Isaiah 55

I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
   my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
   a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
   and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
   for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,
   call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
   and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
   and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
   and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall burst into song,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
   instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
   for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Comment:

This powerful psalm is an invitation to a joyful life. It tells us clearly that it is not God’s will that we live in lack and limitation. We “spend our money” according to where we place our faith and our creative focus. We choose through our thoughts what we experience in our lives. We can choose fear and lack—and that’s what we will experience. But we can alternately choose to embrace the Presence and Promise of God—and our lives will joyfully and lovingly express that choice.

We may feel we don’t deserve God’s abundance and joy, but the Lord of our being knows otherwise: “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” The Lord of our being is the Presence of God that is the truth of our identity. 

We may feel that we will only experience the gifts of God in another dimension, in a realm called “heaven” we achieve after we die. The psalmist is very clear that that feeling is false. God’s mercy, love and abundance flow to the earth—and it is here on this earth that we may, if we choose, experience them in our lives. “For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” What a great promise! And all that is asked of us is that we believe—in the Power that is ultimate Source, in the Christ that is our personal expression of the divine Source, and in the possibility of an abundant and joyful life here on earth.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed