“How beautiful on the mountains are the
feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good
tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7, NIV)
You feel trapped. You are living in
exile from the place you would desire to live. You are separated from your home
and the joy that it brought you. Your surroundings are not familiar and you
feel the sting of defeat from the mocking residents of this hope forsaken place
of sadness. Living in this depressing place of captivity was not the outcome
you expected when you were living it up with abundance, affluence and self-indulgence.
The people of Israel in their captivity
may have felt this way as they were separated from their beloved homeland
because of their sinful self-centered living and their disregard for their
loving God and His ways.
Sin has its roots in self-centered
desires and pursuits. If allowed and
fostered with attention, sinful desires become sinful actions and being exiled,
captive, lost in your separation and sadness, the resulting consequences. The promises of sin are false, hollow and
illusionary but the results are real, overwhelming and bitter. We might not
find ourselves exiled from Jerusalem because of our sin and disregard for God and
His ways, but we can find ourselves exiled from the place of blessedness, contentment
and relationship as we can suffer the bitter consequences whenever we follow
the ways of our sin.
Suffering in any place of exile,
captivity and separation feels hopeless and we would welcome any relief and
possible redemption. To hear of the possibility of grace, redemption, restoration
and peace would bring incredible joy.
Jesus Christ brings great joy to any
exiled from their true heritage as children of God. He brings freedom from all
captivity, bondage and depressing places.
He restores a peace that passes understanding to hearts tormented by the
bitter consequences of all sin. The
restoration by God of His people to their homeland was news of great joy. The restoration of all sinners to a relationship
with God as our heavenly Father which comes by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
our Lord is the greatest joy in the world.
We should be ever thankful for the great work of Jesus Christ in
securing our release from all sad places of captivity, exiled from our intended
home with God as our beloved Father. We
have a tremendous gift in our salvation and it is ever powerful and relevant as
“Good News” for us to live by and for us to share with the world around us.
Suggested Reading … Isaiah 52
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