Isaiah still is teaching me one year later...

Last night as I was going to sleep I was thinking about the book of Isaiah. How this is a book that is full of the truth of WHO God is and his character and love toward us! It was a year ago at this time that I was studying this book in my SBS in Taiwan. I thought that maybe it would be good to go back and read my final application again and use it to take a good look at my life today to see how I have grown and to see how I am still in need of growth.

The timeless truth that I focused on for my final application was::

It is not always easy to trust in the unknown (7.2)

and it came from Isaiah 7.2 – When the house of David was told,"Syria is in league with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind (ESV)

the context of this scripture is that Ahaz – the king of Judah – is terrified when he hears the news that the Northern Kingdom (of Israel) has joined forces with Syria to come and invade Jerusalem. Ahaz naturally is freaking out and is terrified at what will happen to him and his kingdom. He realises that these two kingdoms are much stronger than his own, and Judah doesn’t stand a chance against them. Thankfully we have a God who sees all that is taking place and sends Isaiah to bring a word of comfort and hope to Ahaz.

A year ago while studying through Isaiah I could totally relate to Ahaz in this moment. He is clearly looking at his circumstances instead of the Lord and putting his faith and hope in what he sees right before him. Romans 8 tells us that when we hope for what we see that is not hope, but to hope for what we do not see then we can wait for it with patience. Trust and hope go hand in hand, we can't have one with out the other. We need to trust that God's word is true and put our hope in him, not what we see before us. 2 Corinthians 4.18 “...look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (ESV).

The Lord was faithful to the word he spoke to Ahaz and shortly after this prophecy (Isaiah 7.7-9) was spoken to him Syria was no more.

Another thing that I realised through my study of Isaiah is that the more that I know the Lord the easier it is for me to put my hope & trust him. I am not saying that my faith is always strong and that I never lose hope when I look at my circumstances but I know that I can fall back on the character of God remembering that he IS good always and that He always works all things for the good of those who are called according to his purposes (Rom 8.28).

I am thankful that God doesn’t just leave us where we are but continues to remind us of this truth as he refines our character to be more like his.

And again the Lord is always good to his children, today I went to get my hair cut and ended up waiting for quite some time at the salon. I then found out that the stylist didn’t show up – apparently she doesn’t work on Mondays. The receptionist was so kind and made many phone calls to try and find a replacement to avail. After talking to the owner, she told me that they wanted to invite me back to have my hair cut on the salon as a way to make up for the mix up with their scheduling. This was so great because I had originally wanted to see another stylist but was unable to and now this way I am able to see the girl that I originally wanted to and for free. God is good!!