Episode 23: Isaiah 32:17
Transcription
Isaiah 32 17
And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
Let’s pray together,
Father, bring us Your righteousness. We cannot be righteous on our own. You have told us that all have fallen short of Your glory. We have all sinned. I can certainly attest to that in my own life. I know my sins and failings are many. But your power is made perfect in our weakness. So, Jesus, come with your power, your righteousness, help us to accept your help. I do not want my pride to be the mainstay of my life. I want to submit to your rule, your truth.
This passage also talks about complacency and I know that I can so often relax into the mundane. When there is nothing urgent happening, I fall into the lie that everything is good, that I myself am good. But that isn’t true peace. I cannot make that on my own. I need your help. Because my pride would tell me either that I am too high or too little. I would be over-inflated or deflated entirely. I can judge everyone around me or I can be laid low by the smallest criticism. Father, help me to think of myself less and think of You more. Give us peace in this way.
Because it is only when Your Spirit comes and works in us that true redemption is possible. We need Your help to combat the wilderness we find ourselves in. A wilderness of our own making, forged by our own pride. We strive against each other and desire to be deemed right. But none of us are. So sweep that away by Your mighty but gentle correction, Holy Spirit. We surrender to Your will for our lives.
And help us to find that when we surrender and stop striving, there is actually the justice we had hoped for all along. When we follow Your designs and seek to understand Your will, the answer we had fought for is given to us. We can see the world renewed and help us to know whatever small part You want us to play. But let us act only when given that answer, not because of our own hidden desires and opinions.
We are insecure, Father. For all our blustering, we are weak and feeble and frail. We know it in our heart of hearts and it can be our greatest desire to hide that from all others. But we cannot hide it from You. You see all and know all and You love us anyway. I don’t want the opinion of other people or even the opinion of myself to rule my heart. I want to know what You think of me. I want to know the identity I have because of Christ’s sacrifice. This is true quietness and confidence. I can wake up every day knowing that who I am, is because of You. And who I want to be, is who You made me to be. It is everlasting and can be renewed, despite the constant beating my ego takes on a daily basis.
Jesus, when I doubt, send me Your faith. When I am afraid, send me Your hope. When I am angry, send Your peace. As Your people, we come to You today and we ask that You dress us in Your righteousness, washing us clean by Your blood. Let us present ourselves to the world today as Your chosen people, living quietly in Your will, speaking Your words of life and peace, confident in our knowledge of ourselves, a humble example of living free from ego and pride. This is only accomplished today through our union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are grateful today to You for Yourself. I pray for all those who hear my voice, that they feel Your quiet, confident peace, and that no matter what they face today, they never cease to hear Your voice and seek Your will.
We pray this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.
