Monday, December 5, 2022
Isaiah 35: 1-10
Psalm 85:8-13 L
uke 5:17-26
I have become a news addict in the past almost three years, and the state of the world seems to deteriorate daily: famine, plague, climate change, the overthrow of governments, mass murders, and crushing inflation with no end in sight. I need to fast from the news!
Today’s readings are a bracing dose of peace and hope. Isaiah bathes us in good news: all of nature rejoices in the presence of God who will come and save us, the redeemed and ransomed of the Lord will return to Zion singing with everlasting joy on their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Psalm 85 adds more positivity. The Lord will speak peace to the people! Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet, righteousness and peace will kiss each other. The Lord will give what is good!
From Luke’s account of Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man on a bed: Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
International news can be highly over-rated! I find so much promise and hope in the Good News of God’s Word. The scriptures that sustained the Hebrew people and the early church sustain me too; I will feast on them and they will encourage me. Will you join me?
Gail Holland
