Oaks of Righteousness

From the Book of Isaiah:

The Year of the Lord's Favor

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.[c]
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
    foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
    they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
    and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    they shall have everlasting joy.

8 For I the Lord love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrong;[d]
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.

Since my freshman year of college, when I first got involved with the anti-human trafficking movement, I have seen this verse plastered. It would appear that every organization focused on this issue has made Isaiah 61:1-3 their theme verse. I'm not going to say that it's inappropriate. In fact, I think it's a fantastic verse. However, in all my having this passage repeated over and over again, somehow it felt like it had been ran into the ground. Taking simply the 1-3 I proclaimed that it was my calling to set captives free. I was the anointed voice of the Lord. But even then, as time has passed, I took it for granted. When I would hear the verse read, my mind immediately would switch to a blackout. I knew this verse. After all, I had heard it at every event for the past 5 years. Yes, I was familiar, but never before had I seen that the captive was me. 

In the recent I have had this passage directed at me, at me personally. Not just once, but on the multiple. Maybe it's time I start listening. Reflecting. Actually taking time to hear what the Lord is saying. 

So I have, and I've begun to realize I am the one needing set free. It is the promise to me that my broken heart will be bound up. I will be given liberty. I am the one that will have a seal of beauty placed upon me, and will be called an oak of righteousness.

It is only in finding my own freedom that I am able to draw others into freedom. And this verse says that. As I live in the freedom given, the Lord chooses to give even more that will pour out of me to splash onto others. 

However, Isaiah is not a book written in the time of Hope. Instead it is written in the darkest night. While Israel is in captivity. While Israel still walks in the darkness. The Chapters before talk about the sin of Israel and the darkness in which the people live. But at the very end of this Chapter the Lord talks about how he will cause the seeds he has planted to sprout up. Seeds of righteousness and praise. 

This season of post-graduation has been hard. I've been through transition...a lot of transition and most of the time am just left to wonder if this season is crazy, or if I'm going crazy. Feeling stress I don't always respond the way I should. I live my days just trying to hold on and wonder, where is the Lord. However, this verse speaks volumes, saying "the Lord will cause to sprout up what he has planted." As nature is coming into spring and a time of planting, so this is my season. And in Spring the rains pour. They are full of thunderstorms, and what more can be expected of my life. However, without the rain, where would be the flowers? Without my own storms, how can their be growth?

Rain pours down on Earth, 

causing life to sprout up that

proclaims hope and joy. 

ReLENT

40 day Lent Photo Challenge:

 

grace in giving up

This is a shorter post, which I must apologuze for as it indeed has been a while since I have posted, but I feel forgiveness will be given from anyone who lives in the modern ameican world and has struggled to keep their head on straight.
However a prominent thought has been sticking out to me through this lent season, one I feel deserves a little publicity. This idea that grace is for sinners. The woman caught in adultry, judas iscariot, the woman at the well, the man hanging at the side of Jesus on Golgotha. All undeniably guilty. All publicly recieving shame. The woman was caught in the act. She was dragged naked to be stoned. She knew. The world knew.
Judas, though given silver for his betrayal was so overrun by guilt that he returned the silver and hanged himself and even today is scorned as the betrayer. The woman at the well worked in the hottest hours of the day to avoid the scorn and rejection of her fellow towns people. She knew she was rejectable. And the man hanging next to jesus proclaimed, we deserve our deaths, yet he is innocent. Yet all recieved grace.
 The woman was given life. The sinless proclaimed I do not condemn you, go. He set her free from a life of shame.
Judas though would betray Jesus was chosen by Jesus. Jesus chose Judas (check out 24/7 prayer for more on this. They have a profound lent series).
The woman at the well was known fully. She proclaimed he told me all my sins and rejoiced for she was known, yet accepted. The theif saw Jesus in paradise.

All guilty.
All given grace.

And this grace was not just for Jesus current time, but stretched way before. I'm reading a series by Francine Rivers about the women in the line of Jesus. Though Rachel was the beloved wife of Jacob, it was Leah who was chosen to fall into lineage of the Jesus. Not only that, but several of the women in that line were not only canaanites or gentiles (women the Lord told his people not to mix with) but prostituted. Jesus chose the rejectable to be his people.

And that same grace reaches out today. I was chatting with my pastor the other day and she brought up the point that when we think of leading, especially in our modern age, we think of leading in our strengths. We think of displaying our best and that being the fruit of our leadership.  No one thinks of leading in our weakness. Noone wants to, because the means to be exposed.  That means our ugly side will show.
However only when our ugliness and shame is displayed can true grace be given Breath.

Thought of the day: amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.