Devotional Messages

Isaiah 11: 6-9 – The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.  They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.  (NRSV)

Sometimes when we read these descriptions of paradise where all the animals are getting along, it can seem superficial or naïve.  Everybody knows it is contrary to the nature of a wolf to cuddle with a lamb.  Lions are not vegetarians.  If we appreciate and respect nature, why should we insist it has to change to meet our ideals of what paradise should be?  Then again, maybe the images of the animals aren’t really about them.

What goes unsaid in this passage is how the humans will change.  Are we the unidentified “they” in verse nine, who will never hurt or destroy again?  I expect so, and that may explain why the animal lines seem so far-fetched.  The point is that it often feels more likely that a lion would cozy up to a baby cow than it does that humanity could live in harmony and peace.  And yet the promise is made.

And how will this happen?  Because “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”  That says to me that before humanity can live in peace, we must be changed.  Once we have that complete knowledge of God, we will no longer want to do the things that cause pain and destruction.  We will be different, as different as a lion that eats straw.

For the moment, this transformation is a gradual process.  We do what we can, in fits and starts, to increase our knowledge of the Lord and allow it to change our hearts.  But we also look, with anticipation, to the day when that knowledge will be complete and we will be a new creation.

Collect for the Week:  Good and Gracious God, who sent your Son to show us the path to peace, grant that we might open our hearts to your transforming Spirit, that your wisdom might shine through us and change your world.  Through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Amen.