Needing Isaiah's God in Troubled Times

The time has come, Isaiah said, to talk of many things,Of shanties in the garden patch and ships and foreign kings,Of rivers, seas, and flowing streams, of lions, ewes, and lambs,Of pelicans and porcupines, of owls and wild goats,Of people tall and smooth of skin, of scorching drought and rain,Of words that judge and words that weep and words that sing,Of sovereignty and covenant, and One who reigns forevermore.Approaching Isaiah through his words used often is like entering an ivy-covered side door that no one has opened recently. In her reflections on the twelve words, Carole Streeter draws from the prophets love for Yahweh and Israel and the natural world and love for the past, present, and all that is to come in Gods wondrous kingdom.