As I was reading through Isaiah 50-53 these verses spoke to me:
"It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment." (Isaiah 50:9-11)Everyone has a time in their life when it feels like you're stumbling through life in the dark. It is one of those adventures in life where you are trying to find your way and can't see where to go. Life is hard, figuring out who you are, what you want out of life, what's important to you, and figuring out what you truly believe. This verse gives me an inspiration: don't try to find your way by yourself with light in darkness, it will only hurt you in the end. Instead, trust and rely on God to show you the way through life. He will then be the light and light up the darkness.
i totally agree with you tiffany. i believe that sometimes we rely on other things to explain the craziness in our lives when we should really be turning towards god. but the thing is it's incredibly hard to do. in the early chapters of isaiah it's obvious that the jews made their own "torch" instead of following God and what good did it do them. we definitely need to start trusting God and forgetting about these worldly things
ReplyDeleteYeah, I love the picture it paints in my mind. I imagine it like me wandering around in a dark cave with a little candle and I'm tripping everywhere, but then God comes and the whole cave is illuminated. We could compare this passage to Dorothy Day and Shane Claiborne too. Day led a life of financial struggle, uncertain about where she would sleep or get her next meal, but when she trusted in the Lord, all that was taken care of through community. Same scenario for Claiborne, except when he was young he thought he was trusting in God because he was a Christian and evangelizing and all that stuff, but when he gave up all that, he saw that God would light the way.
ReplyDeleteyou are 100% correct. this was the most inspiring verse i have ever read in Isaiah. it completely reflects every aspect of the christian faith. it promotes life wellness and provides a glimmer of hope in a land of perpetual darkness. the mention of darkness and light connect to King's perspective of not combining the forces between the white race and the african american race, but finding the light at the end of the dark tunnel of repression.
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