Leaders of the Bible: Isaiah

Isaiah 1: 18-20, 12:-6

The prophet Isaiah speaks in such a way that brings judgment and hope. He is preaching to a nation where wisdom and direction has fallen among ‘deaf ears’. They turned away from the goodness of the law and instead chose their own way. The 2 scriptures we read today offer us two sides to how the prophet Isaiah revealed God’s truth to the land of Israel and Judah. Calling out how they have strayed away from God’s command and their lack of obedience.

In a lot of ways, we may have had moments when we felt like Isaiah, having to call out and root out the ways those around us have strayed away from obedience. It’s not easy and it requires a level of boldness that I think we can learn from Isaiah. Recently I saw a Christian teacher pose the question, “how would we live if the only thing we feared was God?”. The opinions of the world or culture or whatever it may be does not have a stronghold on you because you wouldn’t fear their response to you but instead fear disobedience in saying nothing. 

Although, I think if we only see boldness as saying the hard thing, we are missing a beautiful opportunity to highlight the encouragement we can receive from one another. Isaiah in Chapter 12 flips the script and points it back to how we are under the authority of a God who is working and redeeming. We need leaders and people to call this out in us too! How can we push forward when we only think of our lives as the past? We MUST be bold in our encouragement towards one another, or else we are not operating as the church but as Christians passing judgment and criticism. 

Like Isaiah, we have to bring both justice and hope to light. We must be people whose leadership in this way is radical and unlike the world.