This is kind of the big transition.. God's people have sinned, they have suffered.. and now "Awake, awake!" today is a new day!
verse 6: "Yes, it is I"
Can you imagine God saying "Yes, it is I" and people are running to the city carrying a message of hope and salvation? "He's coming. He's coming!" The watchmen are excited. They're shouting shouts of joy!
It's kind of like the Olympics! Those are shouts of joy! We don't hear shouts of joy too much anymore.. especially where joy should be shouted.
This is like our Lenten season. God is coming to save! We're excited. We're getting ready. We're putting on new clothes. We're getting ourselves cleaned and ready.. and so we take the time to repent, to shed our lives of the things that do not honor God and to live our lives as if we were living in the kingdom of God..
And hopefully on Easter Sunday we'll be able to lift up shouts of joy, not because we get to text again, or eat our favorite foods - but because we have a dependable, powerful Savior!
Shout, shout for joy! For the LORD has saved us!
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 13
i just wanted to share that verse while i was reading a book it showed up.