Isaiah Highlights

I finished Isaiah this morning, and here are my highlights:

7:4 - "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." God makes it pretty clear all throughout the Bible that he doesn't like wishy-washy faith. You're either in or out. This verse convicted me - am I standing firm?

16:5 - "In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of the righteous." Of all the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah, this one was new to me. And I love the description of Jesus seeking justice and speeding the cause of the righteous.

17:7-8 - "In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands." God is incomparable. Nothing in this world deserves our attention over him.

25:1 - "O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago." This one gave me perspective. When we're going through hard times, we can hold on to the fact that God plans marvelous things well in advance.

25:8 - "The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth." Not much to say about this one - I just look forward to that day.

29:13 - "These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." This reminded me of DC Talk: "The greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

29:16 - "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it. 'He did not make me'? Can the pot say of the potter, 'He knows nothing'?" Above this world of women who feel they don't look good enough, and  who constantly compare themselves to others in all kinds of ways, there is a Creator who shaped you just the way he wanted you.

OK. This is getting long and I'm not even halfway through Isaiah. I'll stop there and continue tomorrow.