Friend Isaiah

Friend Isaiah Reads like a fifth Gospel Offered by Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2020

Comforts, Jerusalem (Isaiah 40) Posted on ​June 9, 2020

This message is tender This promise is true You suffered the dark times When nobody knew The end of the chastening The end of my rod But now I correct all

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Your all-powerful God. The nations a pittance Their idols a sham About to discover The strengths of I Am. My hands cup the oceans My lips name each star My lightnings relentless Wherever they are.

And yes you have murmured As if I cared not For folks I have chosen And children “forgot”.

But watch, I’m a-rising The Shepherd’s strange wrath The same One who ordered The lambs a safe path.

And you are restored now Your trust holds new power.

A recompense witnessed

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To brutes who devour.

See, all of your waiting Bears mighty yield here.

You soar some You run some You walk Children dear.

A strength is renewed, yes My Covenant kin And double the blessing For all your past sin.

Note: There is tremendous comfort in this Bible chapter. Much that relates to our present situation. It would be a helpful exercise for you to search out other ​“calming chapters”. ​ Sections like Psalm 34 and 84, Isaiah 54 and 61, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 34 and 37, Zephaniah 2 and 3, Matthew 5 and 13, Luke 15, John 14, Philippians 4, Revelation 5 and many others.

Isaiah 64 Posted on ​December 16, 2019

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I am looking for the one

A yielded one, you see

Who stirs himself up night and day

To take a hold of me.

The Temple now in disrepair

The City marred with sin.

And none who flee iniquity.

The mud they wallow in.

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And so I’ve hid my face a while

That some might mourn and cry

“Where gone our God

We feel His rod

We search a brazen sky.”

I do not bring Grace cheaply

I break before I bless.

Right now I seek

A Watchman meek

Travailing o’er this mess.

And when I hear his yearnings

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A grieving climate comes

To cause to weep

Declension deep

Throughout the streets and homes.

And this will be the purging

And this will be the spark

I will come down

And sweep this Town

And brighten what was dark.

Prevailing Word

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At the edge of nodding off Read my Bible blessed Your Word Forty first Isaiah heard And your hold on ages long Takes a Worm And makes him strong Grants him power having teeth All oppressors put beneath.

You will make the ages heed (Seems quite small my present need) All lines up as You have planned Blessed streams at your command Parched and dry now burst with life Comes a hero ending strife Comes a rescuer foretold His the victory his the gold His the hope from ages past Rich redemption firm and fast.

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​https://momentsmidstream.blogspot.com/2013/02/wings-of-hen.html

Rock Solid

We are told Just to trust in a man Not a code Or a rite or a plan.

And that He Will be all we require To come through Both the flood and the fire.

Like a rock Who defies shifting sands Solid friend With the kindest of plans.

Let the heat

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Try to parch; He is shade And a draft Of cool drink Heaven made.

And I know He has tasted the worst And come through Even death, He ranks first.

So relax Desert wanderer, stand On this Rock Of Salvation, Love planned.

1 Corinthians 10 : 4​ ​and I​ saiah 25

He Just Wants a Straight Answer

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Isaiah 6: 5-8

The prophet Isaiah had been in a place of favour in the court of the King.

This was a situation that he did not wish to change. But the King died and Isaiah’s sense of security and purpose was turned topsy-turvy.

In that same year he was given a vision of the Lord. Certainly this man of God was going to be required to sense the Lord’s presence just as powerfully as the presence of other mortals, if not moreso. The Lord was high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. He was accompanied by the seraphims, strange celestial beings. He caused an awesome smoke to fill the place.

The prophet’s first words were words of self-abasement. ‘Woe is me. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!’ The moment was so awesome that he probably suspected that he was going to die. (How clear a contrast there is here with the churches these days who so glibly state that ‘God’s presence was so rich this morning’. They miss His glory. They miss the melting of self before His holiness.)

Obviously God approved of Isaiah’s candour and sense of identification with the people. God had a job for him to do. God would instruct a seraphim to apply to the man’s lips a burning coal from the altar.

Cleansing was to be a supernatural work, and the candidate was to know that it was so. A simple heartfelt resolution would not cut it. There was to be total reliance upon the work of the Spirit.

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Next came a call to ministry, but not a coercion. God is always a gentleman with His assignments: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

It was not in any way out of self-confidence that the prophet responded, “Here am I; send me.” He hardly knew what he was getting into. But God was with him. Even greater and holier Kings were coming and they needed his help.

How strange that one day this prophet would realize that true deliverance was not coming with monarchy, but rather with a bruised and battered servant of the Lord (Jesus) who would take on the hurts and ills of His people (chapters 52 and 53).

Isaiah Thirty-three

The lame take the prey Oppressed have their day And none who thwart justice Will last.

Unquenchable fire The Lord in His ire

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Avenging the pain of the past.

A Man is the cure With fresh waters pure And shade from the cruel Desert heat.

His Spirit will win Exposing all sin Dread armies collapsed in defeat.

A City He brings Where real freedom rings And He is the Final resort.

No other can rule No bully or fool It’s His throne, assembly and court.

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