If we are suffering from loss, or if we are supporting others through loss, it is helpful to have some idea of what we can expect as ‘normal’ and what is considered ‘abnormal’. Our last article explored various ways of thinking about grief and how research has conceptualised it as a proces…
“But though He cause Grief, yet will He have Compassion” Read More »
There are two parts to these verses. The first (v13– 17) forecasts events following Divine intervention at Christ’s return. The jealousy of Yahweh has been stirred up following a long period of silence, the “times of the Gentiles”. The gospel of salvation has gone forth into the world but it…
Since God’s working with mankind does not set aside the capacity of men and women to choose between life and death, that prompts a further question.
If God doesn’t override man’s free will and provides an opportunity for man to repent, how can God, in all fairness, send an evil spirit u…
Working of the Holy Spirit Read More »
While the modern approach to describing, diagnosing, understanding and treating depression is for the most part well organised, this approach is a relatively recent phenomenon and depression has of course been around, unchanged, for centuries. This article examines how we understand depression and h…
“But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion” Read More »
The final verses of Isaiah 42 speak of the blindness of the national servant, Israel, and the suffering it has brought upon Israel. There has been a complete inability to relate the afflictions with the cause and to recognize that Yahweh has controlled events. In chapter 43 assurance is given that t…
We have already established that grief is an intensely personal process. From the comfort of our armchair we can make broad generalisations about aspects of grief, for example the various stages, but clearly we also need to understand more of the specifics.
When we are confronted with the very int…
“But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion” Read More »
Isaiah 41
The remainder of Isaiah 41 falls into two sections. The first builds on Yahweh’s special relationship with His chosen people, guaranteeing their deliverance and prosperity for which they will honour Him (v11– 20); and the last section from verse 21 is a challenge to idolaters to prove…
“Fear Not, Thou Worm Jacob” Read More »
In the opening verses of Isaiah 26 there is great rejoicing for the deliverance Yahweh has wrought for His chosen. The righteous nation which has preserved the truth is invited to enter Zion in which perfect peace is found. The great lesson in Hezekiah’s day when he confronted the Assyrian cha…
“In the Way of Thy Judgments We Have Waited” Read More »
Again we have in this section one of Isaiah’s favourite literary forms, the courtroom drama. The parties are assembled and consist of Israel (v8) and the nations (v9). The issue to be settled is whether what Yahweh asserts are fables or attested by the facts of history. Can the idol-gods predict a…
The opening verses of Isaiah 26 present glimpses of the Kingdom to come, along with prayer for divine intervention to hasten the fall of tyrannical rulers and the deliverance of saints. Isaiah 26:16–21 continues these thoughts with the feelings of despair, expressed in a “whispered prayer”. Th…
“Awake and Sing, Ye That Dwell in Dust” Read More »
