Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

“I will not keep silent.  I will not stop talking, proclaiming or preaching…. I will not pause.  I will not rest, for the sake of the precious city God loved and left, and I will keep this up until every nation and king can see that Jerusalem has been declared innocent and lifted up to a place of glory and honor.”  (Working Preacher, Anathea Portier-Young)   These are the words of the prophet Isaiah as he boldly acts as intercessor for Jerusalem.  Following the exile, the Babylonians may have been defeated, but when the Jewish people returned to their land, they found it decimated.  It looked rather like a desert.  The restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem met countless obstacles and delays.  The people had been full of hope, but now they are battling deteriorating morale caused by broken dreams and crumbling faith.  Their very identity had been battered by loss and they could no longer understand that God delighted in them.  They felt God had turned away in indifference.           So, the prophet Isaiah la