Go out with joy

"For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." – Isaiah 55v12-13

I just started a sermon series in Philippians. I mentioned in the introductory message that we don’t live in very joyful days. There just doesn’t seem to be much to ‘joy’ about today.

This is especially true in a spiritual realm. For some of us we preach and pray and teach and share and we only see the smallest visible results. It can be hard to take joy when all we see are ‘little victories.’

But we saw something earlier in this chapter. God’s ways are not my ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts. His word will never return void. It is do what He wants it to do.

If I can just keep that in mind we can go out into His work with joy, no matter what we see. When we allow Him to be in control we see things from a different perspective. When we ‘get it’ we go out with joy. We are led forth with peace. We can do all this because we have the eternal perspective in mind when ‘all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’

Lord, help me to keep my mind on things above. Help me to look on the unseen. Help me, as I learn to trust You and Your ways, to go out with great joy!