{
  "lessonDate": "2026-09-22",
  "lessonNumber": 117,
  "lessonTitle": "Isaiah 25 — \"We Have Waited for Him\"",
  "semester": "fall-2026-ot",
  "source": "Seminary manual, Lesson 117 — Isaiah 25, Waiting For the Lord",
  "scriptureBlock": "Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35",
  "bookName": "ISAIAH 25",
  "deckType": "scripture",

  "lessonObjective": "Help students name the thing they are actually waiting on God for, and see waiting as trust and hope rather than as being ignored.",

  "doctrinePrinciple": "If we wait for the Lord, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.",

  "personalScriptureStudy": {
    "chapters": "Isaiah 25:1–4, 6–9",
    "questions": "What had the Lord already done for Israel, and what had He promised still to do? In verse 9, what does He ask of them in the meantime?"
  },

  "teacherNote": "SUPPLIES: a bag of large marshmallows — actually run it. Put one in front of each student, tell them they can eat it now or wait until the end of class for two, and then teach the whole lesson with the marshmallow sitting there. It is the best possible object lesson for this chapter and it costs three dollars. (Only about 30 percent of the four-year-olds in the original study could wait; tell them that afterwards, not before.) ELDER HALES is the key definition and should go on the board: in the scriptures, wait means to HOPE, to ANTICIPATE, and to TRUST — not to sit still doing nothing. Isaiah wrote this to Judah in a chaotic time of political and social uncertainty, which is worth saying out loud. CROSS-REFERENCING is the study skill today: Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 40:31, D&C 133:45 all pay the same promise. BE CAREFUL on the self-assessment — some of these students are waiting on something heavy (a sick parent, a testimony that has not come). Do not promise them a timeline. The promise in verse 9 is that He will save, not that He will hurry.",

  "cards": [
    {
      "card": 0,
      "sectionName": "CONTEXT SETUP",
      "tagline": "Still Waiting?",
      "title": "ISAIAH 25 — CONTEXT SETUP",
      "subtitle": "A Chapter Written While Everything Was Uncertain.",
      "columnHead": "THE CHAPTER AT A GLANCE",
      "bullets": [
        "Isaiah wrote to Judah during real political and social chaos.",
        "Chapter 25 is a song of thanks in the middle of that.",
        "It lists what God had already done, then what He still would.",
        "He is called a strength to the poor and needy in distress.",
        "It promises a feast, and death itself swallowed up.",
        "Verse 9 is the hinge: we have waited for him.",
        "In scripture, to wait means to hope, anticipate and trust."
      ],
      "keyFacts": {
        "Author": "The prophet Isaiah, in the kingdom of Judah",
        "Type": "A song of praise set inside a book of warnings",
        "Setting": "Political and social uncertainty; nations rising and falling",
        "Key Phrase": "\"Wait for the Lord\" — hope, anticipate, trust",
        "Main Themes": "Patience, deliverance, trust, the end of death",
        "Christ Connection": "He waited on His Father's will rather than His own (Luke 22:42)"
      },
      "bandHeading": "SIX PROMISES IN THIS CHAPTER",
      "timeline": [
        { "title": "THE RECORD", "ref": "Isaiah 25:1", "text": "He has done wonderful things." },
        { "title": "THE SHELTER", "ref": "Isaiah 25:4", "text": "A strength to the needy." },
        { "title": "THE FEAST", "ref": "Isaiah 25:6", "text": "A feast for all people." },
        { "title": "THE VICTORY", "ref": "Isaiah 25:8", "text": "Death swallowed up forever." },
        { "title": "THE TEARS", "ref": "Isaiah 25:8", "text": "Tears wiped from all faces." },
        { "title": "THE WAITING", "ref": "Isaiah 25:9", "text": "We have waited for him." }
      ],
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "We have waited for him, and he will save us.",
        "attribution": "Isaiah 25:9"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A warm painterly golden-hour scene of a person seated alone on a stone step outside a doorway at dawn, looking out toward a long empty road and distant hills."
    },

    {
      "card": 1,
      "sectionName": "DIRECT TEXT INTERACTION & AI",
      "tagline": "Hope. Anticipate. Trust.",
      "title": "ISAIAH 25 — DIRECT TEXT INTERACTION & AI",
      "subtitle": "Waiting Is Not Doing Nothing.",
      "focusHead": "OUR FOCUS TODAY",
      "focusText": "Work out what \"wait for the Lord\" actually means, then cross-reference — three other passages make the same promise, and each adds something.",
      "scripturesHead": "TODAY'S SCRIPTURES",
      "scriptureKey": "The key: Isaiah 25:9",
      "scriptureList": [
        "Isaiah 25:1–4  —  what He had already done",
        "Isaiah 25:6–9  —  what He had not done yet",
        "Psalm 27:14  —  wait, and be of good courage",
        "Isaiah 40:31  —  they shall renew their strength",
        "Doctrine and Covenants 133:45  —  what He does for those who wait"
      ],
      "aiUseHead": "HOW WE USE AI",
      "aiUse": [
        "Define: What does wait mean here?",
        "Link: Where else is this promised?",
        "Contrast: Waiting versus giving up.",
        "Stay Spiritual: AI supports — the Spirit teaches."
      ],
      "aiPromptHead": "AI PROMPT TO TRY",
      "aiPrompt": "\"Elder Robert D. Hales taught that in the scriptures the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. Using Isaiah 25:9, Psalm 27:14 and Isaiah 40:31, help me explain to a friend what waiting for the Lord looks like day to day — and how it is different from just giving up.\"",
      "afterHead": "AFTER YOU GET A RESULT",
      "after": [
        "Write your own definition of waiting.",
        "Link the three verses in your margins.",
        "Name what you are waiting for."
      ],
      "rememberHead": "REMEMBER",
      "rememberText": "Waiting on the Lord is active. Elder Hales listed what it takes: faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, enduring to the end. None of those are passive.",
      "bandQuestions": [
        "What does wait mean?",
        "Why does God make us wait?",
        "What is long-suffering?",
        "Is waiting the same as hoping?",
        "What was the feast?"
      ],
      "bandHeading": "EXAMPLE QUESTIONS WE CAN EXPLORE WITH AI",
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.",
        "attribution": "Isaiah 40:31"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A warm painterly golden-hour still life of an open scripture book on a wooden table beside a simple hourglass, low sunlight across the page."
    },

