Isaiah 50.4 (in the Bible) refers to one who is learning to speak in ways that sustains people – not just speaking truth, let alone instruction, but words that sustain real people in living real lives.
The road to such speech, it seems, is not through expressing opinions, or through learning facts, but through a daily attention to life, and the reality that under-girds it (as one who learns first for themselves). It is an apprenticeship; a listening and practical learning. And it bears the cost of seeking such truth and the truth it finds – too many people seek truth more as a weapon to wield, when it is like a sword that pierces your own soul. Jesus said “the Truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32), but often it is hard to receive and it’s freedom is never experienced. I think that the only speech truly worth seeking is one that is able to share truth in love (Eph 4.15) – even if that means that the speaker has to share the painful costs of that truth.
That’s why this Blog and all I am trying to do hangs under the title ‘Isaiah504’. It is not a prophetic calling that seeks to simply proclaim truth that others must accepts – thus says the Lord. Rather, if it is in any sense prophetic, it is more like Ezekiel who was made to embody and act out what he heard from God. But even that seems beyond me. So this is a humble aspiration to seek the way that Isaiah 50.4ff speaks off.
In all this, my listening is aimed at the one who I have come to know as God, as he has revealed himself in the Bible and more perfectly in his incarnation as Jesus and mediated by his presence with us in the Holy Spirit.
That may putt off some who do not share this experience or belief (and may be deeply antagonistic to it). However, to the extent that we may all accept that there is a greater shared reality than we may comprehend, something real that transcends our limited perception and knowledge, but which we may feel our way towards; I hope that what I express may have a relevance and interest beyond the Christian community. If it does not, then it’s not in tune with Isaiah504.
And, then, the more I write, the more it seems beyond me. Perhaps it’s enough to say that I am just sharing thoughts: Just a thought – maybe that’s a less pretentious way of expressing it.