Isaiah 61:1-3

Advent Devotional for Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Week 3: JOY

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;


That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.


As I was reading Isaiah I was thinking how much we need these words today. When I look at the daily paper or turn on the World News I see a world that seems broken. Constant fighting, acts of terror, starvation, ethnic cleansing, the list goes on. Many families will not be able to share the holidays with loved ones, and many will spend it in a home they may lose soon. The news is not good.

Isaiah brings us words of hope and comfort. He tells us the Good News that there will eventually be a time of rebuilding the things which have been destroyed. A voice that still echoes through the ages, “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings.” In Isaiah’s messianic prophecy he is awaiting this day with great joy, the joy that we need so much in our world today.

Are you poor? He will make you rich. Are you brokenhearted? He will heal you. Are you a captive? He will set you free. He will take away the ashes and make you beautiful. These are the words we cling to as we search our hearts in these times of trials and cling to the promise that God will not abandon us.

As we await this promise and look both back on the birth of Christ and forward to the Christ to come let the words of Isaiah envelope us with the profound hope of the unchanging loving nature of God.

Merry Christmas!

By Terri Rawlings, Admissions department