Isaiah 55: Pt. 6- Worship that joy may abound

Isaiah 55

The Compassion of the LORD

 ¹ "Come, everyone who thirsts,
   come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.
⁴ Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵ Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
   and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you. ⁶ "Seek the LORD while he may be found;
   call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake his way,
   and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.
 ¹⁰ "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
   and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
 ¹² "For you shall go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall break forth into singing,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
   an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

Wow, wow, wow. That's all I can say. God promises us in this passage that his kingdom is coming at his word, and since his word shall always succeed, we get to enjoy all the glories described in the passage above. Being a child of God is very special.

Vs. 12:  Joy is a very complex subject that involves so many different things. Essentially, though, every facet of joy can be enraptured in the reality that true joy is from the heart, of God, and is a part of every aspect of life. Peace works in exactly the same way. When God says that we, his children, will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, he means that our entire lives henceforth that moment will be joyful and filled with peace. What a picture this is! Because of the fall, all societies have been lacking somehow in both of these departments. God promises to bring both to us! The picture he gives us is glorious, too. Imagine the Himalayas, Alps, Rocky Mountains, Andes, and all the other mountain ranges across the earth breaking into song. Add to that the redwoods, palms, evergreens, aspens, and cherry trees clapping to the beat! This is incredible stuff!

Vs. 13: Remember that thorn you got stuck in your foot when you were little? It hurt, didn't it? Well, God also promises that all such things will be gone. This is probably also a symbol for evil, which will be gone when the Lord comes back and reigns forever. How amazing is that? To replace this evil, good will arise instead. The good, God says, will make God's name great, and everyone from then on shall worship him forever. So if we worship him now, one day we will join the legions of those who have gone before us in the faith, and we'll be blessed with this everlasting joy, peace, and reign of God.

Like I said earlier, wow. That's about all there is to say.

Tomorrow, I'll conclude this little series with an overview of the whole passage: Come that you may know God.

Joyfully praising him,

Meridian