Quiet time snippet

'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a
priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.'

Isaiah 61:10-11


'Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
"Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him."

And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.'

Isaiah 62:10-12

Sitting outside a cafe this morning and reading these passages was like water for my soul. Certainly, it was an encouragement that I am neither forsaken nor cast off because of my sin. Rather, I am clothed and covered with a garment of perfect, pure righteousness and salvation that is not of my own making. I am no longer uncovered, shamefully naked in my sin and attempting to cover myself with clothes which are nothing more than rags. I am clothed with a robe not woven by my own hands, but threaded, beaded, embroidered and carefully tied around my shoulders by the hands of the Son of God. This is no ordinary robe. It is fit for a priest and for a bride. Yet it is worn by a poor beggar.

He is not even willing that I remain with a plain faith, but that I be beautiful and adorned. And this not only for my own good, but for His righeousness and goodness to bloom like wild flowers before the nations, untamed in their beauty. For the beautifying of the nations and the supreme glorification of the Son.