Many Christians use the 40 days in the lead up to Easter as an opportunity for prayer, fasting and reflection in order to grow their love for the Gospel. The season is known as Lent. I belong to a less liturgical strand of Christianity so I don’t tend to follow church calendars. There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to observe Lent, Advent or any other such dates and seasons in the church calendar. However, marking time to pause and reflect can be helpful.
So, I’m planning to provide 40 reflections or meditations working through the book of Isaiah. These could be followed through during Lent or at any time of your choosing. Today we begin with the introductory words:
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah
The book details the vision, or perhaps a series of visions that God gave to Isaiah a priest serving in the Temple, 700 years before Jesus came. God showed him what he was going to do. This included the coming judgment and destruction of Israel and Judah but Isaiah also got to see future, better days, a return to the land from exile and better still a future, righteous king who would reign on David’s throne. In fact, Isaiah even gets to see further still and catch a glimpse of a coming new creation where sin and suffering are banished for ever.
What is it that you would like to see? If God were to show you one thing then what is it that you need most of all. There may be specific things that you want him to show you in the coming weeks and there may also be things that he specifically has to say to you.
I am reminded of the inscription on the lectern in Oak Hill College chapel which quotes the Greeks who came to the Passover and said to Phillip
“Sir we would see Jesus”
Our greatest need is to see Jesus, to have a fresh vision of who he is, his beauty, his glory, his majesty, his faithfulness, his love:
In the morning when I rise
In the morning when I rise
In the morning when I rise
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
Oh give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Oh give me Jesus
When I am alone
Oh, when I am alone
And when I am alone
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus, ’cause it’s all I need, give me Jesus
Faithroots 