Scripture: Isaiah 60:1 (AMP) “Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you; rise to a new life]! Shine – be radiant with the glory of the Lord; for your light is come, and the glory of the lord is risen upon you!”

Observation: In chapter 59, Isaiah explains that God sees Israel is lacking in righteousness. It grieves Him (59:1-15), but God promises to send the Messiah (v. 16-21) to rescue them from themselves. Chapter 60 is the dawn of a new day. The day everything changed.

There is a marked change in the reader’s life at the opening of chapter 60.  He or she went to sleep depressed, exhausted, and involuntarily submissive, but when he or she woke, everything had changed. The reader is to look and stand up to see how the Lord has changed his or her life.  The reader is told to shine and be radiant with light that has cut through his or her darkness.

Moving to verses 18-22, the Lord lists all the things that will be different for the reader:

• No more violence in the land
• No more devastation or destruction within the boarders
• No more depending on the sun or moon for light the way
• No more mourning

Instead, the reader is promised:

• Salvation
• Praise
• the Lord will be the everlasting light
• God will be his beauty and crown
• that his people (descendents) will be uncompromisingly and consistently righteous
• that God will secure them and prosper the reader’s descendents

Application: Thanks you, Jesus!

My house has been a war zone the past few years. I’ve been praying for peace and calmness for so long without seeing any results.

I started a Bible study about gentleness with my children, and they struggled with it.  Neither one of them took it seriously. My daughter thought it was silly, and my son was convinced nothing would change, but this scripture is a great promise to me!

God hears me and He will answer me. He is promising me that my family will not be hateful to one another and the mourning for a loving family will end. He will give me what I seek. I have to trust that as I continually teach my children to be gentle, loving and kind to each other that the Holy Spirit will change them. The Holy Spirit will change us.

God told Israel of His plans to totally alter their lives before He did it; therefore, they had a vision, a standard, a promise to look forward to. Likewise, I have a promise to look forward to and a standard for my family to live up to. I can now say with confidence that my family is righteous, and the standard for my children is right living.  I can now say with confidence that my children are God’s planting and will glorify Him, and I can hold that as a banner and standard for them.

What excites me the most is that if I allow the Holy Spirit to work, my children will go on and become thousands and a strong nation. I want my descendants to love Jesus with all their hearts and be “uncompromisingly and consistently” committed to Him.

Prayer: Thanks you, Jesus for showing me this promise. I know it wasn’t a coincident to read this portion of scripture while in the middle of this struggle. You are so good to me!  I will use this scripture as a reminder of what you not only want my family to be, but also what You have promised my family will be if I surrender all to You. Help me to stay focused on what You will make my family and not what it looks like right now. Help me, dear Jesus, to gently turn them away from the actions that cause chaos and destruction and toward the actions that bring peace, love and kindness to our home.

Thank you, Lord, for knowing what I need before I even know it. Everything I have been praying for, You have already provided. I only have to see it and live in it.   Amen.