The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

A friend and I spoke of how we are quite sheltered from the world’s hot spots – the news of Israel, even Ukraine, let alone the inner city issues in other areas. These are heard about IF we listen.  We are sheltered and yet things happen here too. If we didn’t watch the news we barely would even know, right? Or even with the news, real stories are quickly buried under fluffy celebrity news. And I’ve seen it many times, local playoffs are lead story lines in local news, and yet who can blame us for clinging to joy and hopeful things.

National news we do hear more snippets when we seek out info, we actually could get blow by blow blogging for war’s atrocities at our fingertips, and even get ‘too much’ wrapped into things, while we luxuriate in our easy chairs. Then again, one friend said: “I can’t fix it, so I ignore it.” Hmmmm…  that doesn’t seem right either.

So BIG picture, do we really try to understand the world or do we try to understand how we got to where we are? The news said this was “uncharted territory”, yes and no. True BIG picture, can we see it? Not usually. We can’t make out blow by blow (would we want to?). Remember BIG BIG picture, as in God BIG, we have to tap into God’s Plan through His Prophecies to even try to understand. And if we can’t, we simply need to just TRUST GOD that all things will work out – if not in this world than in the next. We will and should tap into His Spirit to trust Him more.

Prophecies, studying Old Testament Isaiah is crucial to our BIG BIG picture focus. Isaiah wrote as the God-revelation for the day for correction and for Hope. God ALSO intended it as the newsletter to the future. We do have source material, and a prophet sent from God. So let’s read it. And if you simply need the movie cliffnotes, there’s great videos too – don’t shy away from trying to understand. For example, see this great Bible Story version:

Isaiah chapters in the 30’s, we learn of Jerusalem, the seat of Israel’s worship, God’s focus, and how it continued to go off kilter, as well as be at war with certain nations, Assyria and then later Babylon. Isaiah had witnessed kings and split kingdoms (see 2nd Kings), and was instructed by God to warn. Prophecies from Isaiah chapters 32, 33, 34 kept rolling out the warnings, out the door like a printing press. Their HOPE got included in the news as well. BIG HOPE. A SAVIOR AND A NEW JERUSALEM.  This is news we should not bury in the back pages of our hearts.

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

So, hopefully HOPE is not lost in this moment of monumental turmoil. Help make ‘awareness’ not ‘a-war-ness’ our mission.

There IS something we CAN do: keep living in hope, keep sharing the Good News: Jesus came and He is ever so much closer to coming again. If we think we don’t know how it will all work out, God does – Trust HIM!

Amen 

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Here’s chapters 32 to 34, excepts:

The Kingdom of Righteousness

See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

…

Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.

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No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the Lord; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water. Scoundrels use wicked methods, they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.

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The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

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Distress and Help

Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed!

Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed!

When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.

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Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress. At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter. Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

…

“Now will I arise,” says the Lord. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you. The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”

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You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power! The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil— they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.

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Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them,     no mighty ship will sail them.For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.

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Judgment Against the Nations

Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

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All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. 

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