Isaiah 55:12-13 is a beautiful end to a beautiful chapter. "For you will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever." The great call of the chapter (v1-7) is to come to the free banquet of grace, to open ears as if mouths to eat, to seek the Lord, to come to him who is the feast. And then there are three reasons given: v8-9 - this Lord is nothing like you imagined, v10-11 - His Word is coming down from heaven to earth to bring life, v12-13 - this is all for joy God's great plan is the joy project . We are heading towards eternal joy - the greater Exodus - "led forth in peace." Miriam singing and dancing on the far s...
"So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only [literally: 'they became'] a few days to him because of his love for her." (Genesis 29:20) Robert Alter, Genesis Translation and Commentary , on Gen 22:9-10: "In contrast to the breathless pace of the narrative as a whole, this sequence inscribes a kind of slow motion: building the altar, laying out the wood, binding... reaching out the hand..." Adam Ramsey's beautifully written Faithfully Present is summed up well by the subtitle: "Embracing the Limits of Where and When God Has You." Big idea: God is unlimited by place and time but we are limited. Ramsey gives wisdom on what it looks like to 'make peace' with those creaturely limits, in a way that is rooted not in trendy mindfulness (and not unrealistic about the demands of real life) but is grounded in the gospel realities of creation, fall, redemption, sanctification and consummation. Highlights Ramsey's des...