Isaiah
25 reminds me of the moments after impact. I saw the headlights
behind me an instant too late to react. An intoxicated speeder hit
me while I was on my motorcycle. I remember seeing the bike
cart-wheeling as I was flying in the opposite direction. For a brief
freeze frame, I heard the sound, I felt myself upside-down in
mid-air, and suddenly realized things just changed. I don’t
remember hitting the ground, but I do recall checking my body to make
sure everything still worked. What do we do after life’s
collisions? Isaiah begins with words that come with true healing.
“LORD, You are my God; I will
exalt You and praise Your Name, for in perfect faithfulness You have
done wonderful things, things planned long ago“.
That did not happen to me while I was laying there on the ground, or
even when I walked away. It did not happen when the adjuster saw the
wreckage and could not believe I survived. It takes time and
distance to see things clearly in the rearview mirror, “You
have made the city a heap of rubble“.
We look back and see “strong
peoples“
and “ruthless
nations“. Today I can say
throughout all of it, “You have
been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat“.
We often lose sight of God in the midst of our struggle. It is hard
when we are experiencing “the
breath of the ruthless” or
“the heat of the desert“.
Are you are bracing for impact right now?
Isaiah
reminds us that our true hope awaits on the other side of eternity.
“On this mountain the LORD
Almighty will prepare a feast…
the best of meats and the finest
of wines“. The aches of this
life will be no more, “He will
destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples… He will swallow up
death forever. The
Sovereign LORD will
wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove His people’s
disgrace from all the earth“.
Isaiah gives us this simple phrase for confidence, “The
LORD has spoken“. Friend, the
God who spoke creation into being can speak healing to you today. In
Matthew 8:3 Jesus said to the leper, “I
am willing. Be clean!” Do
you have enough faith to ask?
Beneath
the torn short and road rash are the internal injuries, the ones less
visible but often more critical. Isaiah offers this perspective from
after the healing, “This is the
LORD, we trusted in Him; let
us rejoice and be glad in His salvation“.
Someone you know may need to hear that even while surrounded by
shattered glass, there is hope. I recently drove past the scene of
my accident and there was no sign that anything had happened. I
realized something important; I do not live at that intersection. My
path was changed that day, but I trust that it was corrected. What
about those that caused the damage? Isaiah closes with this mention
of the enemies of Israel. “God
will bring down their pride
despite the cleverness
of their hands… He
will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will
bring them down to the ground“.
This too is an important part of healing. I carry some scars, but
left the bitterness behind. Hatred hinders healing. Listen to the
words of the healthy. “You
intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what
is now being done” (Genesis
50:20). Collisions will happen in life. Friend, is it time to mend?