Today’s scripture: Isaiah 63:1-6 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Angie Best):
When the guy on the interstate cuts me off to get to the next exit 0.0044 seconds faster, I want him to get a flat tire on the way home. When the colleague who relieves me at work casually strolls in 17 minutes late (again!), I silently will our boss to walk by to witness her latest transgression. I want the kid who bullies my daughter to get excluded from the next kid’s class birthday party. When the memory of an intimate’s betrayal worms its way into my consciousness, my rage boils over one more time.
How can I not reasonate with Isaiah 63:4? “It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come.”
I want justice. I want it to roll down in waves like cleansing waters, washing down, purifying and punishing. Meting out consequences like an angry, Old Testament diety who thirsts for righteousness and demands retribution. “So I went ahead and did it myself, fed and fueled by my rage. I trampled the people in my anger, crushed them under foot in my wrath, soaked the earth with their lifeblood.” (V 6)
The blood of the sinners soaks the earth? I have to admit that the passage does seem unnecessarily harsh. I confess I’m a little uncomfortable with such bloodlust. I am uncomfortable because I need so much grace. I can’t stand up to the glaring light shining on my own transgressions. I run late because I never put stuff where I am supposed to and my shoes are elusive. Sometimes, I’m the jerk on the interstate. I need grace because sometimes I’m the partner who acts without faith, who speaks without love, each word a new betrayal. I don’t want what I deserve — the flat tire, the crushing silence, the broken relationships.
We excuse the brutality of Isaiah’s words because he was blinded by his self-righteous indignation. God hadn’t fully revealed himself yet. After all, he hadn’t met Jesus or encountered the Holy Spirit. He didn’t know there was more to the story than tit for tat, action — reaction, crime and punishment.
Isaiah wanted what was fair and just. And so do I, but I want more than that. I want to know Christ more fully, to seek the heart of God so that I’m not begging for forgiveness one more time for the exact same thing I promised myself I wasn’t going to do again. The only way to break that cycle is to humble ourselves before a Holy God and seek to live a life defined by loving grace.
May it be so!
Thought for the day: Where in your life do you need to extend grace to another?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.