Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 4 verses 2 through
2 On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4once the Lord has washed away . . . and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. 5Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
In today's Lesson the Prophet imagines a great pillar stretching over the people of Israel, protecting them from all harm just as the pillars of fire and cloud protected the Israelites in the wilderness. He imagines a canopy, stretched over all the land. The bloodstains would be cleansed, and the people would be safe.
Beloved, we can still believe. We can still hope and dream and imagine and work towards a land where there is no harm, and all have a shelter and a refuge -- where the whole land itself is a shelter and refuge.
I know we're a long way off; but let us not give up the dream. A more beautiful America is still possible. And we have to be the ones to work for it.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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