Devotion by: Greta RymalIsaiah 11:1-10
11A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2The 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.
3His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord,
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6The 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.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9They 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.
10On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.
There are so many messages in that passage that we can draw, so I hope you read the whole passage from your Bible. A part of our Baptismal liturgy is derived from verse 2 in which Isaiah tells us “the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him (the Messiah).” But what struck me the most this time in reading the passage are the images of justice (verses 3-4).“He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness…”
I am prone to making snap judgments about people, about facts, and many other things. During the recent election campaign period we were bombarded with sound bites seeking to influence our judgment through our eyes and our ears. How comforting this passage is for me to know that the Messiah will judge by righteousness (v. 4) and faithfulness (v 5). No wonder we are excited about his coming!
Prayer: Lord, let me open my heart and mind to your always present Holy Spirit and let my judgments be led more by your will than by what my eyes think they see or my ears think they hear. Amen.
1 comment:
Actually, this Old Testament scripture provides me little comfort. Freely admitting my human weaknesses, I know that I have no chance of salvation if judged solely by my actions, and more importantly, my inactions. After reading this scripture, it is the New Testament message of Christ's coming at Christmas, his death and resurrection during Holy Week and Easter, and his judgment of us solely by Grace that comforts me.
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