Our dear friend Amanda, who now lives in Kentucky, occasionally calls to chat and catch up. Usually she brings up a challenging question. This past weekend, she asked something on the minds of many Americans: “Dana, what is happening in our government?”
We agreed we all need to repent and Christians should remember to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.” The conversation concluded with Amanda deciding she would run for President. I assured her that she would have my vote.
Our church has recently had some interesting revelations from God’s Word. The Sunday before Christmas, after reading Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, our brother Sean raised his hand and said: “I need to share something very strange. We drove home from your house last Sunday and my sister pointed out a piece of crumpled up paper stuck in the grill of the front of our car. I pulled it out and it was a page from a Bible. Is anyone missing Isaiah 8 and 9?”
I didn’t really see how this fit into the morning lesson until Sean mentioned Isaiah 8 and 9… as that was the next passage I had planned to read. What are the odds that this very Scripture had been stuck in the grill of Sean’s car the previous weekend? Later in the week, I contacted my friend and asked if he still had the page from the Bible. He promised to bring it the next Sunday.
The translation was from the New King James Version, and no one we knew was missing that page from the book of Isaiah. I pondered this rather bizarre story for a couple of weeks, and finally held up the crinkled paper one recent Sunday and asked if any brother or sister would like to propose a meaning. Different theories were shared, but finally God spoke. Actually, it was our brother Joe, who from memory quoted the Lord’s words. He began, “I think the message for us is what the page says…”
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
God knows the answer to Amanda’s question! His Son will carry the government on His shoulders and He will eventually bring peace. We know ‘shalom’ is the Hebrew word translated ‘peace’, but ‘shalom’ means something far deeper than simply a lack of disagreement. ‘Shalom’ points to God’s perfect order. Jesus is the Prince of Peace who will bring the chaos of our world under the sovereign will of the Heavenly Father.
Let our eyes be lifted to the One who brings ‘shalom.’ And let us be instruments of His peace as we point to our Father who is perfect in all His ways.
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10