Jeremiah Ketchum
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Empty and Powerless

7/10/2012

0 Comments

 
“I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. (Isaiah 45:2–3, ESV) 
 
 
From Ray Ortland:
 
 
Today would have been my dad’s eighty-ninth birthday. I am missing him today. I miss him every day. I miss him more than I can say.After he died, my mom kindly sent me some of his books. Included was a Bible dad bought as a college student in 1944. One day I noticed something he had scribbled in the margin next to Isaiah 45:2-3. You can just see it there. Here is what he wrote:
“The Lord gave this on 5/31/53 after a hard day of preaching — feeling empty and powerless.”
I can picture my dad sitting up in bed that Sunday night, feeling depleted, needing a word from God. So he pulled open his Bible and came across Isaiah 45:2-3. I am aware of the exegesis of those verses — Cyrus, etc. But God used these verses as a personal promise to my dad, a promise of illumination and insight to a young preacher who had given his all that day and still needed more.
Far beyond any other preacher I have ever heard, my dad had a capacity for insight into the ways of God, according to Scripture, that helped people. God made my dad a promise that night so long ago, and he kept it – many times.
“Empty and powerless.” Perfect.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    June 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    February 2009

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact