Tuesday of Week 15 – Is 7:1-9; Ps 48; Matthew 11:20-24

The Arameans plot with Israel against Judah. They want to destroy it. But God has His plans. He sees further. And through the prophet Isaiah He instructs the king of Judah:

This is today, and tomorrow?

“Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear, do not let your heart sink because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands”.

It’s not unlike today. Well, instead of soldiers with swords they are armed with rocket launchers. Or those without uniforms weaponise lies in propaganda. But plots are still hatched, and calculations made . . . Not much has changed. And just as it was with the inhabitants of Judah with the king at their head, so my heart shudders before these powers who would want to impose their rule on the world. But in another sixty-five, eighty-four or one hundred years and . . .

In this world nothing is for ever. Boy just what is good and beautiful, but also what is evil and cruel. And how much good and beauty survives death, and how much evil and cruelty will have nothing to say in the next life . . .