This may be the day I do it, the day I define what this blog will be. It may be that I lose some of the few who have joined me so far. It may be that I start a chain reaction that will bring more readers to this page. It may be that I find I am writing to no one other than myself, my conscious and my heavenly reader who keeps the records of all I say and do here so that they may be brought forth on my day of judgment. It may be that this will be the day I would like a censor to black out certain things before that day when all will be shouted from the rooftops for all to hear. Not that many will listen then if they chose not to read now. So of that I have no worries.
Today I spent the majority of my time studying the words of Isaiah, that profound prophet in the Old Testament who has driven off more readers than I ever hope to attract. I know people fear getting mired in his words and therefore may not finish reading this, but please give me a minute. I enjoyed this day so much. I found some very beautiful, poetic entries that I could actually understand. I found some things that truly stumped me. I found some wonderfully funny things as well.
Let's examine the last first. Isaiah 26:18 says, "We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth..." I'll let you just think about that on your own.
Perhaps more clearly funnny is 37:36, which says, "Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses." Love that one.
And finally, Isaiah 14:8 says, "Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us." I thought Isaiah was talking like a redneck until I saw in the footnote that a feller is a tree cutter. Still makes me laugh.
For being stumped I give you 24:1, "Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." To make the earth empty and still have inhabitants to scatter abroad in the waste is something I could think about for a long time if I wasn't already contemplating so deeply how he turns the earth upside down. I think I've got a handle on that, but it's one of those things that there are no words to describe, at least for me.
And finally the truly beautiful. There are so many I could choose for this part, but I decided to go with three verses from two pages facing each other.
32:17 "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever."
33:6 "And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure."
33:22 " For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us."
The Savior said, "Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah. For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake." (3 Ne 23:1-3)
I've been playing with the scriptures here because I do study them and take them to heart, and they make me happy. They even make me laugh and wonder. I find entertainment in them. I find knowledge and wisdom, but most of all I find what I believe will lead me back into the presence of my Heavenly Father and His Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ. The scriptures are anything but boring. Isaiah is truly a beautiful book of poetic teachings that tell us how to find ourselves in the right place when the end is upon us. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2)
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