Slices
Prepare
How has God comforted you in the past? What hope did that bring you?
Bible passage
Comfort for God’s people
40 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
‘In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
Explore
It is easy to think that hope relates only to the future. However, it must be built on the past and the present as well. We who hope in the Lord do so based on the one we have known up to now; the one who has already given us reason to rely on his promises (v 5). That is how we can be comforted, with tenderness and gentleness (vs 1,2).
Just as the people in exile had relied upon, and hoped, that God would bring about a new Exodus for them with salvation and restoration, so we can rest in the promise of God’s saving grace (v 2). Enabled by Jesus, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we are able to record the Lord’s forgiveness towards us. My daily gratitude journal is filled with this comfort.
And we too are called to prepare the way for the Lord – to share the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15) because one day everyone (all flesh) will see the glory of the Lord. Romans 15:4 reminds us that the purpose of the Scriptures is to bring encouragement and hope.
Respond
Today, shine your own light on the tender promises of God which have comforted you. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead you to remember the hope to which you have been called.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Zechariah 11,12; Revelation 20
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the successful launch of the new free digital app featuring devotionals, podcasts, camp registrations and schedules produced by SU Portugal. Pray that God will provide all that is needed for this project to flourish and reach many.
