"You shall have a song"

I can't get this passage of scriptures out of my head. I think it's safe to say it's as addicting as playing 2048, eating Oreo's, or humming along with "Let it Go". I stumbled upon them the other day and was immediately drawn in, intoxicated with it's beauty and complexity. I love how eloquently the picture is drawn of a righteous and just God gently taking your hand as the Teacher. Please read it.

Isaiah 30:18-33

18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
    burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;[d]
his lips are full of fury,
    and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream
    that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
    and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place[e] has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

The Lord waits, He waits to be gracious to you.
He delights in being gracious to you. It is for His glory to be gracious to you and show you mercy. What a mind-boggling thought! Just the other day I was looking over the HONY (Humans of new York) posts and was stopped in my tracks by a sad truth. The question was asked "Who do you have the hardest time forgiving?" and this woman who looked equally delicate and delightful answered, "Myself". The most puzzling thing about this truth, for me, is the blatant contradiction this is to everything that people do and believe in. Free college! Free birth control! Free medical insurance! Free housing! Free food! But forgiveness? No thanks, I'd like to punish myself silently for years. Yes, rotting from the inside out seems like a great idea. Ok, we don't quite say it like that but that is exactly what is happening when we don't accept forgiveness for ourselves. It's a denial of glory to God when we say, thanks but no thanks, to his mercy and grace.

...at the sound of your cry. As soon as He hears it, He will answer you...
You will cry. Life is tough. Sometimes you aren't dealt the hand that you expected. Sometimes your cards suck. Sometimes you lose your job, have a miscarriage, argue with your husband, lose a friend, bury a parent, get in a car wreck, break a bone. Sometimes you just plain wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Verse 20 says, "and though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher." He will NOT hide Himself from you, however, in order for Him to hear you and answer you, you HAVE to call out to him. You have to cry to Him. You are welcomed, encouraged, invited to cry out in desperation for your great Teacher. He will answer. I don't say this just because the Bible says it, although I believe wholeheartedly that the Bible is timeless and completely infallible. I say this because I have seen it with my own doubting, unbelieving, skeptical eyes. I have felt it. I have heard Him answer. I have seen the transformation that takes place when I allow myself to fully surrender to God and cry out for His help. He will answer.

This is the way, walk in it.
Numerous times in scripture, God is called the Comforter or has shown traits of comforting His children. He will wrap you in His arms and let you cry. He will be the presence that surrounds you when you feel all alone. However, He loves you too much to leave you in that place. He wants more, better, for you. He wants you to not only exist but live, vibrantly, full of joy and contentment. For this to happen, He will set you on a new path. Verse 22 says "then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, 'be gone!'." I have highlighted the word 'you' because this is a choice that no one can make but you. God can make you blindly obey, but He wants you to choose Him. This may mean a change of scenery with a move to a completely different place. This may mean a change of friends so that your influences are better for you. This may just simply mean a change in attitude. It may mean mending relationships that have been broken. It may introduce you to new people who will accept and love you like He does. This change will be exactly what you need in that moment. My encouragement to you, and preaching to myself as well, is to walk in it. Walk in renewed truth. Release anxiety, take a deep breath, and listen to His voice. He will NOT return void. If you can't hear Him, ask for others to join with you on this journey. Don't isolate yourself. He will show you the way, take a step of faith and watch your slow limp become a steady run towards the prize. Listen, obey. It's worth it.

And He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground...
Healing is a process. Regaining trust is a process. Verse 23 doesn't say He will give you a new tree. It says He will provide the rain for the seed that you sowed in the ground. God certainly can give you a brand new tree, and sometimes that is exactly what you need. But most of the time, it's a process of rain, sun, care, protection, growth. He will provide. Be faithful. There is beauty in this process. Let Him water the seed. Help it grow.

You shall have a song...
Not only is He shaping and molding you into something greater than you were before, but He is writing your story. A story isn't written in a single word, no, but a multitude of descriptive and connecting words. Words upon pages, upon chapters. From the beginning to the end, He is the author. Steadily, He is writing your short stories that one day collectively will be a testament of His goodness.

Battling with brandished arm, He will fight with them.
I love verses 30-33. The majesty and gracious kindness of the Lord intertwined with the great power of His 'furious anger and flame of devouring fire'. That is our God. Gently and mercifully, He draws us out of our fear, anxiety and isolated brokenness. He gives hope and encouragement. He prepares a way for us and invites us to walk renewed in communion with Him. Then our Abba with a powerful and mighty vengeance goes to battle for us. He defeats the enemy 'with a cloudburst and storms and hailstones". What an awesome picture! Though for a moment we may be overcome with disparity, He rises to our defense and kindles the fire merely with His breath.


There will be adversity.
But we have the victory.
We have already won.

"Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupéry