ideal person to uphold the strong history and tradition of Steelers football. Mike possesses the qualities we were looking for as the leader of our team, and we look forward to working with him for many years to come.”

That’s the kind of endorsement a new leader wants when introduced. It’s also the kind of endorsement the folks who will be led want to hear about the new leader. Confidence. Trust. Complementary. And while Tomlin had big shoes to fill, Rooney shied away from promises of a dynastic run of Super Bowls from Tomlin. That would have been too much to ask and too easy to fail.

In today’s text, Isaiah is introducing a new leader to Israel. Isaiah was not so coy as Rooney. Isaiah shied away from nothing here. This new leader was chosen by God who delighted in him and inspired him. This new leader was going to change the world. Justice will be brought to all the nations. But it will be done in such a way as to prevent even the mildest harm to those nations. This new leader would be tireless and courageous and would not stop until there was justice on earth.

That’s a big task. A lot to ask. Only one could do it. The divine one. The one we call the son of God. Jesus. And while we might sometimes think that Jesus did not get the job done, who says Jesus didn’t? Who says Jesus is done? Isaiah’s promise remains. Jesus is still leading. We are still following. Something top ponder during Advent.ve.

Daily Devotional 2022 Day Four

Posted on Dec 1, 2022 in Daily Devotional, Sunshine |

Advent Devotional 4

December 1, 2022

Isaiah 40: 27-31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Here Isaiah responds to the complaints against God from God’s people. They complain that God is not present and disregards the rights as God’s people. What is that “way” that is hidden from God? It is the way of the will of the people that is foreign to God. It is the way of idolatry, where God is secondary and distant from our minds. What are the “rights” that God disregards? The rights claimed by people based on their status as “God’s people”. But even God’s people have responsibilities that accompany our rights as people of God.

When I turned 16, I immediately started the process of getting my driver’s license. First, I got my learner’s permit. I was now allowed to drive a car as long as I had a licensed driver with me. Typically, that was my dad (never my brother), but I also took driver’s education at school. I learned the rules of the road, how to parallel park, how to stay in my lane and what all those traffic signals meant. If I wanted the right to drive a car, I had to learn my responsibilities, too, didn’t I? Then we would return to the classroom to watch … those movies. You know the ones. Traffic accidents. Ugh. Why watch those movies? To show us what it looks like when we are irresponsible. When we forget the rules, even for a moment.

That is what Isaiah is doing here. Isaiah is saying that God’s people have ignored their responsibility and are suffering the consequences. But Isaiah then affirms God’s ability to fix those consequences and to repair the damage from those poor decisions. For those who take on God’s expected responsibility, God will restore them to their former strength. What are our responsibilities as God’s people? Something to ponder this advent.