I was reading Isaiah 61:1-4 and was really struck by the words in verse 4: They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
This passage is one of my favourites in the Bible as it expresses so clearly God’s heart. He is the one who loves to bring joy instead of mourning and clothe us in a garment of praise instead of our spirit of despair. It was this passage that Jesus made his own manifesto when he was just launching out into his ministry as the Son of God.
I myself have experienced great healing by literally taking hold of the promises that he sets the captives free and gives me beauty instead of ashes. I found it life giving in my early days as a Christian to know that God was so full of compassion and care and in him was all the needed power to transform me.
But this verse right at the end is compelling and powerful. Through it Isaiah is declaring prophetically that ‘they’ will be ones who repair, rebuild and restore. Up to that point, the focus had been on Jesus and the anointing the Spirit would bring him, but suddenly it has shifted, saying that the very ones whose lives were full of ashes, mourning and pain, would now be used to rebuild, restore and repair! I am full of awe as I realise how great his call is upon us all. I meet people everyday who feel they are too weak or broken to be used by God. But God is saying that the very ones who have most needed his healing are the ones called to give it away.
I experienced in my own life that as God healed the devastating effects of abuse and shame, a passion and longing to see others restored too, grew within me. In our weakness, we are the ones called to be the channels of his love.
The reference to ruins in those verses reminds me of the images we see daily on our TV’s as we watch the wars destroying nations like Ukraine and Gaza. People are barely existing in the ruins of their homes and towns. It is desperately sad and equally, people whose lives have been devastated by rejection and life hurts are barely managing to exist. I can’t help rebuild a ruined city as I’ve got no practical skills in that way, but I, like all of us, have Jesus living in me and his very Spirit of compassion, beauty and joy wants to use me to restore broken lives, even to renew things that have been wounded for generations. How great is our God that he chooses to use us all. I would never have thought it possible that he could use me, but I now know that in my own unique way (he gives us all a unique way)that I have helped the hopeless find hope again, comforted those who are overwhelmed by grief and set free those who are bound by fear. I long to be more and more someone who rebuilds, repairs and restores. There’s nothing our broken world needs more and it makes me worship him that we are all part of his beautiful work.
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