“We all have a journey to make.” This is what I thought as I was talking to some recent acquaintances earlier today when they asked me about where I grew up, what I did for a living, and all those other things people ask one another when they’re trying to get to know them better. Then I got home to read scripture and reflect and that line jumped out to me. I don’t believe in coincidence. I very much believe in Providence.
“It is for
those with a journey to make.” Isaiah
has a beautiful way of giving us God’s promises, painting a lovely picture – he
turns the desert into flowers and song, certainly a bit of heaven for a people
who have spent generations in the desert, wandering, yearning for the relief of
God’s love. The coming of God will bring
healing, strength, and abundant water for man and beast. A holy way, a highway will be there for those
with a journey to make (Isaiah 35:1-10).
Pondering my
journey in life, I realize it has had many different paths, yet all of them
have ultimately led me to God, each in its unique way. Even the detours—and there have been many—have
taught me the direction better taken. But
then I acknowledge that even those wandering side trips have taught me perhaps
more and better than if I had stayed on “the holy way.” As I
grow older, I see God’s hand in all I have done or has been done to me, and in
all these I see what they all were- streams bursting forth in the desert,
burning sands turned to pools.
I believe
the optimism of Isaiah’s prophecies is real, not whistling in the wind. For all the evil we see in the world today, I
believe there is even more goodness and love, God here with us. “Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy…..sorrow and mourning will
flee.”
“Behold, our
Savior will come; you need no longer fear.” (Isaiah 35:4)
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