Isaiah 4: 2-6
As we begin Advent the Church lays before us a range of images as guides for our journey. We are invited to tune our ears to the voices of the prophets and to hear afresh a call to find in God’s word a personal call to conversion and the promise of salvation.
Isaiah preaches to a people who look in confusion on the brokenness of their physical and spiritual lives. The physical destruction the Temple in Jerusalem touches the very core of all their hope and longing. The God who guaranteed to be with them in the life and worship of the Temple now appears to be absent, the walls which once gave sanctuary are now rubble. Isaiah uses stern warnings and points to the people’s lack of fidelity. At the same time Isaiah sounds a note of hope in words that speak of a reversal of fortunes, where splendour and glory will be fully restored.
At the end of today’s text we are give another image: For, over all, the glory of the Lord will be a canopy and a tent to give shade by day from the heat, refuge and shelter from the storm and the rain. Isaiah speaks directly to Israel’s sense of abandonment in imagery that reassures and promises protection.
As Advent begins are there places in your own life where you can seek refuge? Are there people who have offered you shelter?