Biblical Prayer Meditation for Advent Week 4

Dec. 18, 2016 ~ Prev | Intro | Next

Isaiah 7:10-16 New Revised Standard Version

Use the meditation below to pray on the Isaiah 7 text this week or imagine your own way into the text.

God of Wonders, Open my heart to the words of Isaiah. Help me to look for signs of your presence in my life.

¹⁰Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.

Picture yourself in King Ahaz’s shoes. The city of Jerusalem is in a terrible situation, under siege by the kings of Israel and Aram. The people were starving and losing hope. In the midst of this the prophet Isaiah comes to you and tells you to ask for a sign—anything in the vast extent of the world. What sign would you ask from God to give you hope in a bleak situation?

¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.

Now imagine yourself standing in front of the prophet, refusing to ask for a sign. What is stopping you? What are you afraid of? In what else do you put your trust?

¹³Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?

Listen to the prophet chastise you. In what ways are you a tiresome to other people? In what ways do you try God’s patience? God wants to show you hope, yet you refuse to look for it. Look around you. What does God want you to see?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

You look around. You see a pregnant woman standing in the courtyard. She is young. She is ordinary, like any number of expectant mothers. What does it mean that she is a sign? What does it mean that her child is will be called “God with Us”? What is a baby in the face of besieging armies? What is a child in the face of starvation?

¹⁵He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Picture the child grown to a toddler, shouting “I want” and “No” and eating weaning food. In that short time, two or three years, the problem that is so much in the forefront of your mind, that is threatening your kingdom, will have receded. Is it really possible? Is there a way out of this situation?

What problems are forefront in your mind? What forces are besieging your life? How can God bring hope into this situation? Where do you look for signs of God’s presence? In what ways does the ordinary reveal prophetic hope?

God of Unexpected Signs, in a world that can seem dark and hopeless, break through my fears to ask you to reveal yourself to me. Help me to see your hope for the future in ordinary life. Make me what you want me to be. Amen.