jesus

Embracing God’s Invitation: A Reflection on Isaiah 55

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

To start the first Sunday of the year 2025 right, I opened the Bible to read some verses today. This passage came to mind from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah 55.

What a blessed piece of Scripture!

It illustrates so beautifully what a relationship with God looks like.

Isaiah 55:3 – Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you…

In the words of this verse, God invites us into fellowship with Him.

Does the thought of a relationship with God make sense to you?

How can a mortal being, a human who was formed from dust and will return to dust after death, be connected to the Creator of their very being?

How can we have a relationship with an unseen God?

And why would we want a relationship with a God who often appears unjust – allowing good people to die too young and wickedness to rule on this earth?

God’s response to those questions?

Isaiah 55:8 – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

Who is this word, the Lord, referring to?

If you are unfamiliar with God as the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, this reference might be unclear to you. That is a topic for a different time.

Having heard the word all of my growing up years through now, I understand what the Lord means for me, personally, and that the Lord refers to Jesus, the Son of God. Yes, the same one whose birth we celebrated at Christmas. And whose resurrection we will celebrate in a few months.

Although I understand Jesus is Lord, I was unsure of a good way to explain it. I googled the term, and these are some key points I discovered:

Why is Jesus called, “Lord?”

Authority: Jesus has “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He is the head of the church, the ruler over all creation, and the Lord of lords and King of kings (Col. 1:15-18; Rev. 3:14, 17:14). 

Obedience: Jesus humbled himself and obeyed God all the way to death on the cross. God exalted him for his obedience and gave him the supreme name in the heavens. 

Religious significance: In antiquity, “lord” was a courtesy title for social superiors, but it also had religious significance because kings were often considered divine beings 

Now we understand who the Lord is. Most if not all of you have heard the concepts, born again, becoming a Christian, accepting Jesus as our Savior. Those are ways to say that we acknowledge that we are sinners, that Jesus took our sins upon himself when he died on the cross, and that He is alive today. We repent of our sins and invite Jesus into our hearts. We ask Him to be our Savior.

We also acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives.

What does that phrase mean?

In the same Google search, the following was said:

Submission: By calling Jesus “Lord”, we submit to God’s rules and trust him to give us what is best.

Wait a minute!

Hold the phones! (Does that phrase make any sense with today’s technology? Probably not)

Calm down. The word Submission is not meant in a physical sense here. The word has many connotations, many of them negative. Those are topics for another day (And way above my limited education.)

Because the word Submission has so many meanings, it’s important to recognize the Biblical concept as described here:

Submission: By calling Jesus “Lord”, we submit to God’s rules and trust him to give us what is best.

Rules?

Who needs more rules, right?

We’ve been given rules to live by since we were tiny earthlings. First our parents (or caregivers), give us the rules for what we can eat, what we can touch, where we can go. Then in school, our teachers and other professionals add to those rules. Some may come us a surprise to us. (What, we’re not allowed to bite when we get angry? a child may discover after he bites a classmate.)

Did you know that you have the right to say “no”? God has given us what is called free will. He will allow us to do and say anything, but sometimes there might be consequences for our actions and words. Natural consequences, when what we do causes harm, or punishment from the authorities.

From a very early age, we learn that we can say “no” to authority. Our free will is exercised from the time a parent says to a toddler, “don’t touch that” and the toddler looks the parent right in the eye, and touches “that.”

In general, by the time we are an adult, we are tired of following everyone else’s rules. We want to be our own authority, the boss of our own life. “No one is going to tell me what to say or do.” (Hello, do you have a boss on your job? Big eye-opener.)

God’s given us free will, which means we do not have to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. We can say “no” to God’s invitation to call on Him.

When you feel the tug on your heart to make Jesus the Lord of your life, you don’t have to respond to it. You can ignore those nudges and live life your own way. But it’s clear from the verses above that God calls us to Him.

This brings us back to my original question. Why would we want a God who often appears unjust – allowing good people to die to young and wickedness to rule on this earth?

There are many arguments for why God is not a good God. Some would say He is not the God of love that He portrays Himself as in the Bible. But that’s not the way I believe.

So how can you know for sure that God is who the Bible says He is?

There’s this little thing called faith. It might only be as small as a mustard seed, but that bit of faith is all you need to recognize who God truly is. The Creator, the Heavenly Father, the God of grace and mercy. When you feel the nudge on your heart to make Jesus your Lord, you are given enough faith to say Yes. Faith is believing in the unseen God.

