Isaiah 35:1-10: a reflection

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 the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom; the blind will see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, the mute sing; waters will break out in the wilderness. And a highway will run through it, called the Holy Way, on which the redeemed will walk, returning to Zion with everlasting joy, while sorrow and sighing flee away. It is a vision of what God will do to heal and restore his people and his world.

Notice what this vision promises: that God will transform the desolate into the flourishing, the barren wilderness into a place of blossoming and joy. The dry land blooms; the disabled are healed; the redeemed return home singing; sorrow and sighing flee away. It is a picture of the full restoration God will bring, when all that is broken and barren and sorrowful will be made whole, healed, and glad. The desert will rejoice.

That vision is given to feed our hope. We live now in a world where deserts are still dry, where the broken are still broken, where sorrow and sighing have not yet fled. But God has promised a restoration in which all this will be reversed, the wilderness blooming, the broken healed, the redeemed returning with everlasting joy. Let this vision feed your hope in the barren and sorrowful places of life. What is dry and broken and full of sorrow now will not stay so; God will bring a restoration in which the desert rejoices and sorrow flees away. Set your hope on that coming restoration, and let it strengthen your weak hands and steady your feeble knees, as Isaiah says, in the barren and sorrowful stretches you walk through now.

Lord, through Isaiah you paint a glorious picture of restoration: the desert blossoming, the blind seeing, the lame leaping, the redeemed returning to Zion with everlasting joy while sorrow and sighing flee away. Let that vision feed my hope. I live now in a world where deserts are still dry, where the broken are still broken, where sorrow and sighing have not yet fled. But you have promised a restoration in which all this will be reversed, the wilderness blooming, the broken healed, the redeemed returning with everlasting joy. Let this vision feed my hope in the barren and sorrowful places of my life. What is dry and broken and full of sorrow now will not stay so; you will bring a restoration in which the desert rejoices and sorrow flees away. Help me set my hope on that coming restoration, and let it strengthen my weak hands and steady my feeble knees, in the barren and sorrowful stretches I walk through now. Thank you for so sure a hope.