Today’s scripture: Isaiah 14:28-32 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Carla Peck):
King Ahaz was not a well liked king. It appears that his death was to become a cause to celebrate. That’s not usually the position we find ourselves in after a death. There is death, and then there is really a death — death that literally drills a spear through your heart with such intensity that life feels unimaginable living without the deceased.
One of those deaths that shook my soul to the core was when my Dad passed away in 2005. I experienced difficulty moving through the grieving process. There was the EAP counselor who asked me once a week how I felt and I always said miserable; then he would ask me if my Dad would want me to feel miserable. This pushed me along a little each week. But the jolt that moved my healing forward arrived in an “oracle” in a Christmas card I received that year from a distant, out of state relative that I wouldn’t even recognize if we were in the same room, and who I’d never received a Christmas card from.
I became curious about a few things after reading today’s scripture. What is an “oracle”, and where or what is Zion?
In researching the term “oracle”, here’s what I found in my NIV Study Bible and in a Bible dictionary:
Oracle: A divine utterance delivered to man, usually in answer to a request for guidance. The Hebrew for this word is related to a Hebrew verb meaning “to lift up, carry” and is possibly to be understood as either lifting up one’s voice or carrying a burden. Such an “oracle” often contains a message of doom.
The Christmas card read like this:
“Merry Christmas, Carla, I know this will be a difficult Christmas without your Dad, but there are still beautiful people and beautiful things all around.”
Although I felt insulted at first, this oracle helped me change the course from extreme sadness of having my first Christmas in my entire life without my Dad, to focusing on seeing the beauty of God in the people and things around me.
I found “Zion” to be defined many different ways, but view it as this: a sunny height, raised up, God’s city, God’s spiritual kingdom.
Thought for the day: Sometimes life can seem like an episode of the CSI television drama. The evil person is captured, but then a copycat of evil surfaces and the destructive cycle continues. God, I can get so focused on doom that it can consume me. Help me to live a personal mission statement focused on Zion, and see the beauty of God in the people and things around me.
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.