ISSL Reflections June 19 2022 Isaiah 49:18–23 Post 1

I.
Notice how this week’s Scripture focus begins and ends …

“Lift up your eyes all around and see …

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who wait for me

shall not be put to shame.”

The prophet asks of us to open our eyes, take in all we see, acknowledge what we see and pay attention to where such vision leads us.

The prophet claims it leads to the acknowledgement of “the Lord” and recognition of at least some of The Lord’s blessings.

As you listen to the prophet, notice what he thinks the people will see.

II.
Isaiah 49:18-23 (New Revised Standard Version)

Lift up your eyes all around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says the Lord,
you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
and like a bride you shall bind them on.

Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

The children born in the time of your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing:
“The place is too crowded for me;
make room for me to settle.”

Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away—
so who has reared these?
I was left all alone—
where then have these come from?”

Thus says the Lord God:
I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

III.
Who do the people see coming to them?

Where do you think they are coming from?

What evidences of God’s care and grace is the prophet asking the people to notice?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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