Latest / The Call to Women in Faith Podcast / God's Wrath and Tender Mercies: Isaiah's Call to Reform

Transcript

God's Wrath and Tender Mercies: Isaiah's Call to Reform · The Call to Women in Faith Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello there. I want to make a case for our God today. Sometimes he is viewed as
• 0:07
  a strict disciplinarian, one that does not budge from his seat of judgment,
• 0:12
  especially in the Old Testament. I've heard people describe the book of Isaiah
• 0:18
  in the following words. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah focus on God's
• 0:24
  judgment upon Israel and the surrounding nations, while the final 27
• 0:30
  chapters transition to a message of comfort, hope, salvation, often
• 0:36
  highlighting the coming Messiah and the future restoration of God's people. If we
• 0:44
  slow down to analyze how God's wrath works in the Old Testament, we will
• 0:49
  notice that his anger is always against evil, dross, alloy, against impurity.
• 0:58
  I will rid myself of my adversaries and take vengeance on my enemies. I will turn
• 1:05
  my hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your
• 1:11
  alloy. I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the
• 1:17
  beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
• 1:23
  city." End quote. Isaiah chapter 1 verses 24, 25, and 26. While this sounds ominous, I
• 1:33
  often stop to wonder why he does not just wipe us out with all our propensity
• 1:39
  to veer away from goodness and run towards evil. He could have easily burned
• 1:44
  Judah to smithereens and built a new Judah 2.0 with the just and the trusted
• 1:50
  few. But that is how I would fix the issue, not how our loving, kind God
• 1:57
  abounding in tender mercies would. His expectations for us are simple. If the
• 2:04
  commandments do not spell it out clearly, here is a translation in Isaiah's words.
• 2:11
  Quote, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the
• 2:18
  fatherless, plead for the widow. End quote. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 17. He wants us to
• 2:28
  win. He is our biggest cheerleader in this race of life. He set us up for
• 2:34
  success by dying on the cross. I think all we have to do now is bask in his love
• 2:40
  and protection, knowing that the finish line is going to be beautiful. Quote,
• 2:46
  therefore we also, since we are surrounded by a great a cloud of
• 2:52
  witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us
• 2:59
  and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus
• 3:05
  the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
• 3:10
  before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right
• 3:16
  hand of the throne of God. End quote. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Dear
• 3:25
  God, sorry for all the times that I stray away from your goodness and embrace evil
• 3:31
  ways. Thank you for steering me back to your safety, safety of your loving embrace.
• 3:37
  Please guide me to hang on to you while I learn to be good. Amen.