Week 39

Isaiah 8-30

Isaiah’s prophecies are somewhat abstract and poetic but it’s amazing to me to that God is speaking to a person and this person is able to concentrate, interpret, & communicate these prophecies to the people of that time. I would like to think, if in that position I would be able to fulfill that God given purpose but let’s actually think about what that means, what Isaiah is actually doing here-

He is hearing or maybe seeing these prophecies from God- that would have to be scary! But then he’s “hearing” or interpreting what these prophecies mean- I am ashamed to say but I’m scared I would be too in shock or fearful to really be able to concentrate and focus on what is actually being said, much less remember it well enough to communicate back to others, in detail!! I don’t know about y’all but sometimes I’m cooking dinner and forget what I went into the pantry to get, or I’ll walk back from my boss’s office and before I get my calendar open, I’ve forgotten what day or time we just talked about for some upcoming meeting or deadline. But here’s Isaiah- not struggling with fear, not struggling with his memory, just communicating these things from God. But let’s also not forget- these are things the people may not want to hear and may not believe. So Isaiah has to also be struggling with that- would you want someone to tell you your town is about to be destroyed? Or you call someone crazy if they told you a virgin was going to have a baby?

I am curious here about the timeline. Were all these prophecies from the same approximate time frame or was Isaiah really not accomplishing anything else at this point because his whole day is full of prophecies- listening, interpreting, recording, communicating.

What stuck out to you? Did a particular prophecy jump out at you?