Skip to main content

Isaiah – week 2 and 3

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is The Cubicle Next Door by Siri Mitchell.
My Monday book giveaway is Calm, Cool and Adjusted by Kristin Billerbeck
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the The Cubicle Next Door and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

Win an iPod Nano! Exclusively for my newsletter YahooGroup subscribers, I have a huge contest running until January 31st! Get more info on my contest page!

My Blog Bible Study in Isaiah:

Zion will be restored by justice;
Those who repent will be revived by righteousness.
Isaiah 1:27

I thought this was the theme of chapter one in Isaiah. God wants his people to repent but he also promises judgment.

This spoke to me about his character—He is active. He will move and he has moved.

I can’t take lightly the Word of the Lord, what he’s promised to do, the actions he says he’ll take. It expands my view of him, gives him a more terrible and wonderful cast.

Chapters 2 and 3 can be summed up in this verse:

Human pride will be brought down,
And human arrogance will be humbled.
Only the Lord will be exalted
On that day of judgment.
Isaiah 2:11

(It must be important, it’s repeated in verse 17.) It’s another promise of God’s actions against his disobedient people, and more importantly—why.

I think I don’t remember God’s power and holiness as much as I should. He promises to destroy Jerusalem and Judah in order to purify it (4:4). That’s pretty extreme. God is pretty extreme. That’s why he’s God.

Where is my heart? I think about God as my father and my friend, but I don’t think about him as holy and powerful, and that’s also part of his character. I can’t ignore some aspects of him just because they’re unpleasant in my little world.

Will I be among the holy remnant, purified?

Tell the godly that all will be well for them.
They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!
But the wicked are doomed,
For they will get exactly what they deserve.
Isaiah 3:10-11

TMI:

Writing: I posted another article on developing your writer’s voice at my Story Sensei blog.

Comments

Mark Goodyear said…
Camy, I'm right there with you on this: "I think about God as my father and my friend, but I don’t think about him as holy and powerful."

And yet in my heart I know this is the great lie that I have to unlearn.

God is not my buddy. He's the Creator of the universe. Moses learned the truth: To look on him is to die. Jesus was the truth: to live like him is to take up a cross.

But somehow I still tend to think of church as this place of group therapy where God helps me negotiate a more comfortable life and better mental health.

I'm not saying God is sadistic. His desires for us are good. But I wonder if my view of him--and goodness in general--isn't horribly skewed. Thank God for the gift of his spirit. Thank God for the example of Jesus.

Boy, am I preaching here or what?

Happy Thanksgiving, friend!
Unknown said…
I've been clinging to some of the promises in Isaiah for the past several months. I, too, sometimes forget the powerfulness and holiness. Thanks for the reminder.
Kelly said…
Wow, just last week I was studying a message on the fear of the Lord and came to the same conclusion that we forget what a great God we serve. This is the same God that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. It was a good reminder for me. Thanks for the confirmation.
PatriciaW said…
Father, friend, even powerful. I think I fall short on the holiness of God. A God to be worship, revered, held in awe and amazement. Can we be too comfortable with God?
Anonymous said…
There are some great questions raised here in your comments..."Can we be too comfortable with God?"
Can God be your buddy, and holy and powerful creator of the universe? I mean, we don't stop being friends with someone just because they have this fantastic intangible part to them...
There has to be some balance to this...I'm sure. Maybe that will come next?

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

Free Christian Romantic Suspense Novels by Camy Tang / Camille Elliot

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...

Meet the Dashing Spy on the Cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 3

If you enjoy clean historical suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of danger, you’ll love my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series! It’s a multi-volume Christian Regency serial following a group of unlikely aristocrats battling a dangerous conspiracy in 1811 London. Today, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite covers in the series— Volume 3: Aggressor. Who is that handsome gentleman? The model on the cover represents Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, one of my main characters. This clever spy with a tortured past finally gets the cover spotlight in this volume, which is one of my favorite covers because the model is so handsome. 😄 I absolutely love this cover model! His name is Anatolii and here’s the original stock photo . It was really tough to try to decide which photo to use for the cover! It was a tossup between him and the main heroine, Miss Phoebe Sauber, for the cover for book 1, but I eventually went with Phoebe. Then in book 2, he was kind of...