Today's Scripture Reading (November 2, 2026):
Isaiah 54
I remember standing
outside the door of one of my children's rooms, listening to the sobs on the
other side. They were being punished for bad behavior, but in those moments, it
felt like I was being punished too. Sometimes, as parents, we have to do the things
we don't want to do. To be honest, that is probably the part of being an adult
we like least. We recognize that saying no and listening to the crying are part
of parenting, even if we don't like playing the bad guy.
Isaiah again seems to
return to the circumstances surrounding the Babylonian exile of Judah as he
writes these words. It is doubtful that the verse means exactly what we read in
our English Bibles. This passage probably should be interpreted the way we should
interpret Jesus' words from the Cross: "My God, My God, why have you
forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46)? I believe we are committing an error if we
allow ourselves to see Jesus as truly forsaken by God on the Cross. Jesus was
fully human and fully God, and in that moment his human side could not feel
God's love. Sometimes, in our own lives, we can know God's love intellectually
but, because of the pain we are in, we cannot feel that same love emotionally.
And whether we want to admit it or not, we are emotional beings. In that moment
on the Cross, Jesus could not feel God's love; therefore, the sentiment he
expressed was true only to the extent of how he felt.
Similarly, Isaiah is
speaking to the outcasts of Judah. He says that "for a brief moment I
allowed you to feel like I had abandoned you, for a brief moment I allowed you
to believe the unbelievable, that I had left you to fend off the world with
your strategies, but the truth is that I was standing outside the door the
whole time." And when the moment has passed, I will open the door with
great compassion and invite you back into my purpose.
For Israel, this period of
feigned abandonment by God would produce a change in character, exactly what
any good parent hopes for during punishment. We hope this time alone would help
the child grow into a better person. For seventy years, God would leave Israel
in Babylon, but after those seventy years, God's compassion would compel him to
open the door and bring Judah home.
We all go through times of
pain when it feels as if God is far away. Yet that is only our emotional
understanding. The truth is that he has never been far away. He is listening
just outside the door, and at any moment his compassion will compel him to rush
in and bring us home.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 5
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