The Path of Joy (March 7th)
Isaiah 55
1.) Let’s take a walk on the path of joy. In order to get on that path we need to allow Isaiah the Old Testament prophet leads us. Through his words in the 55th chapter of Isaiah we are going to find the path of joy. I condensed the entire chapter down into three words that I invite you to write down in your notebooks or on your bulletin. Those three words are: Come. Believe. Receive. They will guide us as we come before the Lord in the celebration of Communion.
2.) Come. Come with your need. Isaiah 55:1, 2 in the NLT says this, “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink – even if you have no money! Come take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for your soul! Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake.”
We come to the Lord with the need of our soul. Isaiah tells the people to not waste their money on things that don’t satisfy. He says to come to God and realize what the most important things in life are. What are the needs of your soul?
Do you need peace, joy, love, forgiveness, purpose, contentment, patience, self-control? What is your need? What are you thirsting for? What is your soul crying out for? What is your heart needing?
It might be that you have spent your money, time and resources on things that have not satisfied your life. You have a restless soul because you are not fulfilled.
I want to give you a few minutes for reflection as you consider your need. Come to the Lord with your need. You are without money, poor, and yet you are invited to come. Come into God’s loving presence. He loves you.
Come… Come… Come…
Visualize you bringing your need before the Lord in your hands, lifted to the Lord. Hear Jesus Christ as He says to you from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
When we come, we find the path of joy.
3.) Believe. Believe you are forgiven. Isaiah 55:6, 7 in the New Living Translation say this, “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the people turn from their wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
The Message translation writes these words for part of verse 7. “Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to God, who is lavish with forgiveness.”
We find the path of joy when we believe that God can abundantly pardon, when we believe in a God who is lavish with forgiveness. If we don’t believe God’s love can forgive us we are off the path.
We come aware of our need, aware of our own sinfulness, aware we have messed up our life. It takes faith to do to believe that a Holy God would forgive us. We say, “God, I am a sinner and in need of your forgiveness.”
Some of us don’t believe in an abundant pardon. We believe God only forgives a little of our sin, that God is holding out some of our sins to clobber us with later.
I invite you to visualize your sin as a sea shell. Place yourself standing at the ocean holding onto that shell, your sin.
You hear the news that your sins can be forgiven. All you have to do is throw that sin into the grace of God. You picture yourself throwing the shell into the ocean and it sinks fast to the very bottom of the ocean floor. It is not able to come to the surface and come back to your life. It is gone. You no longer have the burden of sin in your soul. To believe that you are forgiven is a powerful truth and it will show you the path of joy.
If you are not experiencing joy it might be because you struggle with believing that God forgives me, that God loves me, that I can throw away my sin into the ocean of God’s mercy and grace.
Take a few minutes and picture yourself at the ocean throwing your sin into the ocean. (You might want to look at the You Tube Video of Audio Adrenaline’s song “Ocean Floor” that describes this scene.)
4.) Receive. Receive your gift of joy. Listen to Isaiah 55:12 in The Message Translation. “So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause.”
Can you picture all creation joining in your celebration of joy? You have come to God, you have been forgiven, you believe that, and now you are receiving joy in your soul. It is a gift that God has given you on the inside and it appears that in His creation the gift is celebrated all around you.
The trees clap their hands, the mountains, the hills, the streams, the skies, the wind all are rejoicing at the wonder of God.
Psalm 98:4 – 9 describe a similar scene. “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King. Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord. (NIV)
Those words inspired Isaac Watts in 1719 to write words that would become a great song when music was added. That song, “Joy to the World” was about the path of joy in life when the Lord comes to our hearts. Two hundred years or so after the song was written, in the early 1900’s that it became popular as a Christmas carol, though it doesn’t mention the birth of Christ at all. It focuses on the joy that comes when we experience God’s salvation.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.”
Closing – As we experience Communion let us come, believe and receive. Allow joy to be received in your heart. I want you to have a sense of freedom of expressing your joy today. You might want to raise a hand, say out loud, “Praise God,” or laugh or smile or even give a little dance to your step. May you find the path to joy.
