Living in the Spirit

November 2, 2021

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And 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 for ever.
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.
It 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.

There is a feeling now in our world that a shroud is cast over all peoples. The COVID virus is undoubtedly taking its toll. About the time we seem to get it under control, it rears its ugly head again. Scriptures like the one above were, most likely, written to give people hope in what seemed like a hopeless situation. God knows we need hope now. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. A lesson I have learned from studying the history of God is that God is rarely if ever, magic wane waver. Jesus, on occasion, healed by touch and forgave immediately, but he added things like pick up your bed and walk (John 5:8-16) or go and sin no more (John 8:7).

We most often think of Jesus’s primary task being our salvation, but he spent most of his time while on earth training disciples to carry on his work when he was gone. Once I read the first chapter of Acts, which is essentially a board meeting making plans to further Jesus’s work, I followed immediately by reading the second chapter, which describes the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Faith is the knowledge that God is with us in all we do, especially in bringing forth God’s Kingdom on earth, but God always expects us to do our part.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your abiding presence. Help me clearly see the task you set before me and complete them to your glory. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.