A relationship with God grows from that tiny seed of faith. Every time you read or hear the Bible preached, you learn more about the love and Grace of God. For me, I hear it in the words of every song I listen to and try to sing. I love both the old hymns with their antiquated, poetic words, and the contemporary songs we worship with today. (I’ve been known to have a song for every mood. My playlists will confirm that.)

Even with faith, we still question why God allows terrible tragedies and sins to happen. I would be lying if I said if I always understood the why’s.

I, for one, will never totally comprehend why my husband died in a tragic work accident in the prime of his life. Why God would leave my children fatherless and me without the rock of support that he was for me.

Isaiah 55:9: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,” (declares the Lord).

Do I trust that God has a purpose in losing Pat? Our loss was Heaven’s gain, and Pat received his eternal reward much earlier than most of his family and friends.

The Bible says in Romans 8:

Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

For me, good things have come out of my tragic loss. I have a deeper faith in God than I did in August 2010. God has shown himself to be a loving Father. He has sent people to help me and given me a clearer understanding of what His will is in my life. He has proven to me that He is a God of grace and second chances.

Could he have done this another way, other than with Pat’s death?

Yes, because He is God.

But again, His ways are higher than my ways, His thoughts higher than my thoughts.

Just like I couldn’t envision Pat’s death at an early age, I can’t see the big picture of how my life is going to turn out. Like the underside of one of my mom’s embroidered artpieces, what I see down here on earth are snarls that don’t make any sense sometimes.

Yet I trust God with all my heart, with all the faith that is within me, that when I get to the other side, when I pass from this life and enter heaven, I will see the whole picture, and it will be beautiful.

Won’t you trust Him today to be the Lord of your life?

God gives you this invitation in Isaiah 55:6

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

Lost car keys, again?

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

I have errands to run this morning. But I woke up before three a.m. and didn’t know if I’d get back to sleep. If I couldn’t sleep longer then I wouldn’t feel like getting out and, well, I’d already placed a grocery order.

My kids were still up. They work second shift so they stay up until the middle of the night then sleep until noon. It isn’t often that I’m awake in the middle of the night but when I am, we have a chance to chat.

Lately I’ve wasted time looking for my car keys when I have to go somewhere. At four this morning, I decided to find them and put them beside my purse. So I would be ready to just walk out the door.

Only I couldn’t find them. I searched everywhere. Pants pockets even though they’d been washed, floor under the table, underneath the clutter on the counter and table, washer, dryer – I grew frustrated and concerned about them.

I prayed about it. Lord, please let me find my car keys.

When I paused in my search, I remembered I’d taken them with me when my brother picked me up to take me somewhere last week. I’d laughed about it then, because I hadn’t needed MY car keys.

So I concluded that I must have left them in my brother’s van. It was too early to call him. I ended up falling back asleep for a couple of hours. This time when I woke up and thought about my car keys, I remembered I’d worn a jacket the day my brother picked me up so I checked the pocket of that jacket.

Found them.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for loving me enough to help me find my car keys even though it’s a minor inconvenience. The errands could have waited.

But this isn’t the first time I’ve prayed over losing my car keys and found them with a nudge shortly after praying.

I thought about how God blessed me with this little win. I wondered why, when other people are facing such horrible circumstances right now.

The small prayers that God answers help prepare us for the big things that come up. If we can trust God to pray and know that He will answer in the minor things we ask for, we can trust that when we pray for the big things He will answer those, too.

Just because: Here’s a view of a peaceful haven where I’ve spent time praying and singing and visiting with friends.

Good Wednesday Morning. October 2, 2024

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

Wait, Good morning? What is so good about it?

I didn’t sleep well. I woke up early, disoriented from my dreams. Then I remembered something I wanted to change about an ad I placed, so I left a message at the newspaper desk and also sent an email.
Whew! Hopefully they can make the change in time before publishing.
If not, though, that is going to have to be okay.

What was I saying?
Oh, yes.

What is good about this morning?

I’m alive. I woke up. I’m breathing. At almost sixty, this is no small feat. God has blessed me with another day.

Often I get discouraged and negative about things in my life. I look around my house and think of the remodeling I want to do and lament that there is not enough money or time to do all that I want to do.

Is it a good morning?

