Caribbean Moravian Devotions

For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11

As the spring came around, many began planting vegetables, food stuff, flowers and many other crops. We did this for our personal use as well as for financial gain. All we could do however was prepare the soil and plant the seeds. We fertilized, and we watered. That was as far as our efforts would take us. The growth, development, flowering and bearing of what we planted did not depend on us.

The prophecies in the ending chapters of Isaiah are addressed to those who returned to the land of Israel before the rebuilding of the temple in 520 B.C. Now that they were restored as a community of worshippers and looking forward to rebuilding the temple, they sought to organize themselves into a religious community. The question now was who would be included. Not much had changed from before the exile. There was still idolatry, hypocrisy, injustice, and spiritual disease. The importance here however is not on the emphasis or effort of the community, but on the ServantÂ’s mission. Many times friends we are discouraged by what is happening around us and expect that we are to do something about it when it is not our prerogative to do anything. There are some things which only God can do.

In IsraelÂ’s struggle to establish themselves as a religious community, God had to remind them that what they were struggling with, what they were seeing as impossible, was within GodÂ’s power and plans for them. Sometimes we fail to celebrate what we have or where we are because we are distracted by where we want or ought to be. May this text be a reminder to us to celebrate where we are while allowing God to bring us where we need to be. We can never get there on our own, but always remember that we are a part of GodÂ’s plan. Anticipate GodÂ’s bringing us where we ought to be. Discouraged Israel, with all her faults and shortcomings, would still be GodÂ’s tool to bring righteousness to the nations.

As we celebrate Emancipation Day in the former British colonies today, let us not be confined to where we are, but trust God to move us to where God wants us to be. In this way, we too will be GodÂ’s witnesses before a world which slowly forgetting or turning away from God. In these times we need to be more than outstanding, we need to stand out and remember, it doesnÂ’t depend on us, it depends on God.

Till next Tuesday, be blessed.