    {
      "card": 2,
      "sectionName": "TALK ABOUT EXPERIENCE",
      "tagline": "What are you waiting on?",
      "title": "ISAIAH 25 — TALK ABOUT EXPERIENCE",
      "subtitle": "The Answer That Has Not Come Yet.",
      "goalHead": "DISCUSSION GOAL",
      "goalText": "Talk honestly about waiting on God — including the times the answer did not come, or did not come the way you asked for.",
      "howHead": "HOW TO DISCUSS",
      "how": [
        "You can keep the details private and still be honest.",
        "\"I'm still waiting and it's hard\" is a complete answer.",
        "Do not fix anyone else's waiting for them.",
        "Keep the Savior at the center."
      ],
      "aiHead": "CONTINUE TO USE AI",
      "aiText": "Find one scripture account of somebody who waited a long time, and bring back how it ended.",
      "questionsHead": "THINK ABOUT THESE TOGETHER",
      "questions": [
        "What are you waiting on Heavenly Father for right now?",
        "What made the difference for the children who could wait — and what would make the difference for you?",
        "Why might the Lord care that we learn to wait, rather than just answering immediately?"
      ],
      "bandHeading": "EXAMPLE QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS",
      "bandQuestions": [
        "What am I waiting for?",
        "When did waiting pay off?",
        "What makes waiting hard?",
        "Has God said no?",
        "How do I keep hoping?"
      ],
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage.",
        "attribution": "Psalm 27:14"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A natural photograph of five teenagers sitting around a classroom table in bright morning light, each with a marshmallow untouched in front of them."
    },

    {
      "card": 3,
      "sectionName": "CHRIST-CENTERED ACTION",
      "tagline": "Thy will be done.",
      "title": "ISAIAH 25 — CHRIST-CENTERED ACTION",
      "subtitle": "Wait The Way He Waited.",
      "columns": [
        {
          "head": "START WITH JESUS",
          "text": "In the garden He asked for the cup to pass, and then said not my will but thine. He knew how to want something badly and still wait on His Father.",
          "citation": "See Luke 22:41–42; Matthew 26:39.",
          "art": "A warm painterly golden-hour scene of the Savior in white robes kneeling in prayer among olive trees at first light."
        },
        {
          "head": "HE HAS ALREADY DELIVERED",
          "text": "Isaiah starts by counting what God had already done. Remembering the answered prayers is how you survive the unanswered ones.",
          "citation": "See Isaiah 25:1–4.",
          "art": "A warm painterly golden-hour scene of a sturdy stone shelter on an open plain with storm clouds breaking and sunlight coming through."
        },
        {
          "head": "DEATH SWALLOWED UP",
          "text": "The longest wait any of us has ends the same way — He wipes away the tears from off all faces. That is the promise underneath every smaller one.",
          "citation": "See Isaiah 25:8.",
          "art": "A natural photograph of an empty morning horizon over open fields with warm light breaking across it."
        }
      ],
      "ideasHead": "IDEAS: HOW COULD I WAIT WELL?",
      "ideas": [
        "Write the prayer down.",
        "Count what He answered.",
        "Keep the commandment anyway.",
        "Ask for patience directly.",
        "Tell someone you trust.",
        "Do not set His deadline."
      ],
      "planHead": "MAKE A PLAN",
      "planQuestion": "What one thing are you waiting on Him for?",
      "plan": [
        "What have you been asking for?",
        "What will you keep doing while you wait?",
        "How will you notice a partial answer?"
      ],
      "challengeHead": "CHALLENGE THIS WEEK",
      "challengeText": "Write down the thing you are waiting for, and every day this week write one line about what He did give you that day.",
      "rememberHead": "REMEMBER",
      "rememberText": "Isaiah 25:9 does not promise a fast answer. It promises that the people who waited were glad they did. Waiting is not evidence that He is not listening.",
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "He will wipe away tears from off all faces.",
        "attribution": "Isaiah 25:8"
      },
      "artPrompt": ""
    }
  ],

  "journalPrompt": "Name one thing you are waiting on Heavenly Father for. Write what makes the waiting hard, then write your own definition of what it means to wait for the Lord. Finish by writing one thing you will keep doing while you wait."
}