Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 39-42.

In chapter 40 Isaiah writes of a voice calling out a message.  John the Baptist understood the voice to be in the wilderness calling out.  The translators of the NIV understood the voice to be telling us to prepare the way in the wilderness.  I like John the Baptist’s take a little better.  In any case, I think the passage is referring to our hearts, because that was what John the Baptist was doing when he said he was the voice: he was calling for people to make a way in their hearts for God.  I suspect that Isaiah actually meant to skirt the line between speaking about a voice calling out for a path to be made in the world for the coming of God’s Messiah and calling out for us to clear out the obstacles in ourselves to doing God’s will.  I don’t believe that God expects us to clear the path, to lower mountains and fill in valleys (either in the real world, or in ourselves).  No, He wants us to begin the task and He will finish it.  We need to be willing to destroy the obstacles in our lives to doing God’s will and we need to try doing so, but when it happens, let us give credit to God.

When I started this entry I intended to write something about lifting up our voices, without fear, to declare to people, “Here is your God.” I was about to skip over that, but I want to expand on it a bit.  First, that is good news, which will cause people to rejoice when they understand it.  Second, who is this God whose presence we declare, to whom or what can He be compared?  Well, He created all that we can see.  Think about the recent pictures released from the James Webb Telescope.  All that those pictures display was brought into being by God.  As carefully arranged as the Universe is, God consulted no one in its design and no one taught Him the engineering to make it work.  And, He does not grow tired.  Instead He gives strength to the weary.  Even the greatest athlete runs down, no matter how much work they put into enhancing their endurance.  But, if we put our trust in God, He will renew our strength.  Which brings me back to making a path in our hearts for God.  Clearing out the sins and distractions which obstruct God entering into our lives is exhausting, but if we keep calling out to God, He will give us the strength to continue.  When you grow tired of doing God’s will, cry out to Him and He will cause you to soar once more.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.