Encourage God’s People
40 Our God has said:
“Encourage my people!
Give them comfort.
2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem
and announce:
Your slavery is past;
your punishment is over.
I, the Lord, made you pay
double for your sins.”
3 Someone is shouting:
“Clear a path in the desert!
Make a straight road
for the Lord our God.
4 Fill in the valleys;
flatten every hill
and mountain.
Level the rough
and rugged ground.
5 Then the glory of the Lord
will appear for all to see.
The Lord has promised this!”
Your God Is Here!
9 There is good news
for the city of Zion.
Shout it as loud as you can
from the highest mountain.
Don’t be afraid to shout
to the towns of Judah,
“Your God is here!”
10 Look! The powerful Lord God
is coming
to rule
with his mighty arm.
He brings with him
what he has taken in war,
and he rewards his people.
11 The Lord cares for his nation,
just as shepherds care
for their flocks.
He carries the lambs
in his arms,
while gently leading
the mother sheep.
I wrote about this passage in the run up to #adventbookclub (should have checked it wasn’t going to come up!)
Maggi speaks of writing this book in The Fens, with the deepest valley being less than twelve feet deep (p72). I grew up in Sheffield, famously, like Rome, “built on seven hills”. When I learnt to drive every start was a hill start – either uphill or downhill! (And I see Maggi says she was born on the edge of The Peak District – so not far away).
Hills are beautiful and dramatic, but level land brings something different, a unique kind of clarity and perspective. That reminds me that we need to stand in a different place sometimes to get a different view. Of life, of hope, of God.
This vast array of images and metaphors of God used in this passage reinforces that. Perhaps sometimes I need to go and stand in another place and have another look?
Lord,
there are so many facets of you
to see,
to encounter,
to enrich our lives.
Forgive me
when I get used to the view,
fail to appreciate it
or become loathe to move
and see things from a different angle;
when I get stuck in my ways
of worship,
of prayer,
of meeting you;
when I forget
that others might have a different view of you,
that is still you.
Lord,
help me to move,
to look differently,
to explore you more fully,
for in you lies all I am looking for
and all I need.
This year, several of us are reading Beginnings and Endings by Maggi Dawn and joining together to comment on it. Do join us at the Adventbookclub Facebook page, follow #adventbookclub on Twitter or comment below. If you are also reading and blogging on this book, let me know and I will link to your blog.
