The Promise of Isaiah 60

Anytime you feel the Holy Spirit directing you to obscure passages, take special note.  When we ask God to calm our souls, to take control of situations that in our own strength will crush us under their weight, I know He takes those prayers seriously.  And so as I ponder everything about a new church start that wakes me up early (okay early is relative but earlier than usual for me) I read the words this morning of Isaiah 60.  I know this is a passage where God promises to restore Jerusalem, not literally just the city, but restoring the place where His presence will be felt among His people.  In essence, the place where His presence was not, now was becoming again a place where God was going to take up residence among the people.  This taking up residence was more than just Him hanging out with them.  The blessings of God's presence among these people was going to initiate the outpouring of other tangible blessings such as they had not seen since they were exiled.

Here is what God is going to bring to them.  (I believe God is saying this for us as we start a new faith community in Pendleton)  

1. I will bring you people.  (verse 4)  God is prompting people to gather together in the place where He will dwell among them.

2. I will bring you resources (verse 5)  God will give us what we need to accomplish the building of a community where His presence will be made real.

3. I will adorn my glorious temple (verse 7)  This isn't just a gathering of people; when we gather in His name for His purposes, He will be there among us.

4. In favor He will show compassion (verse 10)  This one we claim most, for it's God's mercy and His compassion that we want to extend, but it's also His mercy and His compassion on us that even allows us to consider, much less be successful, in an endeavor this huge.

5. Your gates will always stand open (verse 11)  The opportunities for ministry will be continual, and so we should be prepared as a community to always be prepared to live out the way of Jesus for those who need all that He has to offer.

6. We will radiate the light of Christ that is within us.  (verse 19)

7. All your people will be righteous (verse 21)  We are made righteous as Christ who holds Lordship over our hearts is given ever increasing Lordship over every area of our lives.  We become more and more like Him in our actions, not just in our desires.

8.  They are the shoot I have planted; the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor (verse 21)  This is God's thing.  Everything we do is to display His glory and His work in our lives.

9. The least of you will become a thousand...I am the Lord: in it's time I will do this swiftly.   (verse 22)  I'm not sure how to take this verse, so I'm going to let this one linger with me for a while. 

I know these are just some connections I made with this passage as it relates to what's going on in my own life.  But I also believe that God hears our prayers, and He knows what's been stirring in my soul this morning.  One of the things this verse has reminded me is that this is God's thing, and we're His partners.  I have to keep reminding myself of this everyday.  This is NOT MY THING!  God says all through the Scriptures that He will build His church.  My role is to be God's steward and to partner with Him, to be His hands and feet and mouth in the world where He prompts me.  You see all along I think I thought this was just going to be about starting a new church.  When in reality, God's working out a lot of stuff in me, and I think He's just asking us to invite a new community on the journey with us.