Isaiah 29:17-19 Insights: Finding Joy in Spiritual Renewal

Posted on by Adrian Clark

Isaiah 29:17-19 NLT

17 Soon—and it will not be very long—
    the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
    and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18 In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
    and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19 The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
    The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Deaf and blind, and poor. Words that describe people who are handicapped in some way by their physical challenges or their circumstances in life. For people living their lives unable to hear what is happening around them, or see the wonders of the world in which we live, it is for them to miss out on God’s plan for His creation. But in verse 18 of today’s reading, the implication is spiritual deafness and blindness. In a previous verse, we read that a spiritual darkness had fallen over the “prophets and visionaries”, stopping their abilities to read from the “book” of Isaiah’s oracles and prophecies. But there is a day coming for the Jewish people, “soon”, when something will change. When the people will be able to see and hear again what God has for them. They will do this with all humility, and “fresh joy from the Lord” will be their reward. And the poor people, who in those ancient times were so suppressed and mistreated, would rejoice once again “in the Holy One of Israel”. 

When will all this happen? Verse 18 records it will be “in that day”. But can we fix the time, past, present or future, a little closer? Some scholars tie the immediate context to the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege under King Hezekiah (around 701 BCE), viewing “that day” as the subsequent relief and spiritual recovery of Judah. Many Christian commentators see the opening of blind eyes and deaf ears in verse 18 as finding its ultimate fulfilment in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and the dawn of the New Covenant. Other traditions view it as a yet-future end-times event when God will finally judge the ruthless, vindicate the humble, and restore Israel. So there we have it, three possibilities. But then, they could all be correct, and the truth will be revealed when history is finally sealed, on the day of a fresh start with the New Heaven and the New Earth. 

What changed for the people of Isaiah’s day, hearing the words that he had written? The same thing that changed for us pilgrims. We, spiritually blind and deaf people without a future and a hope, one day crossed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, God’s Kingdom. We may have been full of ourselves, proud and arrogant, “self-made”, with enough to live on, when we received a vision of the resurrected Jesus, as His truth penetrated  “through the gloom and darkness” in our souls. “In that day” we were freed from our deafness and blindness, a fertile ground for growth in the Kingdom, rejoicing in all that the Lord has done for us. Pride replaced with humility, poverty of spirit replaced with unlimited riches in God. In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven“. We pilgrims are citizens of a new Kingdom where we live to reflect heavenly values rather than worldly customs. We are a countercultural people who value selflessness, purity, and forgiveness over pride, greed, and retaliation. We influence the surrounding culture positively through a distinct commitment to God’s truth. We measure success and security by eternal significance rather than temporary material wealth. But above all, we place Jesus as the Lord of our choices, aligning our personal ambitions with His purpose.

Our new life in God’s Kingdom will change how we live, how we behave, and how we look. The Psalmist David wrote, “So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!” One of the features of a true Christian is the joy that is within them. I can remember some years ago I went for a walk through the Greenwich Tunnel, a walkway under the River Thames in London. I was walking against the flow of the people coming from the Isle of Dogs, but I was struck by the miserable, drawn and hopeless expressions on the faces of the commuters. No joy, not even hidden within them. But it made me think about the expression on my own face. Was it just like everyone else’s, or was it reflecting the joy of the Lord within? Perhaps sometimes we should tell our faces to lighten up and show an expression that makes us different from the misery and hopelessness in the people around us. 

Perhaps today we should pray for the “fresh joy from the Lord” to fill us once again, not “in that day”, but in this day. Right now. Peter wrote, “ … you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”. With His Spirit within us, are we reflecting “His wonderful light?. Hmmm…

Dear Lord Jesus. You came to this world to save it from the consequences of its sins. Please forgive us, Lord, for the sins we have committed and fill us again with Your Spirit, resourcing us for the day ahead. We know many around us are full of hopelessness and pain, and we pray for opportunities to share Your life-changing, eternal words with them. Please help us today reflect the joy within us, illuminating the lives of those around us, those we meet, and our families and friends. In Your precious name. Amen.

Grief and Tears

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.”
Psalm 6:6-7 NLT

David is in a desperate place, sobbing, weeping and grieving. David is irreconcilable, and all because of his enemies. They could have been his physical enemies, both inside and outside of Israel. They could have been the forces of the enemy, the devil, playing havoc with his mind. But whatever they were, they were so real to David that he was spending the night crying when he should have been sleeping. 

David was not in an unique place, because his experience is not uncommon. In the dark hours there are times when a problem we are facing into becomes so pressing, so hopeless, that we plunge into depressive depths and, even if not openly, we weep inside, lying awake as the waves of despair flood over us. And isn’t it strange, that a problem being faced by one person is something minor and insignificant to another. Whatever our stations in life, there is always a problem that could be facing us, one with the potential to reduce us to weeping and sobbing. 

