Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Monday, 7 July 2014 - Read Isaiah 55:10-13

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Monday, 7 July 2014 - Read Isaiah 55:8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.
12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy,
    you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
    bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
    exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
    no more thornbushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
    living and lasting evidence of God.”(The Message)
Be assured. God's word accomplishes its purpose in you. God's word cannot fail. We need look no further than the ecology of creation to understand this. Rain and snow cannot help but water the earth. But that isn't all; once watered, the earth produces. That still isn't all; it continues its work by providing seeds to the sower and ultimately nourishes the eater with bread. God's word is the gift that keeps on giving. This great gift and its giver are noticed even by the singing mountains and clapping trees. How do you celebrate this gift? Do you notice it? Consider what God's word is accomplishing in your life, in your community, in the world.
Be confident. Be bold. Just as God's word has accomplished its purpose in you, so too will God's word accomplish its purpose through you. Be assured. Be bold. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace.
Giving God, send us out into your world in joy. Lead us back to you in peace. Amen.
Shauna Hannan
Associate Professor of Preaching, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. 
Master of Divinity , 1998
Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.(New Revised Standard Version)
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