Praying with Isaiah during Advent
The messages from the book of the prophet Isaiah are our
guide for the first part of Advent. This page is meant to be a help for our
letting these words console us and offer us hope. Though they were first meant
to be God's word to a people who "walked in darkness," they are for
us today quite alive with meaning. We can hear them personally.
We can hear
their prophetic hope in a future redemption that was fulfilled in Jesus.
We can
let these words challenge us to open our hearts. We can hear them helping us
know and trust our God's love for us today. When we let them into our hearts -
a phrase at a time - and chew them and let them nourish us, we can let these
words feed an Advent hope and longing within us.
Read them one at a time, or
scan several. It is better to enjoy small bits of this message and to savor it,
than to run through it, too quickly. Return to this page regularly during
Advent. It is a wonderful practice to ask for a grace before we let these words
touch our hearts. For example, we might ask something like this:
"Lord, open my heart to hear your word for me today. I
ask that you console me, comfort me, strengthen my trust in your faithful love,
and that you give me hope in the renewal of your coming in my life this
Advent." Or, we might pray: "Lord, show me the desert, the wasteland,
within me, and let me trust that you will bring new life and build a path to
you, within me."
The quotations are taken from the readings of the first part
of Advent. The links are to the full reading for that day.
The First Week of Advent
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| The Prophet Isaiah |
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden
our hearts so that we fear you not?
Isaiah 63
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.
Isaiah 63
Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were
mindful of you in our ways!
Isaiah 63
"Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain, to the house
of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in
his paths."
Isaiah 2
They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks.
Isaiah 2
Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!
Isaiah 2
On that day, A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon
him. ...
Isaiah 11
Trust in the LORD forever! For the LORD is an eternal Rock.
He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; He tumbles
it to the ground, levels it with the dust. It is trampled underfoot by the
needy, by the footsteps of the poor.
Isaiah 26
On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out
of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever
find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ...
Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and
those who find fault shall receive instruction.
Isaiah 29
He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he
hears he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread you need and the
water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with
your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, While from behind, a voice shall
sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would
turn to the right or to the left.
The Second Week of Advent
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her
guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double
for all her sins.
Isaiah 40
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in
the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every
mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the
rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together.
Isaiah 40
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers
the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Isaiah 40
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will
rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with
joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel
and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
Isaiah 35
Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees
that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to
save you.
Isaiah 35
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| Then the blind shall see... |
Isaiah 35
It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the
redeemed will walk. Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion
singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
Isaiah 35
Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the
eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow
weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Isaiah 40
Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger
and fall, They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar
as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow
faint.
Isaiah 40
I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and
lead you on the way you should go.
Isaiah 48
The Third Week of Advent
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| The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me... |
Isaiah 61
Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like
gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud
forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.
Isaiah 45
Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am
God; there is no other!
Isaiah 45
Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, Break
forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, For more numerous are the
children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says
the LORD. Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes. For you shall spread abroad to
the right and to the left; your descendants shall dispossess the nations and
shall people the desolate cities.
Isaiah 54
Fear not, you shall not be put to shame; you need not blush,
for you shall not be disgraced. The shame of your youth you shall forget, the
reproach of your widowhood no longer remember. For he who has become your
husband is your Maker; his name is the LORD of hosts; Your redeemer is the Holy
One of Israel, called God of all the earth.
Isaiah 54
The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in
spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. For a brief
moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back. In an
outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love
I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer.
Isaiah 54
This is for me like the days of Noah, when I swore that the
waters of Noah should never again deluge the earth; So I have sworn not to be
angry with you, or to rebuke you. Though the mountains leave their place and
the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be
shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Isaiah 54
The Fourth Week of Advent
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| Isaiah the Prophet |
Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is
about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.
Isaiah 56
No more shall people call you "Forsaken," or your
land "Desolate," but you shall be called "My Delight," and
your land "Espoused." For the LORD delights in you and makes your
land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.
Isaiah 62
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought
them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the
harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils.
Isaiah 9
For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For
every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned
as fuel for flames.
Isaiah 9
Isaiah 9
See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: say to
daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense
before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, and
you shall be called "Frequented," a city that is not forsaken.
Isaiah 62
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who
brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation,
and saying to Zion, "Your God is King!"
Isaiah 52
Taken from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Advent/Praying-with-Isaiah.html
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