Warnings and promises
Day 315, Sunday, June 22
Isaiah 8:19 – 10:19
Isaiah is rich in prophecies that Christians understand to refer to the coming of Jesus Christ. Many of these shaped expectations of a future king who would shake off the shackles of foreign control.
Several of these are familiar to us as readings from the Advent or Christmas seasons. One, in Chapter 9, is, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
A few verses later we read, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Lest we forget, though, the promise passages are set against a background of warnings and demands that call for righteous living.
The beginning of Chapter 10 is one such warning:
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless…. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.”

Sunday meditation

Proverbs 31:8-9
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Prayer focus
Grant us, Lord, the courage to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of the poor and needy.

-Rev. Mark Fleming