Isaiah 25:1-9 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 25:1-9 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 25O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Verse 2For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. Verse 3Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. Verse 4For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, Verse 5the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
Verse 6On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. Verse 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Verse 8Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
Verse 9It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Devotion
A word of hope came to a people in exile, "He will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken."
The headline in today's paper spoke about a mother charged with the first-degree murder of her nine year-old daughter. Her father is a member of my friend's congregation. The parents were separated and, as so often happens, a bitter custody battle ensued. He now faces this horrible loss of his beloved daughter at the hand of his former wife. How horrible to suffer so many losses at once (indeed there are many)! How easy it would be to lose hope. For him, and for all in dismay or despair, come these words of hope, "he will swallow up death forever ... the disgrace ... will be taken away." May this father, and all who suffer, find comfort and peace in Christ.
Rest in peace, Amber.
Prayer
Come, Lord Jesus, come. Bring hope where there is despair. Bring life where there is death. Bring comfort where there is loss. Amen.