Lent 2017 - Isaiah 1:3

Lent.  My favorite season of the church calendar. Permission, encouragement even, to let go of good things in order to pursue the best thing.

Writing is a vital part of my relationship with God (a part I frequently neglect) so my Lenten discipline this year is to write for 5 minutes reflecting on something I read in the She Reads Truth devotion for the day.  This year they are spending Lent in the book of Isaiah - MY FAVORITE BOOK! - which only increases my excitement.

5 minutes of writing a day.  I can do this.

Day 1
"But Israel does not know, my people do not understand" Isaiah 1:3

I am Israel.  I do not know nor do I understand.  This is because I'm trying to apply my own knowledge and to understand out of my own capabilities.

So often the answer is rest and receive.  When I'm focusing on gathering knowledge and trying to work out understanding like God is a logic puzzle to solve, there is no space to receive.  It's all me - and little of God.

Maybe that's what this 5 minute exercise is for - 5 minutes to rest and receive.  To actively listen and thereby begin to know and understand.  To be like Mary for 5 minutes and sit at the feet of Jesus. (I can spare 5 minutes, right?) Because I'm me, I sit at his feet and take notes.  I think that's ok since I write to add another R - Remember.

I want to know. I want to understand.  Is it possible that the way to knowing and understanding is to rest, receive, and remember?

Who will I lean on?

It’s easy for me to condemn the pride of the King of Assyria expressed in chapter 10 verse 13:

"By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, for I have understanding.”

How arrogant!  But really, am I guilty of the same? How often do I pat myself of the back for how well I handled something?  Am I wise in my own eyes? Do I rely on my own understanding, even being unwilling to step out in faith where God has prompted because I don’t see or understand how it’s all going to work out?  Am I clinging to my own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord?

 

“In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.”

Isaiah 10:20 ESV

When we were trying to teach my daughter to swim, she was calm on the steps and calm when holding precariously onto the side.  If her Daddy walked with her into the deeper water she cried and wrapped both arms and legs around him.  He'd peel her off so he could teach her to kick, and she was terrified.  She was so sure she was safer alone on the steps or clinging by her little fingers to the side than in the strong arms of her daddy.  She wanted to feel in control even though letting go and trusting her daddy was a much safer place to be.

I want to trust in what I understand too.  I'm uncomfortable letting go of the precarious hold I have and relying on something I can't see.  I'd rather depend on my own strength, my own wisdom, my own understanding that have to let go of control and understanding and trust God to provide.  Maybe verse 20 will become a prayer, that I will no more lean on (myself, my husband, the latest book, my job, well-meaning advice), but I will lean on the Lord, the Holy One, in truth.