Daily Scripture Passage: Isaiah 11:1-10

Isaiah 11:1-10 (ESV)

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
    and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
    and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
    and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Thoughts to Ponder from Matthew 3:1-12

Matthew 3:1-12 (ESV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
    make his paths straight.’”

⁴ Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

“Repent!” (Matthew 3:2).

John the Baptist was Israel’s biggest hit since Elijah, the prophet who called down fire from heaven in centuries earlier. What drew crowds to this finger-pointing hermit dressed in animal skins? Believe it or not, it was his call for repentance.

When John told his listeners to turn away from sin, he also offered them promises of restoration. God wanted to do more than just pardon their offenses. He wanted to open the floodgates of heaven and shower them with his love, bringing them into a new level of healing, reconciliation, and peace.

Advent is meant to be a time when we too can hear John’s words and prepare our own hearts for Jesus. Each and every day, Jesus invites us to draw near to him so that we can develop an intimate friendship with him and share even more deeply in his holiness. What can hinder this intimacy? Sin, fear, indifference to God, lack of compassion for others – these are some of the bigger obstacles. And this is why John’s call to repentance is so important.

God wants to free us from everything that holds us back from surrendering to his love and his will. And he wants to do it through the gift of repentance. He wants to lead us out of guilt, alienation, and shame, into joy and freedom. He is always standing ready to wash us clean and anoint us with his Spirit. He is always ready to refresh us with his mercy and power and to make us pure and spotless, ready to see Jesus when comes again in glory. Every time we turn to him and repent, he comes to lift us up to heaven and give us another glimpse of his kingdom – a vision that fills us with hope and joy.

This Advent, take some time to examine your life in the light of God’s truth and love. Then embrace all the grace and power God has for you in repentance.

Father, you mercy is without end. I praise you for sending your Son to redeem me and set me free. Amen.

From C.S. Lewis

When we are praying about the result, say, of a battle or a medical consultation the thought will often cross our minds that (if only we knew it) the event is already decided one way or the other. I believe this to be no good reason for ceasing our prayers. The event certainly has been decided—in a sense it was decided ‘before all worlds’. But one of the things taken into account in deciding it, and therefore one of the things that really cause it to happen, may be this very prayer that we are now offering. Thus, shocking as it may sound, I conclude that we can at noon become part causes of an event occurring at ten a.m. (Some scientists would find this easier than popular thought does.) The imagination will, no doubt, try to play all sorts of tricks on us at this point. It will ask, ‘Then if I stop praying can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes has been the fact that you are asking such questions instead of praying. It will ask, ‘Then if I begin to pray can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes is your present prayer. Thus something does really depend on my choice. My free act contributes to the cosmic shape. That contribution is made in eternity or ‘before all worlds’; but my consciousness of contributing reaches me at a particular point in the time-series.

From Miracles
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis