Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Turn those swords into plowshares....


“They will beat their swords into plowshares 
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

If these words sound vaguely familiar it is probably because you have heard them in songs like “Down by the Riverside” also known as “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More” or “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson.

While the modern use of these words proclaims a day of peace and reconciliation built on human effort, the Hebrew prophet, Isaiah, clearly understood that peace came not from human effort but by divine action. It is when God orchestrates reconciliation because nations acknowledge him then weapons of war turn into implements of agriculture. On an individual level the same miracle of transformation occurs: when we get of our thrones of self-rightness and bend our knees to him our tongues are transformed from swords of destruction into vessels of blessing. – Ron Friesen

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