The Good Breaking Through

The Good breaking through

 

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
   the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
   and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
   the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
   the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
   and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
   ‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
   He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
   He will come and save you.’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
   and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
   and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
   and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
   the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there,
   and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
   but it shall be for God’s people;
   no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.
No lion shall be there,
   nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
   but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
   and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
   they shall obtain joy and gladness,
   and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

                                                   Isaiah 35:1-10

I wake each morning with a stomach full of knots. The day stretches out ahead of me, a wilderness full of ravenous beasts and burning sand. My weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful heart are no match for this dread. 

But this morning, instead of worry, I heard Isaiah calling to me -

Be strong! Do not fear! Your God is coming to save you! 

I looked up and saw the good breaking through, throwing colour and light onto the dry dusty ground. Streams of water feeding the thirsty earth. Reeds and rushes everywhere. The redeemed with crowns of everlasting joy on their heads, gladness in their cheeks, glory under their feet.

And from within my anxious chest a crocus began to grow and, as it bloomed and blossomed, all my sorrows and sighs were chased away.

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Artwork: Breaking Through, Embroidery thread on vintage photograph

Meredith Walker-Harding lives on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. She and her husband Phil run Joey Games where they make board games about Australia for kids and adults to play together. Meredith has studied biology, theology and cross-cultural communication and loves cooking, crafting, and cats.

This devotional is the seventeenth in a series of daily email devotionals for Advent 2022. This year's series reflects on the hope and joy of the good breaking in with the birth of Christ. 

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