Isaiah 28-29

Love’s Dimensions

     Ah, Monday. Sometimes you may stumble out of bed in a stupor, wondering where the weekend went and why you weren't wise enough to go to bed early on a Sunday night. Foggy brains, like drinking alcohol, makes you do stupid things (like posting a silly poem on the wrong website).

     In Isaiah, God called the priests, prophets and people of Ephraim and Jerusalem a bunch of drunks. They just weren't getting it. They said they loved the Lord and followed His ways, but they were all talk and no action.

     In these two chapters, Isaiah 28-29, you can feel God’s anguish, His anger and His love all rolled into one. He’s a Holy Father with disobedient children. If they’d only listen, life would be good for them.

He’s the same Father today. He provides forgiveness and eternal salvation in Christ, graces you with the ability to walk in His fellowship and will, and promises to answer your prayers. But sometimes His people just don’t get it. What’s a loving father to do?

     Hebrews 4:7 says to endure hardship as discipline. Thank Him today for the hardships in your life and the fact that no matter if it feels like it or not, He does love you. He knows everything about you and wants a close relationship with you. He wants what’s best for you. He answers your faith-filled prayers in His time. Commit to Him, and recommit to Him, your troubles, cares and concerns. And thank Him daily for His love and all the ways He expresses it to you. 

     He loves you so much He experiences sorrow whenever you just don’t get it. Ask God for a revelation of the dimensions of His love and all He provided for you on the cross. Look up all the verses using the phrases “in Christ” to see what God has already given you.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19) The Message

Connie L. Peters has thirty years of experience in writing poetry, adult and children’s fiction and inspirational non-fiction. Currently she writes devotions for The Presidential Prayer Team and The Pagosa Sun. She also writes a poem a day on enthusiaticsoul.blogspot.com. Connie’s work has appeared in numerous publications including Focus on the Family, Bible Advocate and The Quiet Hour. She has served on the board of Southwest Christian Writers Association for the past twenty years. Connie lives in Cortez, CO where she and her husband host two adults with developmental disabilities. The Peters’ two grown children live in Arizona.