Trusting God in Hard Times - Reading the O.T. in a way that lets it speak truly into our lives: Is. 55

Trusting God in Hard Times

Reading the O.T. in a way that lets it truly speak into our own lives

1. Read it in the historical context
   and see how it fits the Big Story of the Bible
2. Pay attention to N.T. quotations from it
3. Hear what the Spirit is saying to you.

Isaiah 53

3. He was despised and rejected by men;
     a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
   and as one from whom men hide their faces
     he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
     yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5. But he was wounded for our transgressions;
         he was crushed for our iniquities;
   upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
         and with his stripes we are healed.
6. All we like sheep have gone astray;
         we have turned every one to his own way;
   • and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 54

4. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed!
         Do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated!
   For you will forget about the shame of your youth;
         you will no longer remember the disgrace of abandonment.
5. For your husband is the one who made you —
         the LORD who commands armies is his name.
   He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel.
         “The God of the entire earth”, he is called
6. “Indeed, the LORD will call you back
         like a wife, abandoned and in depression,
   like a young wife when she has been rejected,”
         says your God.
7. “For a short time I abandoned you,
         but with great compassion I will gather you.
   …
10. “Though the mountains be shaken
          and the hills be removed,
    yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
          nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the LORD, the one who has compassion on you.
11. “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
          I will build you with stones of turquoise,
    your foundations with sapphires.”

John 7

37. On the last day of the feast, the great day,
    Jesus stood up and cried out,
    “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
    ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

The Call: Isaiah 55

1. Come, all you who are thirsty,
         come to the waters;
   and you who have no money,
         come, buy and eat.
   Yes, come, buy without money
         and without price, wine and milk.
2. Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
   and your wages for what does not satisfy?
   Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
         and let your soul delight itself in abundance.
3. Incline your ear, and come to me.
         Hear, and your soul shall live;
   and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
         the faithful love promised to David.
4. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people,
         a leader and commander for the people.
5. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know,
         and nations who do not know you shall run to you,
   because of the LORD your God,
         and the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.
6. Seek the LORD while he may be found,
         call upon him while he is near.
7. Let the wicked forsake his way,
         and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
   let him return to the LORD,
         and he will have mercy on him;
   and to our God,
         for he will abundantly pardon.

Isaiah 55 cont’d

8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
         so are my ways higher than your ways,
         and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10. For as the rain comes down,
          and the snow from heaven,
          and does not return there,
                but waters the earth,
                and make it bring forth,
                      and make it sprout
                      so that it may give
                            seed to the sower
                            and bread to the eater,
11. So shall my word be that goes forth
    from my mouth;
          it shall not return to me void,
    but it shall accomplish what I please,
          and it shall prosper in the thing
          for which I sent it.
13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
          and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
    and it shall be to the LORD for a name,
          for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.