The Lord Be With You Today!
Isaiah 66:5-6
Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His Word:
(The Lord addresses those who honor and follow Him in true relationship.)
"Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of My Name,
have said, 'Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!'
(Saying one thing and meaning another,
those who hated God's people pretended they were supportive.
Even as in Jesus' day, He and, later, His disciples
were persecuted by their own people, by the Pharisees and others,
who stood against what God was doing
and who justified their deeds by saying
they were the ones truly aligned with the Lord.
Still today, as throughout the ages, so-called Christians and others
claim they are doing good by persecuting God's chosen ones,
whether the Jewish people or even other Christians.
In a more personal sense, how often we ourselves repeatedly
try to rationalize our wrong and sinful actions by convincing ourselves
that we are in the right, that our cause is just,
and justifying to ourselves how we act and think.)
Yet they will be put to shame.
Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the Lord repaying His enemies all they deserve.
(The words here convey the violence and fury of warfare
and the cries of destruction and pain in battle.
The noise from the temple may be voices howling in pain
as they experience the Lord's judgment
or can refer to the Lord's Own Voice bringing judgment against those
who have willfully chosen to be disobedient and rebel against His ways.
Regardless of the source of the noise,
the message is that the Lord will ultimately pronounce sentence
on all who have refused to yield to His salvation and authority
and who align themselves against God's people.
It is, again, a reminder, too, that the Lord knows who our enemies are,
whether human or forces of darkness,
and that it is not our responsibility to take vengeance,
but that we can trust Him that He will overcome them.)
May the Lord richly bless you this day!
In Christ's love,
Blessings!
Sally
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