Isaiah 60 (HCSB)
The Lord’s Glory in Zion
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you.
2 For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you, and His glory will appear over you.
3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance.
4 Raise your eyes and look around:
they all gather and come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.
5 Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice, because the riches of the sea will become yours and the wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 Caravans of camels will cover your land—young camels of Midian and Ephah—all of them will come from Sheba. They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar as an acceptable sacrifice. I will glorify My beautiful house.
8 Who are these who fly like a cloud, like doves to their shelters?
9 Yes, the islands will wait for Me with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.
10 Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in My wrath, yet I will show mercy to you with My favor.
11 Your gates will always be open; they will never be shut day or night so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession.
12 For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be annihilated.
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its pine, fir, and cypress together—to beautify the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify My dwelling place.
14 The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet. They will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Instead of your being deserted and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age.
16 You will nurse on the milk of nations, and nurse at the breast of kings; you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 I will bring gold instead of bronze; I will bring silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your guard and righteousness as your ruler.
18 Violence will never again be heard of in your land; devastation and destruction will be gone from your borders. But you will name your walls salvation and your gates, praise.
19 The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.
20 Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not fade; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over.
21 Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch I planted, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.
22 The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am Yahweh; I will accomplish it quickly in its time.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 18, 21): For most of my life I have be stuck in an angry, violent, and selfish mindset; living a very unrighteous and unholy life, Father. Please forgive me for continuing in this lifestyle even after I came to faith in Jesus in 2012. I know now that my own selfish desires were put on a pedestal above Your will for me, Father. I know now that I was allowing myself to be led by the world’s twisted ways and not by Your will, Your truth, and Your word. Please forgive me for falling short for far too long and far too often, Father. Help me build up walls of salvation and gates of praise like You mention in verse 18. Help me to live a righteous life for Your glory like You mention in verse 21. Forgive me of the issues I’ve given into from my past and help me to have less of those issues moving forward in my faith walk with You, Father.
PROMISE (verses 2, 19-20, 22): Once again, Father, when You repeat Yourself it must be for emphasis for me to be able to truly see and understand. In these verses You say three times that even in a world of darkness, You are our light and Your light is everlasting. It’s so difficult not to get stuck in the woes of this world and lose hope at times with all the sadness, devastation, and hatred that surrounds us. This world is definitely broken and infused with so much sin. Thank You for being the light in the darkness of this world, Father. Without Your light all would be lost and hopeless, but with this promise I can see a light at the end of the tunnel to guide my way and I thank You so much for that. You assure us of all these promises in that last verse (22) when you say that You “will accomplish it quickly in its time.” I know from experience that Your timing is always on-time, Father, so thank You so much for that stamp and emphasis on Your promise.
ATTITUDE (verse 18): Going back to my sin confession, Father, I need help putting up proper boundaries in my life. My default has always been that I can handle and basically do whatever I feel like in the moment, but my life has proven that is a very flawed attitude that has led me to sin more times than I can count. Help me to up a constant attitude that has not only walls of salvation and gates of praise, but also boundaries in-place to protect my sinful nature and default sinful attitudes from taking over, Father.
COMMAND (verses 1-2, 4-5): Although profound, I believe these verses are a command from You, Father. You tell us to arise and shine, to look, to raise our eyes and look around, to see and be radiant. Father, for far too long I have kept my Spiritual eyes buried in the sand, unable to truly see what You want me to see. Thank You for this command as I really do need to open my Spiritual eyes and see Your glory, Your truth, and Your counsel so that I may walk in Your light in this very dark and broken world. Help me to follow these commands and give me the strength to remember always that Your light is the way that I need to walk with through the darkness of this world in this life until Your return. Thank You for providing such a bright light for me to follow, Father, even if I often have closed my eyes to it.
EXAMPLE (verses 1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 21): So many examples for us to live by in this Scripture, Father. Thank You for providing these examples to us. As I mentioned in the Command section, You show us that we must rely on and focus on the light that You provide to us in this world of darkness. Your everlasting light helps us navigate the transgressions of this world and gives us hope and all we have to do is seek Your light. Then You provide us ways that we can build a fortress in our lives with Your ways embedded all around, Father. We should have peace as our guards, righteousness as our ruler, no violence in our lands, walls of salvation, and gates of praise. We should be a righteous people who walk in Your ways and Your light at all times. Please help me to truly understand, embrace, and walk in this example, Father, so that I may glorify Your kingdom in all that I am and do.
*DAILY NOTE: Thank You, Father, for always speaking to me and showing me that Your ways are better than my own. Thank You for giving me Your freedom to learn from the past, but also the ability to release myself from the prison my past has put me in for far too long and in so many different ways. I’ve learned so many bad traits from the things I’ve done and were done to me in the past. All of these things combined have produced in me many things that I wish weren’t there. Through You I can overcome all this negativity in my mind and heart. Through You I can overcome the pain this world has produced in me and the bad habits I’ve lived in for most of my life. Thank You, Father, for granting me the freedom, through You, to overcome so much.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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