Lenten Devotions - Day 27

“The blind will see, and the ears of the deaf will be healed. Those who were lame will leap around like deer; tongues once silent will begin to shout. Water will rush through the desert, scorching sand will turn into a lake, and thirsty ground will flow with fountains. Grass will grow in wetlands, where packs of wild dogs once made their home.” Isaiah 35:5-7

That Sounds great! We like passages pointing to a happy reversal of fortunes for God's suffering people. We gladly sing songs filled with their refrain, joyfully belting out words that comfort us and give security at the picture of a better future, of pie in the sky, of an ending to suffering, pain, want, and discomfort. At least, we like such passages as long as we consider them as speaking to our fortune and material welfare. What we may miss, however, is that they point to God's interests in reversing the fortunes of those in despair more than comfort for those doing well.

Isaiah addresses Yahweh's interests in the disenfranchised, disheartened, disabled, and overlooked by those in power. He simultaneously spoke to the fact that deportation to Babylon lay ahead of the nation living in dread of a conquering world power. It would only be after a time of exile that Yahweh would usher in this reversal of fortune. When those same rose to power, however, they would tend to forget the position from which they came. God's interests seem to shift to the new population suffering at the hands of those who rose to prominence as the people of God. Neither is God unwilling to cast down a people consumed with themselves until they turn to God in wholeness of heart.

It is not that God is so concerned with keeping us comfortable. God is concerned with a people whose faith and confidence remain focused on God, rather than on circumstances. Those more desperate in circumstances tend to seek rescue in God. Those in comfort focus on issues of maintaining comfort, rather than using their resources as emissaries and stewards of the Almighty. When we have received the blessing of God’s reversal of our fortunes, we too easily forget that God would also reverse the fortunes of those who yet experience deprivation, disease, hunger, and disillusionment.

We read Isaiah’s words and think of ourselves. We pat ourselves on the back for having God’s blessings in our hands—access to the resources to meet our physical needs and the opportunity for spiritual nourishment upon demand. Too often we fail to consider those still yearning to find God’s promise of reversal a reality in their own experience. We see ourselves and promise fulfilled. We do not see a world in desperate need of fulfillment. While they remain hungry, thirsty, ill, blind, and lame in body, we become so in spirit. We ignore God’s desire to see all his creatures living in peace, nourishment, and health. We look upon ourselves and turn blind eyes upon God’s will for another 4,000,000,000 hungry bellies to be satisfied, nourished, and embraced with the love of Christ pouring through us.

We have the power, position, and resources to make a difference. We have Esther’s opportunity to become God’s channel of blessing for many. We must first take off our blinders, focus not on our own lives, but on God’s love for all who are still cut off from what we have taken for granted.

We focus too often on ourselves while God calls us to view the world of his creation. Seek out a way to be involved in making a difference for those who needs are desperately greater than yours.

“Lord, grow your love in me, that I might long for the blessing of others still in need.”

—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/