Thursday after the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 8, 2022 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 35:5-10 (NKJV)
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Devotion
What a motley crew the people of God shall be as they come to Zion! That means us, those who trust not in our own works, but in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Isaiah here describes this group as those who were blind (but now can see), as those who were deaf (but now have their ears unstopped), as those who were lame (but now can leap like deer), and those who were mute, or dumb, who can now sing.
And sing we shall! For what greater joy is there, than to know that our sins are forgiven? What greater peace is there, than to know that the payment for the rebellion that we waged against God and his Law has been paid in full? Paid, not by us, for indeed that is a debt we cannot pay, but paid by the sinless Son of God Himself! As David confesses in Psalm 32:1-2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” What greater thing could we have to sing about?
Prayer: Almighty and Merciful God, of Whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
