WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: ‘Lord, as the welcoming star led to the stable where the infant Jesus lay, may I see signs of your presence in my life.’

The holy one
Here it is Isaiah himself who is receiving a message from God. He speaks with feeling as he recalls God’s word that the Lord is the holy one, the one to fear (v 13). He had the personal experience of that in his vision (6:3) so he can speak from the heart. And Isaiah knows that when God speaks with his ‘strong hand’ upon him (v 11), he means business.

Being available
‘Here am I’ (v 18) echoes Isaiah’s words in the temple (6:8). No longer caught up in the moment of the vision, he still realises he needs to be available to God (v 17). And when he is, God will be his sanctuary; whereas for those who go their own way, God will be a stumbling block (vs 14,15).

A remnant remains
The names God has given Isaiah’s children – Shear-Jashub (‘only a remnant will remain’) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (see Saturday’s note) will spur him on. These names tell a story: times will be unbearably bad, the Assyrians will come ‘quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil’; but through all this there is the promise that a remnant will remain – a small number of God’s people will survive.

Respond: This Christmas, pray that you may be a living symbol of God’s hope in your neighbourhood or community.

http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-12-24