Pictures of Restoration
2008-04-01

I found another interesting diary today and added it to my buddy list. Someone puts up daily meditations from the Lectionary (this is, in his case, a Presbyterian system for reading through the whole Bible in, I think, a couple years).

Psalms for today (back to 1): 1, 31, 61, 91, 121

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place--the Most High, who is my refuge--
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.--Psalm 91:9-10


Day 129

Isaiah 35:4-9

Tell fearful souls, "Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here, on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!"

Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer, the voicless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly.

There will be a highway called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious is permitted on this road.
It's for GOD's people exclusively--impossible to get lost on this road. Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road, no dangerous animals--
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.


Such beautiful pictures of healing and restoration in this passage. (Side note...if this sounds familiar--if you are familiar with Handel's Messiah--this is the passage used in the baritone/bass solo "Thus Saith the Lord." Much of Isaiah is used in the test of Messiah.) I especially like the images of springs of water bursting forth in the desert. For some reason, that presents a beautiful image in my mind. I guess I associate the desert with spiritual dryness, and the springs gushing out with refreshing from God.

The part about the "Holy Road" is exciting, too. Can you imagine a road to travel that would be totally safe? No one on it would even be rude to you. Everyone would be nice and kind, all lovers of Christ, no way to get lost on it. No dangerous wild animals. What a beautiful picture.

I think the one phrase that speaks to me most is the better part of verse 4, "God is here, right here, on his way to put things right and redress all wrongs." There are multitudes of people who are waiting for this event to happen.


Father, I long for the day when you do right all wrongs. I long for these days of ultimate healing that are depicted in this passage. All blind being able to see; all lame being healed and walking, no, leaping like a deer. Spiritual dryness being infinitely refreshed as we reside with the Holy One. And I long for the day when I am traveling on this Holy Road. In the meantime, Father, heal us as you will. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. Refresh my desert with springs of joy. Gush forth from me so that people around me get "wet." Let me act as though I am already walking on the Holy Road. Let me be kind to everyone I meet, rude to no one.

Visualize yourself as fully restored. Soak in that visual and relish God's refreshing.

Grace and peace, friends.



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