It has been a long time since my last post in this series – three months in fact, which is shocking! Many apologies about that.

The truth is… I just got bogged down in all the befuddling language, which is sometimes a bizarre mix of flowery and threatening. I didn’t really get it. The autumn was pretty rough, and I’d get to the end of the day and just rather read fiction!

But anyway, I picked Isaiah up in the new year, and here we are. I still think it’s quite long and fairly confusing. But, I’ve found some really beautiful and profound verses and some very obvious prophecies about Jesus.

As ever, the Bible project videos on YouTube are helpful if you’re wanting to have an understanding of the book as a whole.

Isaiah was a prophet who gave warnings to the community and told them of the bad things to come if they didn’t change their ways. However, he was a believer in happy endings, because he always had hope that God would redeem them. This tension is apparent throughout the book.

On another note, while reading, I came across some verses which I use regularly in liturgy. I think I last read the whole of Isaiah before I got ordained, so I enjoyed coming across passages that I know really well now, almost word for word, such as those we use in funeral services when we are committing somebody’s body to be cremated or buried. It surprised me how well I know these passages, even if I couldn’t have told you exactly where in the Bible they were from.

After a tricky start, I really appreciated beautiful images of potters and clay, light, salvation, singing, musical hills, God’s hands, tears being dried, and gushing streams across dry land. Like the sun shining through the clouds after a storm, there are some beautiful verses in this book.

Favourite passage: Isaiah 6.8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Sleeping children: One time when reading Isaiah, Aidan fell asleep feeding, and Sophia fell asleep curled up next to us. I’d call that a win!

Image by: pasja1000 on Pixabay