Devotion 12.12.23

Isaiah 11

The Branch from Jesse

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

    the Spirit of counsel and of might,

    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

    or decide by what he hears with his ears;

4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be his belt

    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Baseball has a new Babe Ruth, but he doesn't come from the house of Ruth. His lineage is from a different world, but he has Ruthian numbers. Shohei Ohtani is where the Dodgers rest their hopes, in spite of the fact that his pitching days may be numbered. Boston traded Ruth, though, and the Yankees tabled his pitching to focus his hitting. I haven't seen Ruth's contract value in today's numbers, but somehow I don't think it is the equivalent of $70 million a year.

Paul Simon once wrote, "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you," during a time of strife in our nation, but the song doesn't sound the same with Ohtani's name ("Mrs. Robinson"). So, the possible Babe Ruth of our lifetime probably won't deliver us from our woes, and it is possible he may or may not deliver the Dodgers from theirs either given his second Tommy John surgery which may sideline him as a pitcher.

Sport, however, is analogous to life, and we constantly put our hopes in something or someone. Surely the next election will be the answer. Surely this book or this movie gives us hope in a better tomorrow. Surely my favorite talk radio or podcaster can give us the real answers we seek. 

Isaiah prophecies the coming of someone from the house of David, Jesse's son. A shoot which will bear fruit and bring judgement and righteousness which produces justice and deliverance. This shoot will be the only true deliverer as he makes his righteousness known through wisdom, understanding, counsel and might through God's Spirit. In Him, we are given access to this same Spirit. It delivers us, through Him, and gives us the salvation we desperately seek.

As we observe this advent, we pray, "Come Lord Jesus, come. Thy will be done."