This and several subsequent articles are based on the assumption that God is after something, He is trying to do something to get what He is after, and He is willing to tell us all that we need to know for our participation. God is using this time of chaos (like so many others) to prepare His children for a season of opportunity that will be exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

The purpose of this specific article is to direct our perspective and meditations beyond the current situation and our spiritual condition, even beyond what He is requiring of us, to what He is after in and through those who will join in His good work. At some point (perhaps next week), we will consider His conditions for our participation but, for now, we strongly encourage you to look ahead.

You might be wondering why we are starting with the future. For so many of us, it is difficult to shift our focus away from our current situation and condition. We become captivated by its comfort or its concern. In our attempt to maintain or manage the status quo, we forget that God desires to transform us from one level of glory to another (2Corinthians 3:18).

Furthermore, our first thoughts about joining God in His transformative work tend to be “what will it cost me?”. Believe me, we all do it. Counting the cost is both normal and encouraged by Jesus. The problem comes when we fail to weigh the cost against the return/reward. And that’s what looking to the promised future will help us to do. We will use Isaiah 58 as an example.

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ (vv. 8-9)

Jesus Christ – His very life – is our light, healing, and righteousness. The glory of the Lord is what we leave behind through the good works that glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). God is after a people that will embody His Son and walk in the good works that He (the Father) has created (Ephesians 2:10). These are works He does Himself, for He receives the glory for them. We are simply the blessed instruments of an all-powerful God, and in the midst of this, He is responsive to our call and cry.

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. (vv. 10a-12)

There is much packed into these two-and-a-half verses. The first three lines read like verses eight and nine. In lines four and five, we start to envision what God is after on the inside of our being, that He might accomplish His will through us. Notice how “watered garden” and “spring of water” relate to Jesus’ promises for His followers: much fruit and rivers of living water (John 15:1-8 and John 7:38, respectively).

The last four lines of this passage speak of the LORD’s promises for restoration, spiritual legacy, and reconciliation through His children. As a parent of both biological and spiritual children, I cannot give adequate words to the hope that rises up in me when I consider that God is after these things.

Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (v. 14)

God promises to transform us into children that delight in Him. It is far beyond coincidence that this is the condition for Psalm 37, verse 4: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. “Delight” in both verses means “to be soft”, like clay in the Potter’s hands. God has put desires in our hearts for the coming season, and He is preparing us to receive them.

I have come to understand that “cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth” means God will raise us above our enemies and position us to see from a heavenly perspective – much like seating us with Christ Jesus in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). The “heritage of Jacob” is literally the physical Promised Land. For New Covenant believers that promise translates to “the kingdom of heaven”. That which has come and is coming will be our satisfying sustenance. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

“The mouth of the LORD has spoken” is fitting and critical to understanding what God is after in the coming season of kingdom opportunity. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). God is offering words that will become faith for all who will receive them, faith that will lay hold of what God is after regardless of the cost.

Therefore, we strongly encourage you to read and meditate on these amazing promises until faith rises up for the exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.

God bless you with hearing and faith for the opportunities that lie ahead.

Humbly yours and forever His,

Rob