“My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.” —Daniel 6:22

Several hundred years before the birth of Jesus, God’s chosen people suffered a traumatic experience. For many generations, the nation of Israel, and later the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, had been struggling in a variety of ways with antagonistic nations and empires beyond their borders. As large empires rose, the political independence of God’s people was threatened. Eventually, the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. Later, the ascendant Babylonian Empire defeated the southern kingdom and took God’s people into exile.

The Jews in exile in Babylon were faced with the complicated and heart-wrenching decision of how to respond to this exile. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God called the people to work for the good of the city of Babylon. Even though they were in exile, in the capital city of their conquerors, the people responded by working for the well-being of those they might consider enemies, trusting God that the good of their neighbors/enemies (or “neighnemies”) would work out for their own good as well.

In this context, Daniel prospered as he worked with diligence and integrity for the Babylonian Empire. He ended up in a position of great authority and power. But this did not exempt him from the difficulty of being a Jew living in a foreign empire. Jealous enemies of Daniel set him up and sold him out. Daniel had continued to worship the one true God, even after a law was put into place outlawing such worship. Despite his service to the empire and the king, Daniel was sentenced to spend a night in a lions’ den.

What was intended to be a death sentence instead ended up pointing to the power and faithfulness of God. The plots of Daniel’s enemies were no match for the power and faithfulness of Daniel’s God.

Our faithful God calls each of us to faithfulness. We’re called, like Daniel, to be diligent. We’re called to have integrity. We’re called to work for the good of the places we live and the people we live alongside. We’re called to have single-hearted devotion to our God.

And God promises to make a way for us through all the schemes of the enemy. God promises to make a way through the wickedness of the human heart. God promises to make a way and to remain faithful even when our own faithfulness falters.

To be sure, we cannot always see the way through when we’re on this side of the grave. Many of God’s faithful people have lost their lives, martyred for their faithfulness and devotion to the Lord. But in Christ we know that even then—even in the very worst this world can throw at us—we are not beyond the scope of God’s faithfulness. And so we, like Daniel, rejoice because our God has claimed us, has led us, has protected us, and has made a way for us.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,…so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise spring up before all the nations. – Isaiah 61:11

One of my favorite parts of the Bible is in Luke 4. Shortly after Jesus’ baptism and time spent in the wilderness, he returns to his home town of Nazareth and Luke reports that the following happened… 

…on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

– Luke 4:16b-21

The passage that Jesus reads from Isaiah is a description of the Messiah that the Jewish people have been waiting for. So right in the middle of his hometown, in front of a bunch of people who know who he is, Jesus reads the description of the Messiah and says…the wait is over, this is talking about me. 

I always imagine Jesus’ sat at the optimal distance from where he read so his walk back to his seat would elicit the perfect amount of tension before the “today this scripture…” bit.  

So…why am I talking about Isaiah 61:1-2 by way of Luke 4, when today’s verse is from Isaiah 61:11? Good question! 

Between the description of the Messiah in Isaiah 61:1-2 and Isaiah 61:11 (today’s verse), is a description of what God’s people will be able to do because of the Messiah. There is language of rebuilding, freedom, and transformation. The Messiah will make God’s people into who they cannot be on their own. 

We see what Jesus came to do in Isaiah 61:1-2, let’s respond to that with what Isaiah promises God’s people will be able to do in response. Let’s allow Jesus to uproot the sin in our lives so that the goodness God has planted within each one of us is able to grow. Let’s embrace our place as God’s true children, resembling our heavenly Father, giving praise to God, and inviting each person we encounter to take their place within this family. 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. —Psalm 32:8

Several months ago, Dan introduced me to a website called Skillshare, which I only checked out in earnest once we all had to stay at home. Skillshare is an online learning community where artists offer classes on whatever creative thing they’re equipped to teach. I’ve always liked dabbling artistically, but in adulthood, I’ve felt mostly ill-equipped, under-developed, and uncertain how to grow, so I’ve entered into these courses with both eagerness and trepidation. A week ago, I did a beginners’ course on how to use Procreate, a digital illustration app. Beyond my expectations, this course was pure enjoyment. It was one of those rare and wonderful occasions where you just want to soak up all there is to learn, where hours pass in an instant. I’m far from being an expert (really, really far!), but it feels good to know how to do some things I didn’t know how to do a couple of weeks ago. What made this a powerful learning experience mostly came down to the instructor: 1) she understood my position as a beginner, and 2) she invited me to learn by imitating what she did.