There was a time when the Jews, exiled to Babylon, far away from home, did a lot of weeping. But Jeremiah the prophet had some encouraging Godly words for them, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”(Jeremiah 29:11). And that is what afflicts so many people – a lack of hope. Many people think that the life they lead is hopeless and futile and they try to dull the pain by turning to some other remedy, like alcohol or drugs. For a time their pain and distress will be alleviated, but it will still be there in the morning. Others become so hopeless and depressed that they finally decide to take their own lives. 

Paul wrote to the Romans the following words, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Sadly, so many people will never turn to the “Source of hope” for a solution to their distress. But Paul’s prayer provides such a different picture to the one generated by the weeping David. God is hope and as we trust in Him, the power of the Holy Spirit will provide the solution to our problems.

Dear Heavenly Father. Only You can open doors to people locked in a place of hopelessness, weeping and sobbing. As we face into distressful situations like David, please help us as we turn to You, the Source of hope. Amen.

God is for Us

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”
Romans 8:31-34 NLT

Paul reaches a climax in his writing, asking the question “What shall we say…?” It’s not like Paul to be lost for words. As the most prolific writer in the New Testament, his literary skills are without doubt. It is just incredible that he was able to write so much, being so busy with his missionary journeys. Perhaps spells in prison might have helped, giving him time to think. But Paul refers to “wonderful things”. What were they? Previous verses refer to those who put their faith in Jesus being adopted into God’s family, giving us a relationship with God so close that we can call Him “Daddy”. Paul writes about our legacy as heirs of God, with the benefits of a living and loving will available to us. He muses about our future glory and the new bodies that God will provide for us one day. They describe the work of the Holy Spirit within us, even to the extent of “groaning” our prayers on our behalf. And the previous verses set out a scenario that assures us God-lovers that whatever happens in our lives, He will bring a good outcome. Wonderful things indeed, and I can imagine Paul being overwhelmed with a flood of emotions, full of gratitude and worship.

It is obvious to Paul, and it should be to us as well, that with such a loving God on our side, nothing can ever successfully “be against us”. We may be going through a difficult time, with an antagonistic boss, or a controlling partner. Fellow students at school or college may ridicule us. Workmates may shun us. In some parts of the world, civil authorities may incarcerate us, or abuse us. Martyrdom is not a foreign phenomenon for Christians in hostile countries. But because “God is for us”, we can be assured that He will never desert us, because we are His children. Which parent abandons His offspring when in a time of need? Perhaps a premature entry into His arms is to be welcomed when times are hard. But through it all, our tormentors will one day have to stand before God and account for their behaviour. We have read the Book and know how it all ends. We’re on the winning side.

Such an assurance of God’s support and resources provides for us the confidence we need for living. We read in 1 Peter 2:9, ” … you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”. We have stumbled upon an eternal and far-reaching truth, that provides for us the realisation that we are living in God’s light. We have ended up aligning ourselves to the One who holds the whole of creation together. And we look back to our God-less lives and realise just how dark they were. In fact, if it wasn’t for God’s light spilling off of His people, the blackness of life would have been total. Do we realise that as we pilgrims walk in this world, we are spiritual beacons giving off the light of God? 

We are living in an age where no weapon conjured up by the devil and his minions can ever be successful against us. Yes, discomfort and even death may be on the horizon for some, but through it all, our wonderful Heavenly Father has it covered. He’s on it. We can worship Him with a peaceful confidence of His love and care.

Heavenly Father. You provide light for a dark and desperate world. Please help us to reflect that light into the lives of those around us, those so oppressed by sin and hopelessness. We worship You today. Amen.

Dying for Another

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Romans 5:7-8 NLT

Paul made a statement that is very difficult to accept, if put in the form of a question. Would I be willing to die in the place of another person? Come to that, would you, my reader, be prepared to do such a thing? I think the honest answer has to be “No, of course not”. There are stories of such a selfless act, of course, which was probably why Paul said “most people”. We can read of a man called Max Kolbe, who volunteered to die in the place of another prisoner of war in Auschwitz in 1941. And there are mentions of other selfless acts throughout history. But I think we can all agree that such a course of action is very rare because self-preservation is a built-in part of our psyche as human beings.

But God is not a human being. He is the Creator of the universe. All matter was brought into being by His Word. No words can totally describe who God is, by a long way. But there is one Godly quality that He has that we must consider from our verses today – He loves His human creation. Paul wrote, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”. Jesus, early on in His ministry, explained to a Jewish leader called Nicodemus why He, the Son of God, had come to Planet Earth. We read in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. That is the ultimate sacrifice. No human being has come anywhere near such an act. 

We pilgrims must share the Gospel message with those around us, the message about Jesus and how He died for all mankind, not just a select few. And in the process we share how much God loves them. It’s a life-changing experience. It will bring colour into a dull monochrome existence. It will bring a new dawn after a night of helplessness. It will bring hope to the hopeless. God’s love changes everything.

Dear Father. Your love for us is without bounds. We thank You for Your patience with us and Your free gift of salvation through Jesus. Amen.