Softening Hardened Hearts

Isaiah 63:17 NKJV

O Lord, why have You made us stray from Your ways,  And  hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants sake, The tribes of Your inheritance.

Sometimes life makes us feel this way. Bad things happen and instead of drawing closer to God we pull away in anger and sadness.

In these times remember that God is our source of everlasting love and comfort. He loves us whether we are happy or sad, nice or angry. It is better for us to come to Him with our pain that to not come to Him at all. Like a good Father should, He will be there to listen, comfort and answer the cries of our hearts.

God we come to you with all of who we are. We will no longer only come to you when we feel good but we will come to you in the fullness of honesty and truth. We trust that you will love us through the dark valleys and lead us to Your green pastures and still waters.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Getting Answers from God

You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
   only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. – Isaiah 58:4-9

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 56-58; 2 Thessalonians 2

you ever tried to fast and pray for a spell and wonder why you didn’t hear from God? I mean good gracious what was all that hunger and misery for anyway if you didn’t get anything out of it?

I know that I have and I can tell you this. That’s a really wack feeling.

Fool's Gold

Who has believed our message 
   and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, 
   and like a root out of dry ground. 
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, 
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 

He was despised and rejected by mankind, 
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. 
Like one from whom people hide their faces 
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:1-3

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 53-55; 2 Thessalonians 1

Oftentimes greatness doesn’t come in a nice and neat package, though we would like it too.

Knuckle-headed Tendencies

“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob,
   you who are called by the name of Israel
   and come from the line of Judah,
you who take oaths in the name of the LORD
   and invoke the God of Israel—
   but not in truth or righteousness—
you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city
   and claim to rely on the God of Israel—
   the LORD Almighty is his name:
I foretold the former things long ago,
   my mouth announced them and I made them known;
   then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
For I knew how stubborn you were;
   your neck muscles were iron,
   your forehead was bronze.
Therefore I told you these things long ago;
   before they happened I announced them to you
so that you could not say,
   ‘My images brought them about;
   my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’
You have heard these things; look at them all.
   Will you not admit them? - Isaiah 48: 1-6

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 47-49; 1 Thessalonians 4

Oh my… this is troubling.

So God will let you go through suffering so that you will recognize who is who and what is what?

The Champ is Here

The LORD will march out like a champion,
   like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;
with a shout he will raise the battle cry
   and will triumph over his enemies.- Isaiah 42:13

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 41-42; 1 Thessalonians 1

When I read passages like this one my mind starts to wander into fantastic territory. I imagine being stuck in a Lord of the Rings type of setting. I’m surrounded by all kinds of fiendish figures and here comes my very own savior to rescue me from the dangers of darkness.

A Letter to Hezekiah, The FOOL.

At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

   “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

   “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.” – Isaiah 39:1-8

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 39-40; Colossians 4

What up Hezekiah?

Man you’re a dummy, and a selfish dummy at that!

Keep It Moving

Listen and hear my voice;
   pay attention and hear what I say. 

When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
   Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
When he has leveled the surface,
   does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
   barley in its plot,
   and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him
   and teaches him the right way.

Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
   nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
   and cumin with a stick.
Grain must be ground to make bread;
   so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
   but one does not use horses to grind grain.
All this also comes from the LORD Almighty,
   whose plan is wonderful,
   whose wisdom is magnificent. Isaiah 28:23-29

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

I went to a networking mixer recently for a group that is working toward building a strong network for men of color in the entertainment industry. I got there pretty early so I had the opportunity to have some in depth conversations with the other early arrivals.

There were two conversations that really stuck with me.

What is "Right" and "Wrong"?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste – Isaiah 7:14-16

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2

So I was reading this passage and I just couldn’t get past it. It is so fascinating to me.

Us Christians believe that Jesus is the Immanuel that God is speaking of through Isaiah. So, of course as I got here to this passage I was like oh nice! Let me see what he has to say. Then I came to the 15th verse:

He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right – Isaiah 7:15

Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute!

Isaiah Goes Hard in the Paint!

When you come to appear before me,
   who has asked this of you,
   this trampling of my courts? 

Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
   Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
   I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
   I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
   I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
   I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
   I am not listening.

   Your hands are full of blood!

Wash and make yourselves clean.
   Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
   stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
   Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
   plead the case of the widow. – Isaiah 1:12-17

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 1-2; Galatians 5

Good gracious that’s some withering heat! I said yesterday that Paul went hard in the paint but this is a whole different level. This is like footage of Shaq when he was in high school terrorizing the minions in his path.

Utterly unfair.

But look at the message. Isaiah spends a bunch of verses lambasting Israel for their wrongs and you’re thinking… okay… but what did they do? Then you get to this part.

Wash and make yourselves clean.
   Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
   stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
   Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
   plead the case of the widow. – Isaiah 1:16-17

This is amazing to me. Through Isaiah’s revelation we see that God is the champion of the oppressed and downtrodden. God cares more about how we treat our fellow human beings than he does about the number of prayers we offer, the amount of times we repent, or how often and loudly we praise His name.

This rings true to me. I’ve always viewed Jesus’ great commandments as the cornerstone of my faith. We are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

And really this is a circular notion. Given that we are all created in God’s image how can we truly say that we love God when we are willing to stand idly by as our brothers and sisters are oppressed?

It doesn’t work that way.

The prophet books are good for this. Through the gift of their timeless connections to God we can see how we need to improve ourselves. We are no better or worse than Israel was when these words were written; but we do have the benefit of these words to learn from.

If this first chapter of Isaiah is any indication… we are in for a rough and tumble ride!




(P.S. this is the instrumental... I just couldn't bring myself to put the actual song up... that's going entirely too far. Listen along with the second Shaq clip below Enjoy!)

Shaq going hard in the paint like Isaiah in his rookie year. smh...