The peaceable kingdom
December 9, 2020 | Karen Barnes
About the author: Karen Barnes has been a member at ZPC for 24 years this month. She is married to Clay and has three children, Gracie, Christina, and Noah. Clay and Karen are very involved with the Great Banquet as well as many other ministries inside and outside of ZPC.
This week's scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10
I love this passage, even more so this year. It speaks to our hearts’ deepest longings, does it not? It prophesies, years before Jesus’ holy birth in a manger, of our one, true leader and his wonderful character attributes. A leader on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests. A leader who will “delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited.” (v. 3 – 4a) As if that were not enough v. 4b goes on to say, “The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked!” Bring it on!!! The passage then talks about the results in the world of having a leader such as this … how the wolf and the lamb will live together, the cub and the calf will lie down together and even how a baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra and put his hand in its nest without harm. So basically, the “peaceable kingdom” is without fear, without danger and its safety comes from all creatures living together in love. “The earth will be filled with people who know the Lord” reads v. 9b. This world exists because all its citizens know the Lord.
Verses such as this, words from the Lord, fill our hearts with peace as we reflect on them. They focus our thoughts on the fulfillment of God’s promises in his new Jerusalem. They give us the divine reassurance that in the end “The wrong will fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men” as sung in the old carol “I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day”. That is wonderful … but as 2020 has shown us in many ways, that is not where we are yet.
We have all been challenged by Jerry to spend time daily meditating on the word of God. What that looks like for me is reviving a practice I have engaged in, on and off over the course of my walk as a Christian. It usually involves writing down in a notebook the verses that speak to my heart as I encounter them in my personal reading of the Bible. I have collected these notebooks over the years and to review them is to walk down the spiritual memory lane of my life. I can look at the verses and the dates beside them indicating when I wrote them down and see what it is I was struggling with or where God was shaping me at the time. I can see when I was faithfully writing and, in the gaps, when I was not. Taken as a volume set, it is beautiful to see the many promises of God woven throughout these books. Their power has been transformative in my life, but it has come at a slow, almost imperceptible, pace. Gentle whispers more than lightning bolts, for sure. The same “slow and steady” plodding has characterized these last weeks as I seek to daily meditate on God’s word.
I think the key for me has been in seeking consistency. Note I said “seeking” because while I would like to say I am disciplined enough to do this every single day, alas I am not. My roommate in college had a different habit for getting God’s word into her daily life and that was through written notes. When she felt that God was impressing a specific verse or passage on her heart, she wrote it down on a scrap of paper and pasted the “note” somewhere she could readily see in our room … the mirror, the closet door, the wall beside her bed. Our room always had a collection of at least a few notes around it. Some twenty years later I visited her beautiful new, family home and guess what I saw as soon as I walked into her kitchen? Yep. A hand-written note with a verse on it right by the phone. Made me smile. It’s now been over 35 years since we lived together in our room at the sorority house. I texted her as I was writing this and asked if she still put verses on notes around her house. Even before she texted back, I knew the answer would be yes. I know her heart. She is known in her world as a woman who knows the Lord and follows him, and her life bears so much fruit as a result. Consistently seeking God through his word is what connects us to God. It is how we become people who KNOW the Lord, v. 9b. It is what fills our heart with peace, shapes our daily lives bit by bit and registers us as citizens of God’s peaceable kingdom right now.
Reflection:
Listen to “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” sung by Mercy Me. MercyMe - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Pseudo Video) - YouTube
The song is based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow written on Christmas Day in 1864. He was familiar with sadness at this time in his life, much like many have experienced in 2020. Read on to hear more of the backstory and why it ends with so much hope.