Tuesday 12 July 2022

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Today is Tuesday the 12th of July, in the 15th week of Ordinary Time.

Steffany Gretzinger sings, ‘A Shield About Me’. As you listen, reflect on the ways in which God is your shield…keeping you from harm.

Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me

You're my glory

And the lifter of my head

Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me

You're my glory

And the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

You're the lifter of my head

Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me

You're my glory

And the lifter of my head

Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me

And You're my glory

And the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

You're the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

You're the lifter of my head

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 7:1-9

In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

For the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)

The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you do not stand firm in faith,

you shall not stand at all.

Today’s reading speaks of fear and courage amid chaos and threat of destruction. The heart of the nation of Judah is shaking like forest trees in the wind. Through Isaiah, God invites them to keep calm and stay strong in heart. In what ways today might God invite the same for you?

God says, ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.’ How might you respond to these assured words of God?

As you listen once more to the reading, who is God that you encounter there? What does that stir in you?

Talk with God about where your heart shakes and where it stands firm.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.