Day 164

A Tree Will Grow from a Stump

Isaiah 6:9–13

The Lord called Isaiah and said, “You’ll be my prophet. Go to the people and speak my words. They’ll listen but won’t catch my meaning. They’ll see but won’t understand. Your words will do them no good. Instead, you’ll make their minds dull. Close their ears, and shut their eyes. Then they won’t use their eyes to look. They won’t use their ears to hear. They won’t understand with their minds, turn to me, and be healed.”

Isaiah asked, “How long will this be, Lord?”

“Until the cities become wastelands where no one lives. Until the houses are empty and the land is barren. This must be until I send everyone to a faraway place; until the land is totally empty. My people will be like an oak tree—cut to the ground. The stump is all that’s left behind. Out of its roots a new tree will grow.”

Isaiah’s words seemed to do no good when he spoke them. But the Lord wanted him to continue speaking to his people. Sometime, far in the future, Judah would be restored to serve God.

Questions: When Isaiah spoke for God, what would God’s people do? When God’s people are cut down to a stump, what will happen?