Turns out even way back when things didn’t always go according to plan.
Isaiah 11: 1-2; 6-10 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Okay, call me weird but this scripture reminds me of Ghostbusters (the original one with Bill Murray) where Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray’s character) describes to the mayor of New York City what’s about to happen as part of the return of all the ghosts. Part of his diatribe includes the phrase: “Dogs and cats living together…..mass hysteria!” Now, I don’t think that the scripture is talking about mass hysteria, far from it, but the dogs and cats thing? It might hit the nail on the head pretty squarely.
See, the people of Israel were looking for a savior, but not just any savior. They were looking for someone to come in and put some major smiting (yeah, it’s a word I looked it up) on their oppressors. So, when the message is: “He’s coming!” they’re expecting a warrior. They’re expecting someone to lead them in a battle. They’re not expecting a child. But that’s what they are going to get.
So, Isaiah lays down all these things that the common person would not expect to happen (he doesn’t go so far as having dogs and cats living together because that’s just crazy) and he says they will happen and a child will lead us. And when he does lead us it will be in peace, not in battle. Today, we can learn a lot from this scripture whether we are fully followers or not.
We, just like the Israelites, have an idea, a vision in our heads about how things are going to go in our lives. We think we know the order, the chronology, the sequence of events and the people and things that will all string out to take us to where we want to be. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. What Isaiah said so long ago is still true. Things will work out as God has planned. The savior is coming and He will bring peace.
Ever have something come out of left field and surprise you when it works out in the end? What hasn’t unfolded like you thought it would?
If you know someone struggling with how things are going (or not going) and this might help them, please share it with them. The social icons are below.
Every week I send an email with links to that week’s posts to my subscribers. If you would like to receive that, just click here. Oh, and it’s free.
If you want to head back to the home page, click this.