Devotion for the Third Sunday in Advent

adventwreathIsaiah 35:3-10 (NASB)

3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
4 Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.
7 The scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
8 A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
9 No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

 

Sometimes we look around us at the state of our nation and of our world and we become discouraged. The world calls evil good and good evil. Sin abounds, and we know it has for centuries. Maybe we wonder when Jesus is finally coming. This Scripture exhorts us to encourage one another. Jesus is coming again. We will be redeemed to walk the Highway of Holiness. Let us lift up the weak and discouraged and remind them that our Savior is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His Word is sacred. He said He is coming again, and He is. It may tomorrow; it may be next year; it may be centuries from now. But He will come on His timetable for those who love Him and accept Him as their Lord to dwell in an eternity of everlasting joy.
Lord, help us see when our sisters and brothers are discouraged and weak. Give us the faith and strength to lift them up so in Your perfect timing we come to walk the Highway of Holiness with our fellow believers. In the name of Jesus, our Lord, who will come again. Amen.

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