These verses from Psalm 32 are about God’s instruction. They remind us of God’s teaching style:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
    which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
    or they will not come to you. (Psalm 32:8-9)

Look at that stark and beautiful contrast! God’s instruction isn’t forceful, controlling, or manipulative; God’s instruction guides, counsels, and watches over. God works with us patiently, leading us through an ongoing process that leaves us changed.

And because of Jesus, we have a teacher who 1) understands our position as humans, and 2) invites us to learn through imitation. When we observe our teacher and try doing what he did, we are changed for the better. As time passes, we can say we know some things we didn’t know before.

Paul captures it well in Ephesians 5:1. He encourages us to learn through imitation when he says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” 

Today, may you have the humility of a beginner who’s ready to learn from a good instructor who guides, counsels, and watches over you. May you observe how Jesus loves, and learn through imitation of him. May you take joy in your process of growth, trusting that your Heavenly Father does, too!

“But your dead will live, Lord;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.”
—Isaiah 26:19

For whatever reasons, I’m prone to all-or-nothing thinking. I don’t know what mix of nature and nurture has created this. I know that it’s tied to a sense of idealism (which is mostly good, I think), but I also know that it has the tendency to distort my view of the world, because the world is rarely all-or-nothing. And so through counseling and contemplation and conversation, I’ve learned some tools that help me to catch this thinking before it really takes root and sends me off course.

But this is still something that requires vigilance. I’m still always in danger of being demoralized when things aren’t perfect, when I’m not perfect, when things are messy. Sometimes I want life to be more like a video game, where if you mess up, you can just go back to the start of the level and try again, as if the previous failed attempt never happened.

But life isn’t like a video game. We can never truly restart from the very beginning. Our communities have histories. Even at a person’s moment of birth, he or she exists in a family system, in a specific social location, within cultural constructs that have taken many centuries to build. The question before us is never really what we would do if we could start over; the question is always where we go from here.

The Israelite prophet Isaiah preached to his people in specific moments. Throughout his long ministry, he spoke words of judgment and doom and words of hope and restoration. He spoke to a nation that, like our own, had long-lived, deeply embedded sins that threatened its very identity from within. He spoke to a nation that was under threat from forces outside its borders. He spoke to a nation on the brink of destruction. He was unsparing in his truth-telling.

And Isaiah was just as adamant in proclaiming God’s words of hope to a frightened and wayward people. Isaiah could see that on the other side of decay and defeat lay restoration. Isaiah could see that God’s faithfulness was the one thing that no internal strife and no invading army could ever destroy.

The words of Isaiah pointed ultimately to Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered on behalf of Israel, who suffered and was judged on behalf of the whole world. The words of Isaiah remind us today that God remains with his people in the midst of suffering, that God remains faithful to his people even when we actively work against his vision for the world. The words of Isaiah remind us that, on the other side of death (both literal and figurative) lie renewal and new life.

As we wrestle with our long history of death-dealing, as we wrestle with new challenges and anxieties and threats, may we be participants in new life. May we be redeemed and restored through the work of the God who is always faithful.

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. – Mark 6:41-42

This story shows up in each of the gospels and it’s definitely in my list of the top 5 greatest moments of Jesus’ ministry (also on that list is Jesus calling Nathaniel by saying he saw him under a fig tree and Jesus rising from the dead). 

This huge crowd had gathered and Jesus was teaching them late into the day. Seeing the time passing by, the disciples realize these people are going to be hungry and they don’t have enough food to feed them. So the disciples come to Jesus with their plan: Jesus needs to dismiss the crowd so they can head off to nearby villages and buy something to eat. 

But instead of doing what the disciples suggest, Jesus enlists them to be part of the solution. He tells them to collect what food they have and bring it to him. Then he blesses what they put before him and turns it into more than enough. Each person is able to eat until they are satisfied.

What I appreciate about this passage is that it really is a window into what a life in relationship with God looks like. We take our meager resources, or what may seem like our small and seemingly insignificant abilities, and trust that God will do something with them. God is deeply interested in using what we bring. 

This quote from theologian NT Wright sums it up well…

“This is how it works whenever someone is close enough to Jesus to catch a glimpse of what he’s doing and how they could help. We blunder in with our ideas. We offer, uncomprehending, what little we have. Jesus takes ideas, loaves and fishes, money, a sense of humor, time, energy, talents, love, artistic gifts, skill with words, quickness of eye or fingers, whatever we have to offer. He holds them before his father with prayer and blessing. Then, breaking them so they are ready for use, he gives them back to us to give to those who need them.” 

God values each one of us so much that God wants to use us to help set things right, so much that God will take whatever we have to offer and use it for his good. As we go into this day, may we be attentive to and respond to the people around us in need of the satisfaction that only comes from knowing God.