Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (NIV)
In the ‘wilderness’ experience of our lives in this world, God establishes a highway, or a way of hope so that those who cannot see a way out might regain their sight of hope, those who are paralyzed by fear and anxiety might leap for joy again, and those who thirst for justice might drink from the fountain of righteousness. This highway that is coming to the desert places of our live today is the very God incarnate who said, “I am the Way.” (John 14:6).
To those who drive regularly in the metro Atlanta area, driving is in no way fun.
The highways are places of frequent aggravation–traffic, accidents, and people driving without rules or directions! I sometimes ask my wife to drive if I have to preach or lead a meeting, so that I will not be stressed out when I get there. Some highways are always under construction; or it seems that way. Before they finish the work on one side, they start work on the other side. At least so it seems.
Desert highways are even more challenging, but in a different way. There are desert highways in many parts of the world. My wife and I recently visited the countries of Jordan and Israel. There is a highway in Jordan named ‘The Desert Highway’. You need to keep a good look out in case a donkey, a goat or a camel is wandering across. Someone who recently drove that highway said he was misled by the directions posted. Some are in English and some are in Arabic only. So he stopped a police man asked. He was told that "The important signs are all in English and Arabic. When you see a sign in Arabic alone, it means you don't need it; it is not for you." I think it is so true that we get bogged down with signs that we don’t have any business with. Some areas of the desert highways are lonely places with no humans living around. There is a similar route in the US West coast known as U.S. Route 50 that runs through mostly rural desert and mountains in the Western United States, with the section through Nevada known as ‘Desert Road’ also called, "The Loneliest Road in America"
The Book of Isaiah was written during the time of exile of God’s people in Babylon, sometime in the 8th century BC. The Babylonian forces conquered Judah and took many people as captives. They were living under exile longing for freedom from the foreign rule and yearning for a day when they could return to their native land. In the days of Isaiah they saw this highway of hope that God was going to build on which they would travel as free people to their native land. The prophet is proclaiming that all their boulders and rough areas on their highway to freedom will be made smooth and plain. Their hills and mountains of doubt and frustration will be made valleys of hope and joy.
The prophet is comparing the promised journey to their native land to a highway. In the days of their exile, desert places would have been one marked with danger and fear. Wild bands of robbers roamed around in the desert places–it was not a safe place to be. In such deserts the travelers lacked resources to get help or to take rest. The desert was a parched landscape inhospitable to people. As people in exile, they saw a redeemer to come to open the highway of hope in the wilderness. In Jesus’ day, the world saw this highway as the baby who was born in a manger, lived among the people, and preached the good news of deliverance from sin. In our day, we see God’s highway of grace takes shape in our very own hands each time we live out our lives to share the love of Jesus to others. We are becoming the highway to heaven when we use our opportunities to share our resources, volunteer our time, or help our neighbor in need. We become the highway in the desert making a way for God’s grace to enter the lives of people in need.
Desert places feature as the setting for lots of biblical stories that set adversity against the power of our God to bring about redemption. Abraham was led through the wilderness, Moses fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, Prophet Elijah experienced loneliness in the wilderness, and David wrote many songs while exiled in the wilderness, in one of which he sings, “I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." (Psalm63:1). Even Jesus, the Son of God was tested in the wilderness. We all go through wilderness experiences in our lives one time or other. I think about those who are in the wilderness place of trying to make ends meet from pay check to pay check, living on meager resources as they try to climb out of debt. I think about how ‘desert’ it can feel when someone we know has been diagnosed with a serious illness; how not knowing what to tell them or how to offer support – it can feel very much like a wilderness for them and us. Grief can make us feel like we are left alone, isolated, surrounded in a wilderness of memories that once were blooming now feels like an arid and dry land. But in the wilderness experiences we have a hope that God can make a highway of promise of a brighter future. This highway that is coming to the desert places is the very life of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Churches can go through the wilderness experience as well. We may feel like we are being conquered by the forces of evil and injustice. At times, we may think we just cannot go on as people are abandoning faith and church. We have not had a new member join the church in years, and many of the members are getting older. But the road continues. Where do we go from here? Church is not an institution but a road. It is a road paved by thousands and thousands of Christians through history. It is a highway that takes the living presence of God to the parched and lonely lands in the desert. It is the highway that springs up the living water to the thirsty souls. It is the highway that gives directions to the ones who are lost in the wilderness without a goal in life. One soul at a time, one community at a time, we continue to hear the whisper of God and step forward as new paving stones for God’s highway, ready to live the moment in God’s history.
The good news is that God is preparing a highway in the desert experience of the church. The people are called to make way by clearing our biases and to open our hearts and minds to the world. We have to take steps to move from a stationary past to a dynamic future filled with adventures. May we go from this place knowing that there is a world that needs to experience the highway of hope, whose feeble faith needs to be reassured by the good news of a Savior who comes very near to them. The highway opens when you invite a neighbor to church, or when we visit someone in the nursing home or hospital, or help and care for someone who is living alone.
The scripture invites us to show the world that God is coming near to them, as near as our hands, doing God’s work – each bit of good that we do – establishes a highway for God to transform the desert. As disciples of Christ, we stand as signs along God’s highway, pointing the way to the manger, to the cross, to the table, to the presence of God. We are showing people the Holy Way, the way to transformation, the way to forgiveness, the way to resurrection, the way to new life, and the way out of the desert. We are the highway of God’s grace transforming the lives of others as we share the Good News of God through not only words, but also the deeds we do in the name of Jesus. The Spirit of God invites us to prepare this highway of God’s grace in our own lives so that we might be the highways of God’s grace in the world through our words and deeds.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, help us to remember your faithfulness in the past so that we will move forward to the great blessings you have kept for us. If there are worries or fears, anxieties or doubts, Lord we pray that your Spirit remove them from our hearts. Help us to remember your promise every day that you will make a way where there seems to be no way and you will be with us throughout the journey. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus and prepare the way of the Lord in this world of wilderness, and invite others to experience the peace and joy that He gives. Amen
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