Isaiah Week 10 ... Isaiah 49 - 52:12 The Servant of the LORD

Make sure you read Bo Lim's commentary this week.  It answers a lot of questions about the "Servant Songs of Isaiah."  These songs are some of the more important features of the book of Isaiah, so the more you know...

As you read Isaiah this week, here are some suggestions for "Must Read" verses:

Isaiah 49:8-18
God will not forget you.  Spend some time thinking about verses 14-16: Do you ever feel like God has forgotten you?  If so, you have some idea of what God's people were feeling during the exile in Babylon.  Consider God's love for you and others as you read God's response in verse 15: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show not compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."  If you come away from reading Isaiah knowing that God has not forgotten you even when you feel like He has, you will have learned one big-time life lesson.

Isaiah 49:1-6
Isaiah 50:4-11
The Servant of the Lord.  These are the 2nd and 3rd of the "Servant Songs" in Isaiah.  We'll get to the fourth next week.  These words have had a powerful impact on the church through the centuries, and they are important to understanding God's work of salvation.  One of the most obvious take-away messages is that God calls servants to play an important part in his work in the world.  Who do you recognize as God's servants?  What would it mean to consider yourself a servant of the Lord?

Pay particular attention to 50:5-7.  These verses talk about being persecuted for being God's servant.  How do these verses connect with Jesus' suffering on the way to the cross?  Have you ever been insulted or persecuted because of your Christian faith?  Say a prayer for those who are being persecuted as Christians even today.

Isaiah 52:7-10
The Beautiful Good News.  I can't read the words of verse 7 without singing along with Handel's Messiah: "How beautiful are the feet of them who preach the gospel of peace."  Take a few minutes to meditate on these electric words: messenger/preacher, gospel/good news (they mean the same thing), salvation, God reigns.  Amazing to consider the power of the promise that "all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" (verse 10).  What does that have to say about God's work in the world and your part in it?

Peace!