For to us a child is born

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Could this be any more dramatic? I love how Father God is so committed to speaking through relationships, his word to Isaiah was to take the form of a son. But his unusual name, “Quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil,” probably got him noticed in school, especially because major powers would start shifting before the boy grew up.

And yet for people looking to God for hope, they would find it in another child. While stuff came and went, walls rose and fell and even majestic cedar trees could not be a source of pride for human landscapers, the family line God was building through David would last forever and yield salvation.

It’s worth looking again to see what God was so angry about. Weren’t people trying to spend time with God with worship and sacrifices? Yes, but while they brought their stuff, their hearts were not turning from selfishness to love. God condemned this people’s unjust laws, oppression and deprivation of the poor, accumulating riches at their expense.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God’s plan to use Assyria, a greedy and proud nation, to disrupt everyone’s security was remarkable, especially as God made it clear through Isaiah that he would also judge that nation. In the absence of a good, God-fearing king, God worked through a bad one.

I think this shows that God can work and, ultimately, be recognised even through the worst situations. God knew that after destruction on all sides of a virtually apocalyptic conflict, people would remain who “will truly rely on the Lord”.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

This is thankfully a lot more dramatic than my life. But it does remind me of times when I have felt the greatest urgency to turn to God and remind myself that I need to rely on him. These times have often been when I have feared losing something – stuff, security, status, reputation or other things which I later realised gave me more comfort than they should. How much does it keep taking for God to grab my attention?

I’d like to say that this will never happen again, but I noticed that some worries this week made me aware of a continuing reliance on things other than relationship with God for my sense of value, purpose and security. Maybe that’s OK up to a point. But I’m reminded by this passage that so much is temporary, and only what God builds relationally is forever.

Who am I going to share this with?

My family. God builds family lines and joins people in marriage, so it makes sense that we should recognise and look to him together.