Monday, Dec. 7, 2015

Isaiah 40:3

A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

The voice of hope

Wilderness is not a dry rocky space where life is hard. It is not a trackless thicket, a forest where you cannot find your way.

It is where you get lost, where you lose yourself and you forget who you are, your truth and value.

Wilderness is the anxiety that grips you difficult days when you can find no peace from which to draw strength. It is living with complicated relationships, navigating conflict and wondering if you really see things as they are.

For the prophet Isaiah the wilderness was the wild, rough landscape separating his people, Israel, from Judea, their home. Exiled in Babylon, they flew across the wilderness on the wings of imagination to survey the ancient hills and see Jerusalem again, the place of Presence where the Holy One was known and worshiped.

This was home. But their homes were long abandoned and the ruined temple was a pile of scattered stones. And they were far away, lost and captive, fast losing their courage and the memory of what it felt like to know God’s presence filling their hearts. They ached to feel whole and beloved again.

The Bible does not tell us the identity of the voice who cries out, “prepare the way of the Lord.”

Whoever it is, this is the voice of hope. It speaks to ancient Israel … and you, making God’s message clear: “I will not forget you. You are always on my heart. I will come to you in your wilderness that you may come home and know the Love I am.”

Pr. David L. Miller