THIS WAY

 

MARCH 3, 2025

Isaiah 30:18–26

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

19 O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!”

23 He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures, 24 and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.




This passage and its message have sustained me through many uncertain times in my life. What stands out to me is the certainty that we worship a God who has promised to guide us on our life journey.

Take careful note of the description of God’s character in our reading. Gracious and compassionate, he rises up, blesses us, answers us and provides for us. He binds up our wounds; he heals us. (Go back and slowly read that sentence again). Isn't that a beautiful and comforting description of the God we worship?

Reflect on the imagery in verse 21. How comforting it is that whether we turn to right or the left, we will hear God's voice behind us saying, "This is way; walk in it"! The promise is that we have the presence of God guiding us daily. And that is indeed very good news.

One final point to consider today is whose voice we're listening to. There are many voices calling out to us in our noisy distracting culture, and it can be confusing. Agreed? Today's passage reminds us to listen to just one voice, the voice of our faithful and loving God. Notice what the Psalm tells us, that hearing the voice of God behind us inspires to tell the other distracting voices, "Away with you!"?

In the confusion of our living, in our noisy generation, let us listen intently for God's voice saying “This is the way; walk in it”.

Lead me, guide me along the way;
For if You lead me, I cannot stray;
Lord, let me walk each day with Thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.