Tuesday 29 Nov 2022

November 29: Isaiah 11:1-5

Key Verse: Isaiah 11:2
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord

Devotion:
I love reading parts of the Old Testament like these where the prophets were told of what was going to happen – maybe in words which they did not fully grasp or understand – but they faithfully scribed what they were told! We now look back, knowing what happened during the time Jesus was here on earth, and see just what these words meant and how accurate they were too!

God wanted us to know what was going to happen, but many people did not want to know the truth. The truth would force them to evaluate what they were doing in their lives. Just like today, people don’t want to hear the truth when it shows them up in any way!

These words predicted a person who was related to king David’s father, Jesse, would come to live amongst us in a very special way. This person would not be like any other person of the times. Their lives would be firmly anchored in the Word of God. The Spirit would be with them and they would show us signs of great wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord!

While we can attribute some of these attributes to people who lived, none could say they covered all bases! This was going to be our Messiah, Jesus Christ who would fulfil all of the above and more. He would show us what could be achieved through following and obeying God in everything we do and say. This should be our aim!

Points to Ponder:
Do you feint at the thought of having to fulfil all of this?

Will you allow the Holy Spirit to bring you closer?