Daily Worship

Promise of Restoration

February 22, 2013 0 0

Isaiah 35

​The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.

 

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

 

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

 

The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

 

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.

 

No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

​Redeeming God,

so many people in our world feel themselves in exile,

many others are alienated from the natural world,

and species in the natural world are becoming extinct, 

even as we pray now.

Thank you for Isaiah’s promise of restoration:

Restoration not just of a people, 

not just their healing and reconciliation, 

but of the creation itself, of plants and animals.

If your promise is to become reality,

help us to see what we should do,

help us to see how we should live,

help us to live more simply

that others, human and animal,

may simply live – and flourish 

in your beautiful world. Amen. 

 

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written by Tony Bryer