September 18, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, September 18.
If you're a faithful reader of these little daily devotions, you noticed that I didn't post one last Friday. I had one ready, but when I got up that morning, my wife uttered those four dreaded words, "The Internet is down!" But today my service is back up, so I share this light, inspiring thought.
I live next to an animal sanctuary. Not really. But sometimes it feels like it. My neighbor, down the way, has quite the menagerie - horses, cows, goats, sheep, pot belly pigs, cats, and an assortment of dogs. All of these animals, at one time or another, have mistaken my front lawn as their feeding ground. It's a show.
The dogs include a bull terrier, a hound, a dachshund, two Great Pyrenees, and a teacup chihuahua. Great Pyrenees weigh in at over 100 pounds, while the chihuahua tips the scale at about two pounds. It's quite a spectrum. The dogs move around my neighbor's property, and mine, in a - I won't say pack - they're all too gentle for that word. It's more of a parade. And the drum major leading the way is always the teacup chihuahua.
This canine caravan reminds me of an old saying - "and a little child shall lead them." Did you know that comes from the Bible? Here's the whole verse (Isaiah 11:6) - "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion together, and a little child shall lead them."
Isaiah lived during a time when the Israelite people were in exile, and dealing with great challenge and great loss. And, while he was always careful to remind his people that God was a God of judgement and that sin has consequences, Isaiah also encouraged them with words of redemption and reconciliation and restoration. This passage, that some call "the peaceable kingdom," was an encouragement to them, and to us today.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
