Isaiah 54 - Restoration

LINK: Isaiah 54

BACKGROUND 

This is a positive chapter about the restoration of Israel. Israel had been a "barren woman."  In Jewish culture, it was disgraceful to be without children and a sign that God was not blessing the woman (1 Samuel 1:1-2:10). God is the faithful husband who forgives Israel, the unfaithful wife, and restores her to great blessing! The marriage image is used quite a bit in Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 50:1-2; 62:4; Jeremiah 3:8; Hosea 2, and Ezekiel 16, 23). God's covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19) was like a marriage, and they had not kept the covenant!

The deliverance from captivity and restoration was one of joy and singing (Isaiah mentions singing over 30 times in the book) and fruitfulness as the nation would increase and need more room to accommodate its growth. They would be fully forgiven and assured that they would not be destroyed again. 

Paul quoted Isaiah 54:1 in Galatians 4:27 and applied it to the church. As God blessed Sarah and Abraham and the Jewish remnant with children, He would bless the church even though they were small at the time.

Jesus quoted Isaiah 54:13 in John 6:45 claiming that people will come to Him because they are "taught of God." and the Spirit draws them through the Word. (Read John 6:37-45 for the entire context.)

REFLECTION 

I am sitting here with an old Bible looking at notes that I have written in the margin of Isaiah 54 and can break into a shout of joy (54:1)! Let me explain. 

In 1982, I was a nanny in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I had been there for three months, and it was a horrible time. I was depressed, oppressed, and discouraged. I had been put down and told I had "abandoned the Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20).  That was so hard because I had handed my life over to the Lord to use me in His Great Commission. I wanted to "make disciples" for the rest of my life, but I began to wonder if my life would ever amount to anything.  Would I ever see fruit from it?

On Christmas Day 1982, after some traumatic events, God gave me Isaiah 54 as a promise for my life even though I saw no light at the end of the tunnel.

On New Year's Day, not knowing how God had met me with this chapter, the mother of the kids I was caring for, gave me these same verses. I felt like this was such confirmation, and I have clung to these verses ever since.

(First of all, let me say that I know this chapter is about the restoration of Israel, and I am not Israel. Some would not use these verses as promises for themselves, but I believe that God does, at times, through the Holy Spirit, give us promises for our personal lives through the Old Testament, and this was one of those times.)

A few months later, God brought me back to these verses when I was in Seattle, involved in The Navigators at the University of Washington, and feeling pretty depressed and discouraged over "spiritual children."  I was still doubting that I would ever see fruit from my life in this area.

He also gave me a promise in my singleness that I was not really alone, and that He would be my Husband (54:5) and He would bear children through me. It gave me such purpose in my singleness. (I was single until I was 31 years old.)

I think I was trying to do this in the context of my current ministry, The Navigators, when a couple of months later, I was silent before the Lord, and He told me to go to Corvallis, OR, and this would be where He would begin to bear fruit through my life (or continue to as He had done a bit of that when I lived there in college). I moved there, and God immediately gave me women who were hungry to grow and know Him!

Over thirty years later, I can look back and see that God has blessed me and given me many spiritual "daughters" (I know that verse 13 says "sons") who have been taught of Him and allowed me to be part of the process of growth of many through spiritual direction, discipleship, and encouragement. 

In addition, eventually, God gave me an earthly husband and sons, and I have claimed 54:13 for my sons' lives as well. It was so fun last night to go through Discipleship Essentials with them and see the Lord teach them during our "Dinner, Dessert, and Discipleship" time as a family. They are still in process, and they are in the Lord's hands, but the Lord is giving them a good foundation for a lifetime of growth and well-being. 

As a couple, God has given us spiritual descendants who will possess nations (54:3) as we currently train men and women to go out into the unreached harvest fields of the world (Luke 10:2).  

God has truly blessed me since that desperate time in 1982!  

Many (not all) of these women have been women I have met with for discipleship and direction over the years: 

This year's kingdom community:

2023 Update: I returned to Santiago de Compostela 40 years later in October of 2022 to walk the last 71 miles of the Camino de Santiago with some of the people who have been in our training over the years. It was a healing time for me.

Buen Camino! October 2022 with Josh (Training 2013-14),
John (Training 2017-18), and Katherine (Training 2014-15, 17-18)

APPLICATION

God wants to use you in the lives of spiritual sons and daughters (as well as our earthly sons and daughters). Who will you invest in today? How will you invest?

Here are a few books to help you understand the importance of discipleship:

The Master Plan of Evangelism (a classic and a favorite)
Transforming Discipleship (research on what helps people grow)
Discipleship Essentials (a workbook by the author of Transforming Discipleship)

2023 Update: This is a newer book that would be a great discipling tool. I am coaching someone who is using it right now, and she loves it.

The Reservoir

2023 Update: After this picture from 2012, we had four more training groups, and now we are in a community with many who are still in town. One of them just wrote me on Mother's Day: 

"Happy happy Mother's Day Carol!! I hope you feel so celebrated today not only because you're an awesome mom to two boys but a spiritual mom to many. Thank you for your persistence, commitment, and love you share with so many!! Love you!"

I do more spiritual direction now (see my website at Body and Soul Companion), but I told a group of new directors just last Thursday that my direction will always be flavored with my discipleship bent. I think I would add other books to that list that help people change from the inside out rather than just "doing" discipleship. 

PRAYER

Lord, I pray for every person reading this blog to have at least one spiritual descendant. I also pray that the well-being of their sons and daughters would be great. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.