Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+045
Chapter 45 (ESV)
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8 “Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the Lord have created it.
9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11 Thus says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
“Ask me of things to come;
will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?
12 I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
13 I have stirred him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways level;
he shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
REFLECTION:
- Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
- What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage?
- How do you feel as you read Israel’s complaint, and then God’s reply? Do you feel free to complain to God or do you feel like it isn’t something you should or are allowed to do?
- When have you complained to God? How did God reply? What are you complaining to God at present? What does God tell you to do?
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
HYMN:
Is He Worthy? – youtu.be/-c6pl6CaiD0
