“10Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Isaiah’s great prophecy of all the good things that God was going to do are filled with promises of the happy ending that the Jewish nation were going to experience when they were rescued from captivity in Babylon. They spoke of the great things that would happen with the coming of Jesus at a much later date. When you read a verse or 2 as we have today it can feel a little like the happy ending you reading at the end of a book or that you might see at the end of a movie. But so often in life that is what God does. He set’s us up for a happy ending. Our difficulty is that while we’re in the mix of things, difficult or otherwise, it can be very difficult to see how things are going to work out especially when times are hard.
The point of this verse in Isaiah was to let the Jewish nation know that something better was coming so they should hold onto that rather than the difficult time they were experiencing in exile. Isaiah wanted the people to look upwards and forwards rather than focussing on the problem in front of them.
I had an uncle who was 6’8” tall. Because of his height he could see things I couldn’t see. This is like that. We often find ourselves standing in front of a wall so high that we can’t see over it. On the other side there are all kinds of amazing possibilities but we can’t see them because the wall is too high. But we have a God who can see beyond our range of view. He knows the good things that He has in store for us beyond the obstacles we’re facing at any given moment. We need to trust in His view and move forward in the sure and certain hope that He has something good in store for us in the future we can’t see.
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Application:
Think about all the problematic things you’ve got to deal with this week. Bills, work, doctors’ appointments, children, (grandchildren) difficult relationships… From the place you’re standing right now it will probably be difficult to see how those are going to work out. It might cause you some measure of stress or anxiety to just think about them. Take a moment to look up to God and ask what He sees. Wait for His answer. Perhaps He’ll give you a picture or a verse in scripture or a sense of the way He’s working things out for you. Remember this verse from Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Trust in them!
Pray:
Thank You God that You can see all the things that are beyond my field of view. Help me today to trust that You have good things in store for me. Help me to walk faithfully in Your footsteps as I move forward from this point. Amen.