The Why & the Who

Verses 50: 4-5 of Isaiah are "the why" that I read each morning; 6-7 are about "the who" that touched my heart in 1973! One fortunate sinner right here!

"The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away."

"I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

Isaiah 50:4‭-‬7 NIV

Isaiah is a favorite of mine and an affirmation of my growing awareness of the mystery of scripture, how it leaks out the reality of Jesus before his time, as well as capturing man's broken image of a wrathful God, the residual of an ancient idolatry that required even child sacrifice.

That image so contrasts with the nature of the Christ and the Father that even those who studied the prophets, the most religious, without truly knowing God, missed the concept of a suffering savior in their search for a conquering King!

We have repeatedly transferred our brokenness to God and it seems, the evangelical church is doing it again in our day.