The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. 8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
-Isaiah 35 (KJV)
God led me to this chapter in my study time last night. I'm not one that usually goes to the prophets, mainly because I don't really understand them. I wasn't sure as to why God led me here, but I studied this chapter, and I'm going to share what He's led me to understand.
I believe the message Isaiah is giving here is twofold. Part of the message speaks on trusting God. The other part reveals the outcome of trusting God. Let's look.
Verse 4 says, "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you." Many people today live in fear. Fear of losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their lives to some unknown enemy. Even some Christians are fearful to share their faith with others, for fear of what my happen. But God tells us, in this verse, to be strong and not to fear. Why, because He will come and save us. Do you trust God enough to follow through with His will for your life? Be strong, be the shining light in your world. Follow through with the commands of Jesus to "Go and teach" (Matthew 28:19).
Because we were strong, and didn't let fear stifle our message, we will see people come to the Lord. Verses 5-6 say, "5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." As a result of hearing the Gospel, those where were blind to God will see. Those who were deaf to God will hear. Those who were lame, will jump for joy, they will sing for God. The end of verse 6 is interesting. "for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." In a dry and drought stricken land, refreshing, cool water will come. This, my friends, is a picture of the things Isaiah just wrote about. The desert and the wilderness is the picture of your life before Christ. In verses 5-6, the description for our lives before Christ is that we were blind, deaf, lame, dumb. We lived in the desert, the dry arid place with nothing to refresh us. But, after Christ, we shall see, we shall hear, we shall run, we shall sing. Why, because we were transferred from the desert to the land flowing with milk and honey. We will not longer be spiritually dry, we will no longer live in the desert.
Are you going to allow fear to keep you from God? Are you going to allow fear to continue ruling your life? Tomorrow, we'll look at the second part of the message of Isaiah in chapter 35. For today, are you going to get fear out of your life and start being strong in God? Think About It.
No comments:
Post a Comment