Isaiah 61 -

Isaiah 61

" ¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,

Because the LORD has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison

to those who are bound;

² To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn,

³ To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes,

The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

⁴ And they shall rebuild the old ruins,

They shall raise up the former desolations,

And they shall repair the ruined cities,

The desolations of many generations.

⁵ Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,

And the sons of the foreigner

Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

⁶ But you shall be named the priests of the LORD,

They shall call you the servants of our God.

You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,

And in their glory you shall boast.

⁷ Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,

And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.

Therefore in their land they shall possess double;

Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

⁸ “ For I, the LORD, love justice;

I hate robbery for burnt offering;

I will direct their work in truth,

And will make with them an everlasting covenant.

⁹ Their descendants shall

be known among the Gentiles,

And their offspring among the people.

All who see them shall acknowledge them,

That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

My soul shall be joyful in my God;

For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,

And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its bud,

As the garden causes the things

that are sown in it to spring forth,

So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness

and praise to spring forth before all the nations. "

~~~~~

Isaiah 61 has been a passage that I had read over before,

but hadn't stopped fully to soak it in, because

some favorite passages of the whole Bible, mind you,

were 51-54, and so I had passed these in my journey to those.

I wouldn't have such a special passage of Scripture

if it hadn't been for someone.

(yes, you may click over to that blog for a minute)

She will tell you some of that night, and how that passage

has helped her through 2 of the hardest years of her life.

And here I am. In sorrow.

And there that passage is. To comfort me of God's plan.

That night that Anna describes - as I sobbed in anguish in her arms,

and she wept knowing and painful tears into mine,

she said "have you read Isaiah 61", and I said no.

She said "read it.".

The next morning, I struggled not to break down in front of

several of our friends and look normal as she held me tightly,

and she said - "did you read Isaiah 61"? and I said no.

She said "READ IT.".

I went home and read it. and wept.

To read that God brings all things,

even joy and a garment to cover,

for weeping and grieving ...that He is not displeased with this.

THIS - depth of sorrow for someone we love,

this - need for renewed trust day by day that God loves,

this - "my eyes are spent with weeping" ....

even so, God knows and prepares for,

out of love for His children -

"The oil of joy for mourning,

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness".

I could see why Anna loved it. It's become something I

whisper in the night, when my eyes just won't shut, and

during the day when I feel my heart stop, and I can't breathe,

it's the days I don't want to do this anymore -

The oil of joy for mourning, Jean Marie ...

The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness for you...

It doesn't mean I can do it.

It means He can, and He leads me.

He never lets go, ever.

"To console those who mourn in Zion,

To give them beauty for ashes, ....

That they may be called trees of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD,

that He may be glorified."

That He may be glorified.

Thank you, Jesus.

~ Jean Marie ~