Last January, as Haiti reeled from a crushing earthquake, one tragic account told of a mother who had three daughters between the ages of four and nine. She had been cooking for her girls when the earthquake hit. Severely injured, the mom could not move or care for her children. When help arrived, the young girls had gone two days without food or water. The mom was convinced that her daughters would not survive. A reporter accompanying the relief workers asked, “When do you think this will end?”
“When God arrives,” the mother answered.
Eventually, we humans find ourselves facing trouble beyond our expertise to fix. Inevitably, high hopes of what we can accomplish and what we can make of our world always come crashing down.
Judah repeatedly came to this point. During one calamitous cycle, under Babylon’s rule and on the brink of national ruin, the prophet Isaiah prayed for his people. His heart, he said, “[could] not keep still” (Isaiah 62:1). Just as the Haitian images moved us to both sorrow and action, the devastation around Isaiah compelled him to pray for God’s mercy. His prayer continued, “I will not stop praying for [Judah], until her righteousness shines like the dawn” (Isaiah 62:1).
Isaiah’s hope for a new dawn was more than a naïve whim. He believed in God’s promise of redemption for His people (and ultimately for all of God’s people). Isaiah proclaimed God’s intentions that the people of Judah—currently wallowing in ruin—would discover that calamity was not their end. “The Lord will hold you in His hand for all to see—a splendid crown in the hand of God” (Isaiah 62:3).
Isaiah pointed to a day when God would appear and make the world right again. Our sorrows will not completely end until He arrives.
More:
[God] has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him (1 John 3:2).
Next:
How have you been tempted to believe that you can make life work on your own? Where in your life are you most in need for God to arrive?
cuddles on November 8, 2010 at 9:47 pm
That is so very true I have made so many bad choices and my children have suffered as a consequence. I pray to God that they make better ones. I think if we see our children making better choices then we don’t feel so bad. Thats the good thing about getting older I can be more of a support to them and let them get on with making their own decisions. I have a lot of faith in the younger generation (its as if God has equipped them to deal with the changes in the world). whose energy and enthusiasm are what is required in this complex world.
winn collier on November 8, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I have two boys (7 and 8), and I know the years ahead will be filled with joy as well as difficulties. I look forward to walking with them. Looks like you are already doing that.