Text: Isaiah 15:1-9, Isaiah 16:1-14, Isaiah 17:1-14, Psalm 68:19, Luke 21:25-28
Early on in the arduous adoption journey of my daughter Missy (who’s HIV-positive) from Haiti, I met with another adoptive mom who’d already brought her HIV-positive child home from a different Third World country. While swapping “war stories” of adoption heartbreak over coffee, she told me she sometimes finds herself wishing she had HIV, too. I assumed she meant she’d be more than willing to suffer with the virus if that meant her baby wouldn’t have to—kind of a quid pro quo penitential parenting kind of thing. Or maybe she was just being overly emotional and hyperbolic, as mamas often are when it comes to our children.
Several years later, I stood sobbing in the customs line at Miami International Airport, overwhelmed by the glorious reality that Missy was finally (officially!) my daughter. It had been two long, roller-coaster years of slogging through seemingly endless paperwork in the maddeningly slow Haitian welfare system. For twenty-four months, I’d worried about her physical and emotional health from two thousand miles away.
Just a few days after bringing her home, we found ourselves at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. I held Missy in my arms as she screamed in terror, contorting her tiny body throughout the first of what will likely be a lifetime of blood draws. That’s when I really understood what my friend meant.
I sat on the edge of the pleather chair in the phlebotomist’s office, rocking my precious, panicky daughter, whispering in her ear, “It’s going to be okay, baby. This is going to sting for a second, but it’ll be over quickly. I’m so sorry, honey. Mwen se konsa regrèt.” But I wasn’t able to quiet her terrified shrieks or calm her violent twisting because she’d been traumatized by some barbaric medical procedures as a toddler being treated in Port Au Prince. And though she called me her Mama Blan (white mama), she didn’t completely trust me yet.
That’s when I thought, Now, I get it. Now I understand what my friend meant when she said she wished she had HIV like her child. Because in these moments I’d do just about anything to be able to connect with Missy on every level, to comfort her from a place of true empathy.
I’d gladly suffer anything to ensure my little girl would never feel alone, no matter what the situation.
Missy may have been conceived in my heart instead of my womb, but let me tell you something: Every. Single. Thing. that concerns her concerns me. I am wildly passionate about her welfare. And God the Father is infinitely more concerned about His children—even the rebellious ones who rebuff His mercy like the Moabites did. Because while the chapters we’ve been reading in Isaiah clearly depict God’s coming judgment of the wicked, they also clearly depict His mourning over their unrepentant future:
My heart cries out over Moab.
– Isaiah 15:5
In his profound commentary on Isaiah, Alec Motyer writes that God “weeps as he smites.” Our Creator Redeemer is not one of those dads who disciplines first and thinks later. He is a perfect parent, and His harshest correction and discipline are always, always braided with compassion.
This makes me feel especially safe and secure as His child, but it also challenges me to sow increasingly more love and kindness into the biblical truisms I seek to show and tell. By the grace of God, may we all be the type of people who weep rather than celebrate when our Heavenly Father disciplines another image-bearer. May our soft sides be far more frayed with use than our hard sides. And may we not have to wait for our self-made altars to crumble before we look to our loving, compassionate, merciful Maker (Isaiah 17:7).
Lisa Harper is a master storyteller with a masters of Theological Studies from Covenant Seminary. She’s lauded as an engaging, hilarious communicator as well as an authentic and substantive Bible teacher. She’s been in vocational ministry for 30 years and has written 15 books and Bible study curriculums but says her greatest accomplishment by far is that of becoming Missy’s (her adopted daughter from Haiti) mama! They live on a hilly farmette south of Nashville, Tennessee, where they enjoy eating copious amounts of chips, queso, and guacamole.
“May our soft sides be far more frayed with use than our hard sides. And may we not have to wait for our self-made altars to crumble before we look to our loving, compassionate, merciful Maker” (Isaiah 17:7). This was just beautiful and let it be so, Lord.. let it be so in me.
Amen, Diane! I agree, so beautiful and yes, let it be so. I’m glad someone else found this just as wonderful as I did.
I usually always turned to things I believed made me safe such as isolating, people, medicating, hiding, sleep, not speaking, and putting up walls. All these things I thought would help keep me safe and from being hurt but in the end it still hurts me and makes me unsafe. Yes people can be a safe place but they won’t always be there but God is there 24/7 when ever we need him! God is the only person I can truly be safe with. He is like a blanket ready to shield, cover, and assure me that I am safe. Part of Isaiah 17:10 says, “You have not remembered that God is your place of safety.” We need to remind ourselves daily that God is our safe place.
This was so helpful for me Emma. I struggle to be alone. But we are never alone. God is with us and he is our safety and comfort
Thank you Emma for this reminder.
