Isaiah 11:1-11; 12:1-6
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2007 Harold Dinsmore

Are you a pessimist or an optimist?  You can tell by the way you look at or react to the weather report.  When the weather man or woman announces that there is a 20% chance of rain do you grab an umbrella as you go out?  If you do you’re a pessimist.  If you don’t you understand that there is an 80% chance that it will not rain.  You are an optimist.

               Isaiah had many reasons to be a pessimist.  He had been rebuffed by the King, and rejected by the people. The Assyrians had destroyed Israel and was a threat to Judah.  You will remember that the Kingdom had split.  One to the north, was known as Israel and one to the south which was known as Judah.  None-the-less, Isaiah was a tried and true optimist and with his grasp of spiritual truth and his understanding of God’s plan for his people, it gave him a strong assurance for the future.