Day 31—Wednesday, March 25

1 day ago
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Isaiah 49: 8-10

This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads

and find pasture on every barren hill.

They will neither hunger nor thirst,

nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.

He who has compassion on them will guide them

and lead them beside springs of water.

These words of hope were written after Israel had been defeated and taken into captivity into Babylon. The Israelites were exiled from their homes, living in a strange land, and perhaps feeling lost and forgotten by their God. They knew that they had been warned of this destruction and had been urged to come back to God. After the prophecies came true, they most likely felt that they didn’t deserve God’s favor. Perhaps they even felt that their suffering was their punishment for not submitting to God’s way while in Israel. They knew they had certainly lost their way! God’s word here, however, is not a word of punishment but instead is a word of hope and restoration. God’s shepherd heart is seen in the fact that he hasn’t left his people to suffer alone. He still finds favor in them and vows to once again make a covenant with them. He urges the captive to ‘Come Out’ and those in darkness to ‘Be free!’ He will take care of them as a shepherd takes care of his sheep feeding them and guiding them to life saving springs of water.

Can we in this day and time admit that we too need God’s help? We need our shepherd to guide us! All too often we try to “go it alone,” to be our own boss, to make our own decisions for ourselves and our communities without seeking God’s direction. Are we too, making a mess of things? Do we sometimes feel that we are in a barren land? What is holding us captive? Is it anxiety, grief, sin, unfulfilled expectations? Could it be that diagnosis? Why me, God? Are we quick to retaliate? Do we spend so much time devising a come-back that we fail to listen in the first place? Do we put down someone whose beliefs are not our beliefs, criticize those with different political opinions, ostracize those unlike us? Do we insist that our way is the right way and the only way? When we talk, do we use the lens of Christ to guard our words? Are our words and actions creating a darkness for ourselves, our communities, and our world? How do we change? How does the world change? How can we be released from this captivity and walk free from the darkness into the light? We can do this only with God’s help! Let’s vow as a community to submit to God’s shepherd ways, to reconnect with him in a new way, to rebuild our relationship with him, to pray more earnestly and regularly. He declares that he will answer us! He assures us that he will help us! He is already here, waiting, waiting, waiting. We just have to allow him in. We must let go of our way and be open to his way. We must let his words become our words. We must yield to his compassionate shepherd’s crook! He will always take us where we need to be. Imagine a world led in HIS way! Let us no longer hunger and thirst to be right! Let his compassion become our compassion and let us take that compassion into the world.

Father God,

We vow to let you in. We vow to try to let you lead our words and actions. We know that we can do all things through you because you and only you give us strength! Amen.