Daily Reading // Isaiah 17:1-14
READY // SILENCIO
Take a moment to quiet your mind and prepare your heart for your time with the Lord.
READ // LECTIO
Read the passage above up to three times aloud. Allow yourself to feel the words as they are read.
REFLECT // MEDITATIO
Now direct your focus on the words, phrases concepts or sentences that got your attention. What is God speaking to you today through His word?
Isaiah 17:7 In that day a man will look to his Maker, And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
This chapter describes a pretty tough time. All the things that usually gets a person’s attention are failing - the city is crumbling; glory is waning; fatness is being lost; the harvest is gone; altars, idols and strong cities have come to nothing. When all the distractions and diversions are gone, then a man will look to his Maker.
Is that what it takes? Do the distractions of life, good and bad, keep me from looking to my Maker? A blessing, given by God, can become a distraction very easily. Everything we ’lose’ ... aren’t those all things we have been given? If a ‘blessing’ distracts me from God, is it really a blessing? If a ‘curse’ draws me to God, is it really a ‘curse’? Is anything in my life today distracting me from my Maker? Whatever it is, I will eliminate the distraction.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Maker, You have made heaven and earth, and You have made me. All that I am comes from You. My future is Yours to unfold. I turn my attention to You right now. That is the right place for my attention to be. I choose you over every distraction.
Tomorrow’s reading -> Isaiah 18:1-7
The very things God blesses us with we tend to let distract is from God, instead of being grateful and looking for others to bless too.
I was going to respond about an hour ago but I got distracted. Seriously. But I appreciate the perspective on blessings and cursings. Anything that draws me closer to Jesus is a blessing, even if it's painful.