Comfort & Hard Work – Nobody Said It Would Be Easy   

    With poetic license in hand, Isaiah 40 takes us into a meeting of the heavenly council where, some-thing happened that we are very familiar with. God issued an executive order: “Comfort, O comfort my people.”[i] It was the moment when God decided to turn back toward the people of Israel, whose previous disobedience and indifference had led to their exile. It is as though God, who had stepped back to let the people experience the consequences of their actions, now decided enough was enough. The Divine Parent had determined that Israel’s “Time-Out” was over. God’s executive order was “good news of great joy for all the people.”[ii] The executive order began with divine messengers being com-missioned to bring to the exiles. In a nutshell the message is this: the worst is over now. Tripling up on a declaration of pardon the message is that the past is the past and a new future is beginning right now.         “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her
            that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
        that she has received from the Lord
            double for all her sins.”[iii]
    Yes, the nation and its people had been judged and found wanting. Yes, there had been a sentence imposed, but it wasn’t life without parole. Yes, there had been “hell to pay,” but it was not one strike and you’re out forever with no chance of getting back in the game. At God’s initiative, the proper relationship between God and God’s people was beginning to be rebuilt. We do well to pay attention and notice that God is in the business of second, third and three-hundred and forty-seventh chances. Knowing that God traffics in forgiveness is incentive to be forgiving. The gift of restoration of a right relationship, be it with God or another person, is cause for rejoicing. There is comfort in that!
    The poem found in Isaiah 40 paints a picture that despondent exiles would find to be nothing short of impossible:
        “Every valley shall be lifted up,
            and every mountain and hill be made low;
        the uneven ground shall become level,
            and the rough places a plain.
        Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
            and all people shall see it together...”[iv]
    As Mary will hear from another heavenly messenger one day: “nothing will be impossible with God.”[v] Isaiah’s poetry is picturing a highway for God being constructed across the wilderness, a straight run from wherever God is or has been to where the people are as captives in Babylon. To a people who had asked in Psalm 137 how they could possibly sing the songs of God in a foreign land, God sang a new song, lyrics the people did not expect to hear, a blending of melody and poetry that touched their hurting hearts and gave them hope.
    Note, however, that the impossible promise is preceded by a work order. The highway for God requires builders. It comes with the instructions above, which fill in the details.
        “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
            make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”[vi]
    You and I are today’s builders. The work is ours to do, preparing a pathway for God to cross the wil-derness to take up residence in our hearts, and inviting others to do the same. Nobody said it would be easy, and if they did they haven’t been paying attention. Click here for further reflections on the
work of following where God leads us. Easy Isn’t the Way to Go - https://youtu.be/GDc4BeJVhL4
[i] Isaiah 40. 1
[ii] Luke 2.10c
[iii] Isaiah 40. 2
[iv] Isaiah 40.3-5
[v] Luke 1. 37
[vi] Isaiah 40. 3