Isaiah 24 – Yahweh
lays waste the earth and all who live on it – good, bad, high and low – the
blessed “everlasting covenant” (24:5) God made with all humans has not been
held sacred. The sounds of joyful celebration are silenced.
But there are “islands” in the world – pockets of faithful –
who still lift up their voices and sing for joy. All will be destroyed – from
the deities who claim honor in the skies to kings who will also be “herded
together” (24:21) and shamed.
For Isaiah, this all-inclusive
“covenant” that God made from the beginning, is the key covenant and
obligation. Interesting the allusion to islands of faithfulness (verse 15)
where honor is accorded to those who are upright.
Isaiah 25 – The
prophet extols Yahweh because he brings down the proud and unjust. He is “a
refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in distress, a shelter from the
storm, a shade from the heat”(25:4).
On the mountain of Zion Yahweh will prepare a “banquet of
rich food” for “all peoples” (25:6). He will destroy Death forever. He “will
wipe away the tears from every cheek” (25:8). “Let us rejoice in the salvation
he brings!” (25:9).
Moab, however, will be “brought down to the ground, down
into the dust” (25:12).
Isaiah 26 – In
that day “everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: ‘Our city is
strong. We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation. Open the gates to
all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect
peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Trust in the
Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock’” (26:1-4).
Verses from a number of psalms follow: “At night my soul
longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you: when your judgments appear on
earth the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity” (26:9).
The experience of allowing God to lead and guide them,
punish and revive them is what has made them great, is what has permitted them
to give birth to God’s fruit. And this fruit will not perish in death. “[T]hose
who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again. Those who sleep in
the earth will rise up and sing for joy. For your life-giving light will fall
like dew on your people in the place of the dead” (26:19). “The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the
earth for their sins” (26:21).
From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through
Quakerism
Part 24
How one is to “live” this very
experiential faith is very particular to each person. For purposes of this
blog, I am going to skip the details of my life back in the early 1980s, which
I do into in my book. I want to focus on the general principles and the early
Quaker writings I came across during this time that were so helpful, so
amazing.
The journey starts where you are, in whatever darkness and
confusion you are in:
“Do not look for such great matters
to begin with; but be content to be a
child, and let the Father proportion out daily to thee what light, what
power, what exercises, what straits, what fears, what troubles he sees fit for
thee and do thou bow before him continually in humility of heart. Thou must join in with the beginning of
life, and be exercised with the day of small things before thou meet with the
great things, wherein is the clearness and satisfaction of the soul. The
rest is at noonday, but the travels begin at the breakings of day, wherein are
but glimmerings of little light, wherein the discovery of good and evil are not
so manifest and certain; yet THERE must the traveler begin and travel; and in
his faithful travels the light will break in upon him more and more” (Penington
quote from a British Faith and Practice).
This was true. To imagine that God will suddenly give you
the power to work miraculous changes in your life or to undo the consequences
of sins you have persisted in for years is to expect too much. It is to “run
off” in your own will, thinking it is God’s, following some notion you have
about what God would have you do. Real faith doesn’t look like that. Real faith in the beginning is only a tiny
seed that has been much neglected. It is a seed with great potential and
great promise, but it is still a seed. The
important thing is to try in the small ways that are opened to you to move in
the direction of the light that will make the seed grow. God does not
expect extraordinary things from spiritual newborns. The life of faith is a
journey; one doesn’t just materialize at the finish line without first learning
how to crawl, how to toddle, and then how to walk.
As for running, one could never aspire to that. Running was
always seen as a bad thing in the thinking of early Friends. One couldn’t keep
in touch with one’s guide when one ran.
“Thou must wait for life to be
measured out by the Father and be content with what proportion, and at what
time, he shall please to measure. Oh! Be little, be little; and then thou wilt
be content with little. And if thou feel
now and then a check or a secret smiting – in that is the Father’s love; be not over-wise or over-eager in
thy own willing, running, and desiring, and thou mayst feel it so and by
degrees come to the knowledge of thy Guide, who will lead thee, step by step,
in the path of life and teach thee to follow and in his own season, powerfully
judge that which cannot or will not follow. Be still, and wait for light and
strength and desire not to know or comprehend, but to be known and comprehended
in the love and life, which seeks out, gathers, and preserves the lost sheep”
(Penington, Early Quaker Writings, Barbour
and Roberts, eds. 239-240).
But it isn’t easy
being little. The heroes of faith we
celebrate – the prophets, martyrs, and saints – sometimes give us the impression
that God is only interested in the great and memorable demonstrations of his
power in our lives, but this is not true. The sturdy foundation in faith is
built on faithfulness in the small things that make up the fabric of our lives
– the integrity of words and deeds, our willingness to recognize and repair
mistakes we make, our willingness to witness to his presence and authority in
our lives – the small and very concrete ways we express the love he pours out
on us. These were the things I felt most encouraged to work on.
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