When Singing Replaces Sorrow
I am thankful for a day where my energy and mood is matching the warmth and brightness of the sun. I was out early this morning to a time of prayer with some pastors and community leaders. After lunch I took the dog on a long walk. You know, the walk where to dog gets exercise and I ride my power wheelchair. We were gone about an hour and for a time I was getting concerned that my battery might run out. When we returned home out of sympathy for the dog, I took a nap.
I am sharing a picture of two of my “softball team buddies.” In the picture on the left is “Bobby” who is 84 I believe. During my first year of senior softball they sent Bobby out to run for me thinking I was injured (I think I was just slow or limping) When I came asked about “this guy and how old he was” they said “75 but don’t let that bother you.” “Why should I” was my response “after all I’m 53!” On the right is Tony. Tony has two or three rings from being on National Senior Softball Championship teams. He has been playing senior softball for over 20 years and has some great stories. These are two guys along with several others on the team who play in two leagues during the season. That means they play a double-header, twice a week. (They are my heroes and role model) I was usually tired after one double-header, but then when I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, I found out why.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “…the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 51:11
There is an interesting and bewildering dynamic that occurs when the ungodly benefit from the ways of the righteous and the righteous suffer with the ungodly. What I am referring to is the fact the when God’s people were judged by God and taken into captivity in Babylon there were those who were true to the Lord and whose hearts were devoted to Him. Yet they experienced the suffering that came on the nation as a whole.
We do see some stories on how God used some of these individuals even during this time. Men like Daniel, and Nehemiah and women like Esther to name just a few. I say this because Isaiah 51 opens with the words, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.” (Isaiah 51:1) God is reminding those who have been faithful to Him to remember “their roots.” They may feel rejected but they are not forgotten. The prophet is writing words of comfort for His people that their sorrow will be turned to joy once again.
God’s people know some of the greatest “tribulation” times anyone could imagine. Attack from enemies, death, famine, starvation and finally chained like animals and led away from the land the Lord had given them. Weeping, wailing, the clanging of swords and the stench of death had become all to familiar. In the midst of it all God promises to bring restoration.
“…he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.” Isaiah 51:3
In this chapter twice the prophet addresses those who “pursue righteousness.” (v. 1,7) In the first reference he mentions, “those who seek the Lord.” In the second it is, “the people in whose heart is my law…” In the first God calls them to remember their past and in the second God tells them, “fear not the reproach of man.” These two together are a solemn reminder that God can overcome every obstacle and He can work in every situation.
Where there seems to be no hope, there is hope in the Lord. Where there seems to be barrenness, there can come forth new life and new beginnings. God is working when He doesn’t appear to be at work. He is restoring and bringing glory back to His people so that “….everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;[and] they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
This promise is for today; for those who feel they have suffered as the “innocent for the guilty,” it is for those who are suffering physically or feel like they are in the wasteland of suffering or facing a daunting future with dim prospects. Remember God’s faithfulness, don’t fear what others have done or what they say, the Lord is the “God of all comfort.” He is the God of restoration. He is able to blow away sorrow and sighing like leaves in the wind and replace it with everlasting joy!