Isaiah, Days 2-4: Isaiah 55:6-13

Day Two: Read Isaiah 55:6,7 

1. What steps is the reader exhorted to take and what will be the result?

Steps:

*Seek the Lord.

To ‘seek the Lord’ is to direct conduct and heart to obtain possession of God as one’s own. Of that seeking, the chief element is calling upon Him; since such is His desire to be found of us that it only needs our asking in order to receive.

*Call upon Him while He is near.
*Let the wicked forsake his way.
*Let the righteous forsake his thoughts.
*Let him return to the Lord.

Result: "for He will abundantly pardon" (v.7)

 Day Three: Read Isaiah 55:8,9 

 1. Why does verse 8 begin with the word "For'? In this sense, the word "for" means because. The word signals a difference between the Lord's perspective and our own.  The comparison continues with the idea that as far apart as the heavens and the earth are, that's how far apart God's perspective is from our own.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

"God’s compassion on those who turn to Him (Isa_55:6-7) comes because His thoughts and ways are far superior to human thoughts and ways, which in fact are evil (cf. Isa_55:7). God’s plan is something people would have never dreamed of."  -BKC

"Mark also that the order of comparison is inverted in the two successive clauses in Isa_55:8. God’s thoughts have not entered into Israel’s mind and become theirs. The ‘thinkings’ not being regulated according to God’s truth, nor the desires and sentiments brought into accord with His will and mind, a contrariety of ‘ways’ must follow, and the paths which men choose for themselves cannot run parallel with God’s, nor be pleasing to Him."-Andrew MacLaren

Day Four: Read Isaiah 55:10-13

 1. Isaiah 1:20 and 40:5 say, "For the mouth of the Lord has spoken" What is the significance of this phrase or others like it in relation to Isaiah 55:10-13?

Isaiah 10-13 speaks of His Word going forth and producing fruit.  It "shall not return to Him empty" and "shall accomplish what he purposes." The significance is that as God has spoken, this sequence of events has been set in motion.

 2. What encourages you about God's promise of verse 11?   The inevitability of God's plan unfolding

 3. What do the metaphors of the thorn bush/cypress, nettle/myrtle represent? Sin/evil was my thought.  The commentary from Grace Bible Church says the thorns/nettle are unbelievers and the cypress/myrtle are the moral and spiritual conversion of such a life.