HOPE FOR THE BARREN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.”

Isaiah 54:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever felt barren in life?

I’m not just talking about someone who is unable to conceive a child as we see the concept used in many places in scripture.

No, I am talking about another kind of barren, a place in your life where you find yourself in an unfruitful season in life, a place where you are deeply in need and lacking something.

If you’ve been there, and maybe you are there now, you can agree with me that it’s not a fun place to be. In fact, I have never run into anyone in my life who wished for their life to become barren in any way. Instead, we desire and yearn for rewarding, productive lives, lives that are fertile with things that meet our needs.

That had to be the kind of deep longing the Israelites were feeling in the dog days of their seventy year exile to Babylon. They had been stripped of everything except their lives, left without homes or possessions, sent off into a foreign land where they were severely oppressed by their captors. I’m sure there wasn’t a day that went by where God’s people were praying and crying out for Him to end their barrenness and restore them back to the life they had before their fall, minus their sinfulness of course.

Well, in the opening verses of Isaiah 54, we find words of encouragement straight from the mouth of the Lord Himself. For the period of bleak desolation and isolation was soon to end and with it, better days were ahead.

In other words, there was hope for the barren. There was in Old Testament times and there still is today. Look again at these verses:

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.”  Isaiah 54:1-4

During the exile, the Israelite population dropped. Many women had not had the opportunity to bear a child but those days were soon going to end. For the Lord was soon going to restore Israel to its homeland and once there, the people would find their lives flourishing once again. The Lord’s words paint a picture of a population explosion that would cause the tent of Judah and Jerusalem to spread out until other nations were dispossessed, leaving more territory for God’s people to settle. And there would be no more cause for fear, no more cause for feelings of disgrace, no more humiliation for the Lord would once again be with them and for them. No enemy would be able to have their way with Israel because as we have heard God assert in an earlier chapter of this book, He would be going before them and He would also be their rear guard.

Truly, if God were with them, who could stand against them? (Romans 8:31)

Friends, the same is true for us today. We may find ourselves in barren places, places where we seem stuck in the mire of an unproductive, unfertile valley of life, but there will be a time when we will experience the glorious deliverance of God, a time where we will glory in our return to better days by a master Creator and Father who loves and cherishes us dearly.

Through the Lord and through Him alone, there is always hope for the barren. Stay encouraged and maintain your faith in Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com