Scripture Daily

Context No. 1574 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 35:1-10: in context

1The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. 2It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the LORD’s glory, the excellence of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, and make the feeble knees firm. 4Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong! Don’t be afraid! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. 7The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay. 8A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called “The Holy Way”. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools shall not go there. 9No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there. 10Then the LORD’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

Isaiah paints a picture of glorious restoration. The wilderness and dry land will be glad; the desert will blossom and rejoice with singing. Strengthen the weak hands, he says, and make firm the feeble knees; say to those with a fearful heart, be strong, do not fear; behold, your God will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame will leap, the mute will sing; water will break out in the wilderness. A Holy Way will run through it, and the ransomed of the LORD will return with everlasting joy, sorrow and sighing fleeing away.

The word to hold is the encouragement to the weak and fearful: strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees; say to the fearful heart, be strong, do not fear; your God will come and save you. This is a ministry of encouragement grounded in a promise. To those who are weak, whose hands hang down and whose knees give way, and to those who are afraid, whose hearts are fearful, the word is not merely try harder or cheer up, but be strong, do not fear, because your God will come and save you. The strength and the courage rest on the promise of God's coming; the reason the weak can be strengthened and the fearful told not to fear is that God himself will come and save them. And the passage fills out what that coming will bring: the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame leaping, the desert blooming, the ransomed returning with everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing fleeing away. This is the great reversal God's coming will accomplish, and it is the ground of present encouragement. To the weak and fearful now, in the wilderness of the present, the word is: be strong, do not fear, for your God is coming, and when he comes, the blind will see and the desert will bloom and joy will drive out sorrow. There is a double call here: to receive this encouragement ourselves when we are weak and afraid, holding to the promise of God's coming salvation; and to speak it to others, strengthening the weak hands and fearful hearts around us with the same promise. Say to the fearful, be strong; your God will come and save you.

When my hands hang weak and my heart is fearful, can I hear and hold the promise that grounds this encouragement, be strong, do not fear, your God will come and save you, and will I speak that same word to strengthen the weak and fearful around me?

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