We live in a spiritual wasteland. The Lord desires to enter it and asks us to participate.
“Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
Isaiah 40:3
Our role is to clear a way through this wilderness and make a straight path for him. Straight paths drive uncompromisingly through the obstacles of our lives.
Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.
Isaiah 40:4
Our high places of false worship are to be levelled. The valleys of weakness filled in. The Lord prepares us to be the road, through which he reaches others.
A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?”
Isaiah 40:6
Yet, we don’t know the message. Once it was clear, but the barrenness has taken away our self-confidence.
“Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field … The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:6-8
Our beauty fades. What a contrast with the glory of the Lord and his word. This glory lives in us as we live out his love through faith. His glory overwhelms our wasteland lives.
… O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”
Isaiah 40:9
So, the message we proclaim is our testimony of how God has filled us, Christ in us, the hope of glory!