Discipling Life

The prophet Isaiah provides us with several passages that describe the one we often call the “Suffering Servant”. Beginning with the New Testament itself, the church has traditionally identified Christ as the Suffering Servant (e.g., Matthew 12:18-21; Acts 8:26-35 ).  In today’s text Isaiah speaks of a servant who wakes each morning ready to listen, to speak, and to endure. The servant’s strength does not come from stubborn self-reliance but from a daily yielding to God’s call. The image of setting one’s face “like flint” shows a determination rooted in trust: God helps, so there is no need to be ashamed. In our Wesleyan tradition, we talk a lot about “prevenient grace”—the way God is already working in our lives before we even realize it. Here, the servant recognizes that his ability to speak comfort to the weary isn’t something he came up with on his own. It is a gift. But notice that before the servant has a “tongue of a teacher,” he must have the “ear of a learner.” Mornin...

Psalm 23 is a passage loved by so many. It is heard so often. It is often one of the first passages of scripture we commit to memory. There is a real danger of overfamiliarity with this text. Do we repeatedly read it (or hear it) with our own preconceived expectations of what it is going to say to us? Because we do know it so well, might we be approaching it with a spiritual blindness? We don’t have the space to look at the psalm line by line, but let’s focus on a theme that connects to this week’s other texts for the Fourth Sunday in Lent this week. How do we learn to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us afresh as we read or hear a familiar text? Let’s try this: let’s consider some of the key phrases in Psalm 23. For example, in verse three what does it mean that the Lord “restores my soul” and “leads me in right paths”? Let’s consider them one at a time. First, the phrase: He restores my soul. God brings about a renewal or revitalization of the inner self, reflecting the ...