55:1-2 - Come all you who thirst and drink deep from the living water...allow God to fill your needs...stop chasing after the things of this world that leave you empty and thirsting for more...quench your thirst in God...let Him fill you...let Him transform you...drink.
55:8-9 - There is no way that you or I are ever going to be able to fully comprehend God. We love to question and fling judgment upon God based on things we've seen from our perspective of the world...but there is no way that we are qualified to question the perspective of an omniscient God who loves and cares for every individual on the planet and has the best interest of the world at heart. His thoughts are not our thoughts...we have to trust that the God who has brought redemption and transformation to our lives is working to bring the same to every life.
55:12 - Do I approach each new day with this kind of joy and praise? No. Why not? Every day is a gift from God...the salvation that has changed my life and set me free is a gift from God...the peace He brings to my soul is a gift...His love is a gift - God is good and the knowledge of that truth should pour out of my being on a daily basis.
56:1 - There is going to be a time when God comes back and restores justice and righteousness to all of creation...the Bible teaches on it...Jesus spoke of it frequently...it will be a future reality. Christians need to make sure in the time they spend on earth that they are living out God's justice and salvation for all to see. While we are living in these mortal shells we call bodies, we must be living for eternity.
56:3-5 - "Foreigners/eunuchs" - These were groups of people who were considered outcasts in the Jewish world. They were not allowed by Jewish Law to participate fully in the worship of God. Yet we see here that God will welcome them in and offer them his love and inheritance as well as the Jews. Scripture consistently shows us God's heart for the rejected and maligned...do we as Christians show the same heart to the world?
56:12 - Isaiah paints a picture of people living here as if they have forever to live. They drink and do whatever else they want, because they think tomorrow is going to be just like today...they think that their lives will go on indefinitely. This reminds me of the beliefs of the false teachers in 2 Peter chapter 3:4 - those teachers thought the end would never come and people could live as they wanted to. It is dangerous for us to live our lives as if we have all the time in the world to make amends and get serious about faith. We never know when the end is going to come, whether that be through the 2nd coming of Christ or through the end of our lives. As Christians we must live each day as if it is the only one we have left.
57:5 - I know this verse sounds strange, but these are both examples of pagan cult rituals. For some fertility festivals, people would go into the forest and have sex with anyone they chose...it was also common in ancient middle eastern pagan worship to have child sacrifice taking place to appease the "gods." The Israelites were buying into the practices of the cults around them and this is part of the reason that God is pouring out His judgment on them.
57:13 - Isaiah taunts the people who worship false "gods" saying, "Cry out to your "gods" when you are in trouble - see how that works out for you!"
57:15 - Let this mess with your mind for a little while...God inhabits eternity! How cool is that. God lives in a state of eternity...He is eternal and this is something we will never understand until we are living it out in His midst. He is unchanging...eternal...perfect...infinitely high above us, yet His heart is for the oppressed and downtrodden of the world. How incredible is that?
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