IS 16. Vs 3-5. I cannot help but think of today’s world. So many refugees. What are we, the church, doing? Are we taking a stand against the injustice? Or just turning our backs. I pray for the courage to speak out, To hide the refugees (the undocumented) and not betray the one who flees.
I love this. Perfect for today. God’s timing is the best! Thank you for sharing these powerful and life-giving words.
When life seems void of God’s direction, & a desert season has dragged on for far too long? This is all a hard thing to remember. But, He loves us anyway. He is still good, and still weeps with us, and still wants us to be with Him.
Agreed Sara. Looking back on His faithfulness to us and to Israel reminds us He is good, loving, faithful, perfect. Praying for clarity and direction and breakthrough for you.
Man. This was hard to read today, and I needed it so much. I so often think of God as a nerdy seventh grader asking the prom queen out on a date, asking “Please will you do this for me? Please will you follow me? Please will you love me?” How wrong I am. I’m lower than a 7th grader here, and God would be the most the prom queen. It sounds so ridiculous, but how clearly it shows my heart. Thanks for sharing this heartbreaker today to unveil my eyes and heart!
I am convicted. I have become much too comfortable with my sins and the sins of others, lulled by my comprehension of a loving God, and forgetting that in His love, He is also Holy, just and righteous. And because he perfectly balances these traits, His perfect love will not let my sin go unaccounted for. Yes, I have complete forgiveness on the cross, but I also need complete repentance over my sin in the here and now. Lord, I pray that I would be broken over my sin as you are broken over my sin, so that I would not only confess my sin, but renounce my sin and find your mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
I am in the same place as you are, Father God forgive me and help me break the chains and shackles I keep clinging to. Guard my lips from gossip, help me for I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:19-20 NIV
http://bible.com/111/rom.7.19-20.NIV
Amen to every word of this!!
Yes! Amen!
I am really struggling to get something out of these Isaiah chapters. Some of my favorite verses come from this book. But I am struggling with all the history and names and not retaining much of it. I understand the big picture, but I am forcing myself not to just skip over the Isaiah chapters to get to the New Testament passages. Any advice?
I am definitely in this boat as well, Allee!
I’m absolutely in the same place!! I’m wanting so much to get more out of this than I am. Praying God will help me with understanding!! Would love any advise also!
I will pray for the same thing.
I’ve thought about reading the devotion first to try and focus more on what the author is trying to pull out of the passage. I agree–it sometimes is hard, but if you get a ‘hint’ ahead of time as to what to look for, that might help.
In hard passages, I also try to look for snippets of God’s character and faithfulness. I’m in Leviticus as well with the Read Thru the Bible in a Year plan, and, in all the description of the sacrifices, what has stuck out to me is God’s attention to detail. I may not understand why, but I know He doesn’t change and will also be as attentive to the seemingly unimportant details of my life.
I agree. I’ve started reading the writer’s piece first, then reading the scripture, then going back and rereading the devotion. You’re right, it does help give a “hint” and guide when the scripture is going.
I gave up obsessing over the history and the names etc… too overwhelming. I just highlight the verses that jump out at me. I try to apply to my own heart, my own life. I found it was way too distracting to understand all the other drama
This is usually what I try to do as well.
I was struggling too and then started listening on audio. I listen on bibletools.com in the New Living Translation. Then I read it in my bible, which is a more traditional translation. Listening to it really helps me feel more familiar with it and I hear things that I don’t always see on the paper. Reading it these two ways is helping me to feel that I am beginning to know and appreciate book of Isaiah. I too have always loved certain verses, but I’m coming to see the whole book as a story of God calling us to repentance and offering us comfort even in the destruction.
I really love this study and this fun connection, Ani!
Did you mean biblestudytools.com?
Allen and all… ; ). I agree, but I have found a way! I would love to be able to read Isaiah and understand it all… but I don’t! In order to truly understand, even on the first of many levels, we need and understanding of the historical context. We must be careful when doing what I am about to suggest, but choose to see it as a way to dig into scripture. “Searching for truth and wisdom as for gold and silver.” Take a given passage and Google along with the word commentary, then be careful of the site you choose; ). A bible believer can ask God for discernment from the Holy Spirit to guide them in choosing a commentary of truth! When I read commentary, it opens up the history and the story so that I can u dears tank more layers of meaning! Then I go back and read the scripture again! … kind of like “rereading” Shakespeare when you already know the story… So much easier! Blessings to you! Let us dig into God’s truth and our hearts will be blessed!
Oh my word. “U dears tank?” … I was autocorrected! The word was “understand!”
Sigh… “Allee and all”. Not Allen. Gee wiz.
It’s okay! I know that’s what my name autocorrects to. It’s my parents’ fault ;)
I am just baffled while trying to read Isaiah. I even thought about quitting this study and find something else but I won’t. Reading the comments have been a big help to me. Thank-you everyone posts their thoughts on the Bible readings. It is a big help to me.