For me, it is. Forget about the remodeling. It seems so unimporant in light of photos I’ve seen from the hurricane, of whole homes dropping into the flood waters. Kind of puts my remodelinginto perspective, doesn’t it?

I’m thankful I have a house, a solid house, standing on a firm foundation. Not everyone can say that this morning, especially those in the midst of the disaster.

That kind of reminds me of the way it is with the Lord, also. I have a solid faith, a firm foundation on the truth of the Word of God. Unlike the houses in the flood, my spiritual house remains standing even when life’s challenges flood around me.

My focus is too often on me, myself and mine. When I really think about it, none of what I own is permanent. If it isn’t swept away in a flood, it will all be left behind when I move on to my glorious reward. (And my kids will have to decide what to do with what I leave behind).

I enjoy my material possessions, but I need to not let the acquiring of more or the “Best” become my focus. In this world everything is temporary, except us, and our faith and love for others.

My biggest accomplishment in life is raising my kids to become adults. They are well-liked, responsible and people I can be proud of. Not that I did it all on my own, and some of it was in spite of my rocky years as a parent who didn’t know what she was doing.

Wait, that’s still me! I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to maintaining a relationship with them, other than to love them for exactly who they are. And to pray that God will show them the way to Him.

I want them to learn what I’ve learned, that my faith in God is the solid rock on which I stand no matter what happens around me. Or to me.

Faithfulness on my part, and faithfulness on God’s part, makes for a strong relationship with my loving Heavenly Father.

Today, pray for the victims in the flooded states. Give in any way you are able.

And remember how blessed you are that you woke up this morning and likely in a place that is solid and maybe even comfortable.

Pray that God will help you take your eyes off what is temporary in this world and fix your focus on what is permanent: A life well-lived and a one way ticket across that golden bridge into Heaven.

So yes, it is a good morning.
Good morning to you.

Good Monday Morning July 15, 2024

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

It’s been a few months since I wrote a blog post. And before that, it had been almost a year.

What have I been up to? Many of you may not know that in 2010, my husband passed away from a tragic work accident. My faith in God remained strong through my grief, but the light of joy in my life was buried in darkness. For several years, I floundered like a fish out of water as I tried to find my path as a widowed single mom.

After my kids were raised, I found my way back to church to stay. In November 2021 I returned to the church I was raised, married, buried my parents and my husband in. Friends welcomed me back with open arms.

I began working with the Sunday morning children’s ministry. That led to writing curriculum, coming up with ideas and activities for usually two or three children.

I found my joy in life again.

But I stopped writing fiction. Instead, my focus was on God’s word. Bringing stories and Bible truths to life for kids. My heart expanded as I found fulfillment spending time with the kids.

Soon, almost three years had passed since I’d written a word of fiction. I really felt there were stories in my head that needed to be told, about characters who’d stayed in the back of my mind as I went about the normalcy of life. Every time I tried to write about them, however, I felt writer’s block.

In June, a few weeks ago, I rented a room at a bed and breakfast in a town not far away from home. The 130-year-old house with 11,000 square feet was steeped in local history. They had a twenty-four hour kitchen and my favorite brand of coffee with a Keurig.

I’d recently purchased a mini word processor that was like a laptop only made for writing. There aren’t many editing keys so it’s hard to go back and change what I write. That moves the story forward without distractions. I put it to use. One early morning in their back sunroom I broke through the writer’s block.

I returned home, and within three weeks I’d completed a novella. I’m currently working on a sequel to one of my other books and hope to have it done this month. Ambitious, you might say, but doable.

What happened to writing for children’s ministry?

There are many good resources available and while I am stepping back as leader of the children’s program, I am going to continue as a helper or shift my focus to the younger age.

God is faithful. In spite of my husband’s death, or maybe because of it, I understand the faithfulness of God. There were dark times, but God shone his light through them, like light through the trees of a forest. Friends, family and especially my children brought joyous moments and filled my life with love and blessings.

One day, I broke through the forest. The joy of the Holy Spirit brought me out of the darkness and shadows.

Was it easy? Was it perfect?

No, and no. But it was a change that I felt and showed in the way I looked at life and handled its challenges.

Walk this road with me. Cast all your grief and failures on Jesus. His shoulders are strong enough to carry your burdens. His Holy Spirit longs to fill your heart with joy and love and peace and all of the blessings of God the Father.

In times of uncertainty, I choose to remain faithful to God and stand in his strength. Let me be the hand that reaches out to you and helps you out of the pit of darkness.