Hope and Despair

Click here to read Isaiah 25

After all the words about pain and destruction, this hymn of praise is a bit jarring.  Maybe that is what Isaiah intended.   Previous chapters have felt like the wilderness where the trees tower over head and it can be difficult to see what is in front of us. The wilderness is a theme throughout scripture.  From the People of Israel wandering in the wilderness for forty years in Exodus to Jesus' temptation in the wilderness to Elijah fleeing for his life.  Isaiah does not exactly say it is a wilderness moment in those chapters we have just slogged our way through, but it certainly felt that way.

Wilderness are those moments when grief sits upon your soul or you struggle with a decision.  Wilderness are those moments when life seems to be spinning out of control and you just want to get off the ride for a moment.  Wilderness is often those times when we wonder where is God and why isn't God fixing everything in my life?

That is the way the wilderness was for the People of Israel in Exodus complaining about bread, water, and wanting to go back to Egypt where they were slaves.  That the way the wilderness was for Elijah when he sought ran there after defeating the priests of Baal and he complained that he had been "very zealous for God his whole life".  That is the way the wilderness was for Jesus after spending forty days in prayer only to be tempted or tested to make bread from a stone or to leap from the highest mountain or from the top of the temple.  Wilderness is not just geographically but metaphorical. It encompasses all those moments when we wonder, why?  And are not satisfied with the answers of our imaginations.

So, after reading now twenty-four chapters of Isaiah when most of those messages would not inspire a Thomas Kinkade painting, I wonder what is your reaction to hearing this hymn of joy, promise, and hope?

Seriously...take a few moments, what is your honest reaction?

I ask that because usually when I am in the wilderness moment and I encounter a moment of serendipitous joy I think, "Oh, this won't last."  The hope feels fleeting and I tend to think that the wilderness is what is real and true and to be trusted, not the joy.  Why is that?

I don't think we have to be peskily optimistic all the time or just think positive thoughts.  But I do think joy and pain can co-exist together and often do in my life.  In the midst of the wilderness, there can be laughter.  In the midst of a world with too much gun violence there can still be times of hope.  In the midst of a world where words are used to hurt and harm people there can still be words that invite the sacred into our lives.  Not to make everything magically better.  But to remind us that God is found in both the pain and hope of our lives.

May the traces of God's grace be found in your life today whether it feels like you are in the wilderness or at the great feast where all people come, are welcome, and fed.

Blessings and peace!