Brown's Daily Word 12-17-07

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for He is the real Joy Giver. He is the dispenser of genuine Joy. In Isaiah 35, there is a radical vision of what it would be like to discover joy, because it was joy found in the desert. Usually a place of dryness, emptiness, and death, the desert would suddenly come to life with joy. In his vision, he foresaw the coming of one who would offer us a new way of living, one who would bring us overflowing joy, one who would offer us salvation, hope, peace, and yes, joy - like joy in the desert. 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 splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. "
This passage reminds me of what it’s like to have Christ come into your life very suddenly. What is it like to have Christ come into your life. It’s like joy in the desert! Joy comes by welcoming the Christ child into your life and into your heart, and following in his new way of living; that gives true joy, joy overflowing, like streams bubbling up in the desert. What else might we discover, when we allow the Christmas Child, Jesus, overshadow all our other joy-spots in life? What else does joy in the desert, the joy of Jesus, look like? We may find help for our feeble hands and fearful hearts. Isaiah records: "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.'”
Welcoming Christ into your life is like having someone strong beside you when you are at your weakest point, someone to steady you, to strengthen you, to comfort you, to remind you that there is no reason to fear, for even death has been overcome with victory. What else is it like? Isaiah continues:
"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."
It’s like seeing or hearing for the first time. It’s like jumping for joy. Have you jumped for joy, lately? A Savior has come to release you from the emptiness of the desert, to help you to see and to hear good news, maybe for the first time. He helps you to discover your tongue, a tongue that can shout praises, and can forgive, leaving years of frustration and bitter disappointment behind.
Isaiah continues to paint the picture for us, of what joy in the desert will look like, "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."
Finding joy in the desert, the Joy of Christ, will be like seeing all the dry and dead places of your life suddenly gushing with new life and vitality, like streams in the desert or greenery springing up where once there was only hot sand. Isaiah continues his vision of joy by revealing that there is a highway in this desert which will carry us away from the emptiness and disappointments of the past: "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return."
It is like having a new way opened up before you, a way you could never see before, the Way of Holiness. It represents a new way, a different way, a beautiful way to walk through this life, leaving behind the old Way, the Way of the World, with all its empty promises. The world promises fame, fortune, youth, health, and social position. They are empty promises on that way that lead to wrack and ruin, disappointment and disillusionment, broken dreams and broken hearts.
What highway are we on? Is it a highway of joy? Is it a pathway laid out for us by the Lord? Is Jesus, the author of Joy, walking next to us? How close is He? People that are on this new way, the Way of Holiness, are on the Way of the Lord, walking with their Savior, on the paths of righteousness. And, "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."
Walter B. Knight wrote this, about joy: “Joy is the flag that flies over the castle of our hearts announcing that the King is in residence today.”
Perhaps we need to open a new door, start a new journey - a journey of joy on the Way of Holiness. Let us Invite the King to be in residence in our lives, and walking with us all the way home.
In Him,
Brown