Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, prepare me to receive your word. Clear my mind and warm my heart. Assure me of your loving purposes for me, and speak into my life today.
‘Hear … See … Listen to me … Draw near to me, hear this!’ Isaiah 48 is a heartbreaking cry of frustration from a God who has spoken openly to his people, yet they act as if they are deaf and blind to all the clear signs of his devotion to them. Because they do not pay attention to him, the good that he longs to do for them does not come to pass. Instead, we read the sad and plaintive words ‘would have been’ – ‘your prosperity would have been like a river … your offspring would have been like the sand’ (verses 18–19).
Jesus expressed a similar emotion centuries later in one of his many confrontations with the Pharisees: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!’ (Luke 13.34)
Are there any areas of life in which God is pleading with us to come close and listen to him, but we are deliberately shutting our ears and eyes to him? Everything he asks us to do, in every place where he asks us to follow him, is for our good, and he longs only to give us peace and wholeness. It is sometimes hard to break through our own resistance to God, whatever the reason for it, but there will always be blessing for us when we do so.
Lord God, creator and comforter, thank you that you are always speaking. Help us to listen, to recognise your leading, and to act in accordance with your word to us. Amen
This reflection was written by Lisa Cherrett, Production Editor in the Publishing team
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