The Promise of Meaning Isaiah 40: 1-11
How many of us have asked the question what purpose does this highway. What were those who constructed this highway thinking when they were building this road? Sometimes we question meaning for many things in our lives. It is in this wonderful chapter of Isaiah we find meaning not only for meaning for those people who have been exile, but for those of us who may be in exile today.
If you have taken a look at the roadmaps of the hilly northeast of England you will notice that many of the roads seem to have disregard for the obvious contours. For mile and miles the roads are straight as an arrow. Like a lot of the maps for Arkansas you can look on the maps and find small type on the map showing roads saying ROMAN ROAD, much like many of our side roads. This beautiful and harsh border country, the terrain along and around the Roman Wall, the northernmost limit of Hadrian’s empire. That is the ruler of Rome during the time that they conquered England. Until a few years ago, when the foot and mouth disease wiped out the flocks, you could see sheep-stippled hillsides in all directions on either side of the wall. Except for its use as a windbreak, the sheep were oblivious to the ancient barrier snaking across this narrow section of Northern England. Similarly functional and economical, the roads crisscrossing and running like veins up and down the country zip over hill and dale, regardless of the obstacles, built straight for speed and visibility. With no curves in the roads, friend and foe could be identified from miles away, and news, supplies and Roman armies traveled at the legendary speed.
A voice cried out, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40 talks about a highway much like the highway in the English countryside. A highway that will not cause delays for those seeking to use that highway daily. Isaiah is saying: it’s time for God to come, and come soon. God, this exile has lasted long enough. We you people have served their term, done their time. Now God is going to make good on God’s promises and do so without delay.
How many of us want that straight highway to God. How many of us have been going around on those winding roads of exile and seek a straight path to the Lord? If one has traveled in the desert you will not find many straight roads going through any desert especially in Isaiah’s time. Isaiah and the people of Israel sought a direct path to God. Not one that winded and was hard to get to God. How many of us want to find that dependable road to God?
Dependability
Unexpected Sacrifices
For an extraordinary pitcher he performed few extraordinary feats. Though a veteran of 21 seasons, in only one did he win more than 20 games. He never pitched a no-hitter and only once did he lead the league in any category (2.21 ERA, 1980). Yet on June 21, 1986, Don Sutton rubbed pitching elbows with the true legends of baseball by becoming the 13th pitcher to win 300 games. His analysis of his success is worth noting. “A grinder and a mechanic” is what he calls himself. “I never considered myself flamboyant or exceptional. But all my life I’ve found a way to get the job done.” And get it done he did. Through two decades, six presidential terms, and four trades, he consistently did what pitchers are supposed to do: win games. With tunnel vision devotion, he spent 21 seasons redefining greatness. He has been called the “family sedan” of baseball’s men on the mound.
Fulfilling what I agreed to do even though it requires unexpected sacrifices. Don Sutton was known as the dependable man of baseball pitchers.
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Isaiah brought the good news to the people of Israel. They asked what was the God of Israel about reveal? What word was the spiritual pony express about to deliver to Israel and the people of today? Isaiah knew and proclaimed that God is constant, whereas as he says everything else fades and withers like the grass. That God will make good on God’s promises, whereas everything else is undependable.
Many know of Ford Motor Company greatest flop the Edsel. This car named after on of the Fords did not make it in the market of cars. It was a total flop. It was not dependable in an era that idealized how dependable things were and how great it was. There are a few Edsels left in this world, as they have become collector’s items for how not to build something dependable. Ford has had success in many other areas of the motor industry, but this was there faded grass. Isaiah tells us differently in these scriptures.
“He will feed his flock like the shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” He tells of the dependable shepherd who won’t quit even if foreign armies, exile or foot ravages the flock and mouth disease. Isaiah tells us that God is the nurturer who will see that the flock he has is feed even during long times of wandering in the desert. God scoops up to his bosom the stragglers, the youngest, the weakest, those trying to get along but not quite making it. God won’t harry the ewes whose are ready to give birth to new lambs or those who are weary for caring for their young. To many this sounds so nice and sentimental this time of year, but it is not just sentimental Christmas mush.
This tenderness that is written in these scriptures many of us may place off as sentimental mush, it is weakness we may say to ourselves. This tenderness that God has is not some mush, but it is the reverse it is the reverse. It is the HOPE that we have in our lives. God knows that the future in the life and the meaning we are carrying with us.
"There is a relationship, which makes life complete. Without that relationship, there is a void, a vacuum in life. Many people, even those who are well known, can attest to that void.
For example, H. G. Wells, famous historian and philosopher, said at age 61: “I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether.” The poet Byron said, “My days are in yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm and the canker, and the grief are mine alone.” The literary genius Thoreau said, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Ralph Barton, one of the top cartoonists of the nations, left this note pinned to his pillow before taking his own life: “I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up twenty-four hours of the day.” Morning Glory, May 29, 1993
What Good News could this shepherd that Isaiah speaks of have for you this Advent? What would renew your meaning in life? How can you and I get back on the straight highway in the desert of our lives? The answer is simple. By staying focused on what endures forever. In staying focused we will find ourselves revived in the care of the tenacious shepherd.
My friends keep your eyes open this season. Look afar off, along that straight and narrow road: God is coming! Christ is coming! Are you ready?
