“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.  The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. no lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”  Isaiah 35:8 – 10

I want this promise to sink in, to invade my soul, so to speak. This promise was first delivered to the frayed nation of Israel facing captivity in strange lands, but as true and relevant today as when it was spoken by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus was born.

I find great comfort in the phrase, “A highway will be there.” This comes after the dry and parched scene – lifeless land hopeless, dry and seemingly dead. It is the picture of a desert that we must pass through. I for one do not find the idea of passing through a doleful desert as a pleasant prospect. I suppose that since I am a child of God through the new birth that my path will be through verdant gardens around gurgling springs of water.  That would be nice.

I am now 87 years old so I speak from some experience. I, too, have faced daunting circumstances, wondering how I could possibly pass through them with faith and joy.  I sometimes wondered why I needed to face things that unnerved me, even worse than that, that threatened my faith in God himself.  In such trials there is a mystery of faith. As we face undesirable things in life things look hopeless.

Like Isaiah. He knew that God is God, that He is in the dry places and in the verdant ones. Furthermore, He will never leave us or forsake us.  And he often withholds answers from us until we have already passed the problem and look back with thanksgiving and a sigh of “how could I have questioned God’s wisdom?

I see a desert ahead, a time of severe trial. I see the dryness and death. That is true, but that is not what I should be looking at. Look again at the scene, son.  Do you not see something marvelous?  A highway, not just a narrow path, passes through the desert.  It is the Way of those who are redeemed by the mercy of God.  They alone are privileged to walk on it!  They know that as long as they walk in the center of that highway, they will arrive safely and with joy on their heads. That is the promise of today, for me and for you.