Shock and Awe

Isaiah 1:18

Sometimes we just need a jolt of awareness to bring us back to our senses. Okay, perhaps I shouldn't speak for other people. Sometimes I just need a jolt to wake me up. The occasion for my renewed awareness this time was the funeral service for Rev. Dr. Ella Pearson Mitchell, a pioneer woman in ministry. Dr. Mitchell lived for 91 years, 64 of them married to her partner in life and ministry Rev. Dr. Henry Mitchell. What pleasantly startled me was the testimony of all who knew the Mitchells that she lived, they lived their whole lives - publicly and privately - with the love and goodness of God (to quote her daughter who gave the eulogy) as the foundation. I came away from the service awakened and inspired again to live faithfully.

In Isaiah chapter 1, there is much to shock and shake the people of God. Faithfulness and righteousness are no longer known among them. God is disappointed and angry. Yet within the pronouncement of judgment remains the promise of better things to come, a declaration of God's fundamentally good intention toward the people of God. There is hope; at the end of the purging, right relations and covenant will prevail and righteous acts will be restored.

Where, you ask, is the awe? It is the radiating glow of gratitude and thankfulness in God's people for the mercy that God continuously extends. At the point when God has extended the divine hand and drawn you near again with the steadfast love that drew you to begin with, who could help but stand in awe. I will be forever grateful for another chance, a deeper walk, a new opportunity.

Sing, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee"