Have you ever wondered whether you're doing enough for your children?

Maybe you're carrying the weight of parenting, homeschooling, financial uncertainty, marriage struggles, or simply trying to faithfully follow Jesus while raising a family.

In today's episode of The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries, Stephanie Hickox walks through Isaiah 54–59, one of the most hope-filled sections in the entire book of Isaiah. As we continue our chronological Bible reading plan, we discover beautiful promises about God's covenant of peace, His everlasting love, His invitation to every thirsty soul, and His faithfulness to teach our children.

If you've ever worried about your family's future or felt the pressure to hold everything together, these chapters remind us that God is the One who faithfully builds what we never could.

In This Episode

• Why Isaiah 54 is one of the most encouraging chapters for Christian moms
• What it means that "Your Maker is your husband"
• Finding security when life feels unstable
• The promise that God's covenant of peace will never be removed
• Why Isaiah 54:13 has become such a treasured promise for parents
• Learning to trust God as the ultimate Teacher of our children
• Isaiah 55's invitation to every thirsty heart
• Why God's ways are always higher than ours
• The comforting promise that God's Word never returns empty
• How true worship transforms our hearts in Isaiah 58
• Becoming a "repairer of the breach" and rebuilding a legacy of faith for future generations
• The coming Redeemer who brings salvation in Isaiah 59

Key Bible Passages

• Isaiah 54:4–17
• Isaiah 54:10
• Isaiah 54:13
• Isaiah 55:1–13
• Isaiah 55:8–11
• Isaiah 57:15
• Isaiah 58:6–12
• Isaiah 58:12
• Isaiah 59:2
• Isaiah 59:16
• Isaiah 59:20–21

Encouragement for Christian Moms

As mothers, it's easy to believe everything depends on us.

We want to teach our children well. Protect them from hardship. Create peaceful homes. Build lasting faith.

But Isaiah offers a freeing reminder:

"All your children shall be taught by the Lord."

What incredible hope.

God never asks us to carry the weight of changing our children's hearts. He invites us to faithfully point them to Him while trusting that He is their greatest Teacher.

Whether your family feels strong or fragile today, God's covenant of peace is more secure than your circumstances. His steadfast love remains even when everything around you seems uncertain.

What You'll Learn

• Why God's steadfast love is a stronger foundation than changing circumstances
• How Isaiah's promises encourage weary parents
• The difference between outward religion and wholehearted obedience
• Why God's Word always accomplishes His purposes
• How God rebuilds broken families across generations
• What it means to become a "repairer of the breach"
• Why the coming Redeemer is our ultimate hope

A Prayer for Your Family

Join Stephanie in praying that God would teach your children, strengthen your family, and give you wisdom to build a legacy of faith for generations to come. Whether you're parenting toddlers, teenagers, or praying for grown children, may these promises remind you that the Lord is faithful to guide, sustain, and accomplish His purposes in your home.

If this episode encouraged you, please follow The Dwelling Place, leave a review, and share it with another mom who is reading through the Bible chronologically. Together, let's delight in God's Word and discover the peace that comes from dwelling with the Lord.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast
• Full-Circle Discipline Resources
• Bible Project: Isaiah (Part 2)

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is a Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Can you hear the smile in my voice?

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Because today we're talking about one of

my very favorite passages of scripture.

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I know the last episode was certainly more

somber, but today we get to focus on more

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of the blessings of dwelling with the Lord

as we walk through Isaiah 54 through 59.

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So let's get into Isaiah 54.

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Some of these lines are the

restoration of some truly desperate

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circumstances, but they reveal that

no matter what happens around you,

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God is a sure and steady anchor.

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And there's a particular reason I love

this portion of scripture as a mom.

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Beginning in Isaiah 54:4

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Fear not, for you will not be ashamed.

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Be not confounded, for

you will not be disgraced.

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For you will forget the shame of

your youth, and the reproach of your

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widowhood you will remember no more.

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For your Maker is your husband.

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The Lord of hosts is his name, and the

Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.

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The God of the whole earth he is

called, for the Lord has called you.

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Like a wife deserted

and grieved in spirit.

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Like a wife of youth when she

is cast off, says your God.

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For a brief moment I deserted you, but

with great compassion I will gather you.

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In overflowing anger for a moment

I hid my face from you, but with

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everlasting joy I will have compassion

on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer

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This is like the days of Noah to me,

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as I swore that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth, so

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I have sworn that I will not be angry

with you and will not rebuke you.

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For the mountains may depart and the

hills be removed, But my steadfast

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love shall not depart from you, and my

covenant of peace shall not be removed,

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says the Lord who has compassion on you.

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O afflicted one, storm-tossed

and not comforted.

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Behold, I will set your stones in antimony

and lay your foundations with sapphires.

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I will make your pinnacles of

agate, your gates of carbuncles, and

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all your wall of precious stones.

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All your children shall be taught

by the Lord, and great shall

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be the peace of your children.

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In righteousness you shall be established.

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You shall be far from oppression,

for you shall not fear, and from

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terror, for it shall not come near you

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If anyone stirs up

strife, it is not from me.

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Whoever stirs up strife with you

shall fall because of you as I

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said, a lot of this is spoken into

some truly desperate situations.

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But in my experience, when we

are the most desperate, it's when

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God's redemption is most magnified

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And I think that that's why

this stands out so much to me

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. It started out speaking to a

wife that was rejected But God

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says your maker is your husband.

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He has redeemed you, and he's gathered

you with everlasting love and compassion

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And because I think that our desperation

most magnifies the Lord's goodness,

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I try to be vulnerable with you

about some times in my life that have

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felt hopeless, that I've despaired,

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, and I wanna assure you that

anything that I share personally

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about my husband, he signs off

on, and I'm very thankful for that

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Several years ago

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God gave me a vision And in it, my husband

was holding our marriage certificate

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And I saw God's hands firmly take

the document and I saw God write

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His own name over my husband's name

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I understood that this in no

way negated my commitment to

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my marriage and to my husband.

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But instead, God was saying, "Everything

that you need or want in a husband,

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I am going to be that for you."

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And it was about that time that

I saw Him show up for me in

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all of these incredible ways,

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I mean, my husband didn't

have a job at that point.

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We were about to lose

our health insurance.

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My son was in the hospital.

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My daughter was needing physical therapy.

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it was just nuts.

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and then in the midst of

that, God provided such

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incredible, amazing blessings.

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It felt like the Lord was like let

me show off a little bit about what

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I'm gonna be like as your husband

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So, if you, like every wife on

earth should feel, that your husband

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sometimes doesn't live up to exactly

what you're hoping, yep, he's human.

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And we can take every single

desire that we have And lay it

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at the foot of Jesus and say,

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" Lord, I have this lack is this

something that I can find in you?

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Or are you going to stretch my

character as I endure without it?

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And see, in that season when I felt

like we had no stability in our family,

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financially, medically, this verse, "For

the mountains may depart and the hills

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be removed, but my steadfast love shall

not depart from you, and my covenant

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of peace shall not be removed," says

the Lord who has compassion on you.

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verse, along with verse 13,

are why I named our homeschool

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Covenant of Peace Academy.

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And if you've been with us long

enough to remember me geeking out over

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Phinehas in Numbers 25 Guess what?

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God said to him, "Behold, I will

give to him my covenant of peace

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So you know, I'm a little bit excited

to see that promise come up again.

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These mountains departing

and the hills be removed.

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There will be a point where

God will destroy this earth,

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and he will rebuild a new one.

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But our trust is in him, not in

what we see, not what we experience.

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And I can so resonate with

verse 11, "Oh afflicted one,

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storm-tossed and not comforted."

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And unlike a lot of passages of

scripture where he says, "The wise

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man builds his house upon the rock,"

ladies, here he is telling us that

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our foundation is sapphire, And our

gates are gonna be precious stones.

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I love me some sparkle,

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And my birthstone's also

sapphire, so I kind of like that.

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And then verse 13, "All your children

shall be taught by the Lord and great

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shall be the peace of your children.

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In righteousness you shall be established.

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You shall be far from oppression

for you shall not fear."

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And from terror, for it

shall not come near you.

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There were a lot of days where

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I had reasons to be afraid of what was

gonna happen to our family, not just

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physically and financially, but also

what will this instability do to my kids?

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And I just am so thankful that even

when I felt like I was handling the

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situation really poorly or my adrenaline

was on overload and God was holding

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me, but I realized, like looking

back, He is the one who was magnified.

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It was in my weakness

that He was made strong.

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And to be able to take this pressure

off of me that I had to be the one

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who brought peace to my children, or

that I had to be the one that taught

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them everything they needed for life,

or that I had to create this family

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atmosphere that would help them thrive.

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Instead, I have clung to this

verse, " All your children

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shall be taught by the Lord."

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I love to teach my kids.

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I love to learn with them, but I

would so much rather have God take

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the lead And the fact that I can

trust that in these circumstances,

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that if I walk in faithfulness to God

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and I submit to His sovereignty in

my life That I can trust that He

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will bring about good in my kids'

lives through these circumstances.

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I don't have to fear, I don't

have to live in terror, and I

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don't even have to be nervous

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Okay.

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I know I might be being a little

bit much right now, but I just love

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this chapter, and I love my Jesus.

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And I wouldn't have the love

that I have for him unless I felt

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like the mountains were departing

and the hills were removing,

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I'm just thankful that he taught

me to cling to him through it, And

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I'm very humbly aware that I need

Him to keep me clinging to Him

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Because any good thing that he's

done in me is a result of himself.

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And along those lines of us

needing God so desperately,

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let's move to chapter fifty-five.

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" Come, everyone who thirsts, come

to the waters, and he who has

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no money, come, buy and eat.

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Come, buy wine and milk without

money and without price.

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Why do you spend your money for that

which is not bread, and your labor

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for that which does not satisfy?

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Listen diligently to me, and eat what is

good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

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Incline your ear and come to me.

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Hear that your soul may live,

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and I will make with you

an everlasting covenant, my

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steadfast, sure love for David.

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I think if we're honest, there are times

where we know we need to fellowship with

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the Lord, and we're just tired after

a long day of serving, and we'd rather

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get a bowl of ice cream and binge a show

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Or scroll on our phones, probably

all three at once and I'm not saying

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that those are wrong every time, but

I think you and I can both admit that

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there are times where we do it where

we know that we need Jesus way more

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See, God's covenant

with us is everlasting.

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When I think about

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The fleeting happiness

of sugar and screens

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It doesn't hold a candle to

the sufficiency of Christ

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And one of the reasons that His presence

is so incredible is because of what

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we read beginning in verse eight.

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" For my thoughts are not your

thoughts, neither are your ways

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my ways," declares the Lord.

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" For as the heavens are higher than the

earth, so are my ways higher than your

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ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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For as the rain and the snow come down

from heaven and do not return there

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but water the earth, making it bring

forth and sprout, giving seed to the

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sower and bread to the eater, so shall

my word be that goes out from my mouth.

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It shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which

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I purpose and shall succeed in

the thing for which I sent it."

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For you shall go out in joy

and be led forth in peace.

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The mountains and the hills

before you shall break forth into

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singing, and all the trees of

the field shall clap their hands.

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Instead of the thorn shall come up the

cypress, instead of the brier shall

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come up the myrrh, and it shall make

a name for the Lord, an everlasting

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sign that shall not be cut off

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I have a banner in my Bible

over chapter 56 that says, "This

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begins a section of Isaiah that

prepares us for the coming glory."

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And in this chapter, the Sabbath

is mentioned three times as

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an indicator of righteousness

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now as New Testament believers, we are

actually released from honoring the

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Sabbath in a legalistic way, but I

still believe that honoring rest shows

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humility of heart and recognizes that

God is everlasting, and He is the God

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who does not grow weary, and we are not

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that might be a chapter for you

to go back and meditate on for

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what God says for that connection.

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I'm so struck by Isaiah's words in 57:15.

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" For thus says the One who is high and

lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose

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name is Holy: ' I dwell in the high

and holy place, and also with him who

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is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to

receive the spirit of the lowly and

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to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

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God says, "I am high and holy

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And I dwell in a high and holy place, but

also with him who is contrite and lowly.

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To be contrite means to be humble

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It's such a beautiful thing

That the high lifted up Lord

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Chooses to dwell with the lowly

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in Isaiah 58, God rebukes

the Israelites' hypocrisy.

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It seems like they're doing

a lot of good things finally,

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but their hearts are not right

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And 58:6 begins, " Is not this the

fast that I choose: To loose the bonds

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of wickedness, to undo the straps

of the yoke, to let the oppressed

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go free, and to break every yoke?

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Is it not to share your bread

with the hungry and bring the

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homeless poor into your house?

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When you see the naked, to cover him, and

not to hide yourself from your own flesh.

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Then shall your light break

forth like the dawn, and your

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healing shall spring up speedily.

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Your righteousness shall go before you.

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The glory of the Lord

shall be your rear guard.

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Then you shall call, and

the Lord will answer.

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You shall cry, and He

will say, 'Here I am.'

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If you take away the yoke from

your midst, the pointing of the

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finger, and speaking wickedness.

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If you pour yourself out for the

hungry and satisfy the desire of

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the afflicted, then shall your

light rise in the darkness, and

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your gloom be as the noonday.

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And the Lord will guide you

continually and satisfy your desire

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in scorched places, and make your

bones strong, and you shall be like

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a watered garden, like a spring of

water, whose waters do not fail."

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And this next verse is one that I

have often encouraged my friends

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with When they haven't been parented

biblically themselves, when they're

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coming from a family with a lot

of brokenness and they're trying

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to start a new line for the Lord.

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I love Isaiah 58:12, "And your

ancient ruins shall be rebuilt.

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You shall raise up the

foundations of many generations.

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You shall be called the repairer

of the breach, the restorer

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of streets to dwell in."

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In 59, you may recognize verse

two, " But your iniquities have made

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a separation between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden His face

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from you, so that He does not hear."

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But thankfully, verse 16 tells us, " He

saw that there was no man, and wondered

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that there was no one to intercede.

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Then His own arm brought Him salvation,

and His righteousness upheld Him

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And the chapter concludes, " And

a redeemer will come to Zion,

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to those in Jacob who turn from

transgression," declares the Lord

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" And as for me, this is my covenant

with them," says the Lord, " My

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spirit that is upon you and my words

that I have put in your mouth shall

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not depart out of your mouth or out

of the mouth of your offspring."

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, We come before

you thanking you that whatever

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we need, we can find it in you.

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and I pray that these moms listening

would experience the nearness of you.

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I ask for those that are trying to build

a new line through their family, as

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they're trying to raise up the foundations

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of many

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generations and be the

repairer of the breach.

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Lord, we acknowledge that there

is a warfare and a battle in this

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process, that there is opposition

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But we know you'll be victorious, and

so I pray that you would give spiritual

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strength to these moms and dads that are

fighting for a new line in their families

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But sometimes it may look

different than we expect.

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and we pray for surrender And for

wisdom to guide us to discern which

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battles you would have us fight

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lord, we pray that you would be our

children's teacher as intentional

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as we long to be We know how

desperately we need your help.

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Thank you that you've selected the

schoolhouse and chosen the curriculum

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and provided the supplies.

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And we pray You would give us eyes to

see what You're doing in our families.

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It's in Your mighty name we pray, Jesus.

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Amen