The Lords Highway

Introduction

In the busy hustle and bustle of the season, it is easy to think, I got plenty of time to get to that later. After all, when we are finishing up with Thanksgiving, we have plenty of time, weeks to get things taken care of. We have plenty of time to finish shopping for gifts, planning out parties, etc. Yet as we are now in the third Sunday, we find ourselves with only half the time we had after Thanksgiving. Now we are starting to feel a sense of urgency on trying to get everything taken care of for the rest of the year.

Are we missing anything? This feeling creeps up in our minds as we go over the to do lists. As we mentioned before, perhaps we are missing Jesus in this season. While we focus on the busy tasks and parties and wrapping up the year, are we finding joy in having Jesus in our lives? Today’s passage is about that journey home where things are made right again. This brings journey to each of us on that journey to where Jesus is leading us home.

The old road

As we mentioned in past weeks, Isaiah has experienced the destruction of Israel and Judah and even Jerusalem. He has witnessed all of the death, destruction, and evil being done all around him. There is not much joy in being witness to that. Yet God spoke words to assure him, good things are ahead. God spoke of all the things they suffer now will be removed.

They will once again see the glory of God on their journey back home. They will see deserts blossom, the blind made to see, the lame to leap, the deaf to hear, the desert turned into an oasis. God is not just telling Isaiah that it will be better but assures him the misfortunes they have suffered will be reversed and joy shall come from this journey back home. Instead of sadness and sorrow for all their woes, they will find joy in God’s intervention and new highway made for their journey home. This new highway shall not be a road of torment and suffering but a road of new life and miracles because God is with them. God has prepared the way for them to come home.

The road today

What about our own journey we are on? Again, we can look around and read the news to find despair and feel hopeless for things getting better. There is no shortage of human suffering. This is all around us at times. We lose loved ones, we hear of those suffering from disease, we hear those who are hungry for the basic necessities of human life.

Yet, we too should take courage from the words God spoke to Isaiah. This broken desert land shall made to blossom and flourish again. Our weak hands and feeble knees shall be strengthened by God for our own journey. Our eyes shall be made to see hope again. Our ears will be made to hear peace being spoken to others around us. Our lameness that keeps us from moving forward on our journey shall be removed. We shall once again experience and witness the glory of God with us on this journey.

I look forward to this journey with God. Yet, this is the reality right now. God is with us now. God is with us on this journey together. God has prepared the way for us to find hope, peace, and joy today. Why? Because God is with us. We are on this journey together with God and with each other. It is not a solitary journey where we have to find our own way. It is a path God has created, the Holy Way as Isaiah was told.

When we turn to back God, we focus more on the grace being given. We focus less on the temporary of this world’s woes and sorrows. When we turn to God, we remember God is with us in this place. It is not just Sunday morning. It is not just Christmas time of year. It is every day, every hour, every moment. God is with us. I am not alone. We are not on our own. God is with us. We shall obtain joy and gladness from this promise.

We must learn to walk each day with joy, praising God because God is with us and God prepares the way before us for journeying home to restoration. Psalm 146 does this. Sometimes we need something to help us with finding words. Listen to this Psalm and remember the ways in which you can praise God and find joy, hope, and peace in God being with us.

Psalm 146 NRSV

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. 5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!