Daily Reading // Isaiah 63:1-6
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 63:4 (NKJV) For the day of vengeance [is] in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come.
There are two very different results referenced here: Vengeance and Redemption.
Vengeance is for those who have wronged another and have gotten away with it for a while. They may even think they are free and clear. They are probably living with an advantage of some kind that isn’t really theirs. They took it from someone else.
God says in both the old and new testaments, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” When anyone other than the Lord seeks vengeance or enacts vengeance it is out of place. It is vigilantism. Only God can rightly avenge.
Redemption is for those who have come to the end of themselves and have sought help from someone else. It has to be someone with resources sufficient for their need and also compassion to help. A person who has sold themself into slavery can only be set free through redemption.
Vengeance is for those who have taken their welfare into their own hands. Redemption is for those who have placed it in the hands of another.
Jesus came so that instead of vengeance from God, I can receive His redemption. We have all done things deserving of His vengeance. We can choose His vengeance or His redemption. It’s one or the other.
I choose His redemption over His vengeance.
RESPOND // ORATIO
Pray in response to what the Lord has spoken to you.
Jesus, You turned vengeance into redemption; wrath into grace; penalty into reward. Renew in me today the wonder of Your salvation. Amen.
Tomorrow’s reading -> Isaiah 63:7-19