Removing the Obstacles

“And it will be said:

“Build up, build up, prepare the road!
    Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”

For this is what the high and exalted One says—
    he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
“I live in a high and holy place,
    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

I will not accuse them forever,
    nor will I always be angry,
for then they would faint away because of me—
    the very people I have created.

I was enraged by their sinful greed;
    I punished them, and hid my face in anger,
    yet they kept on in their willful ways.

I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
    I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,

    creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
    says the Lord. “And I will heal them.” (Is. 57:14-19).

Today, we are continuing to work through themes related to suffering and healing in connection with the New Hope program and hearing stories about our siblings in Christ in the global church. If this is your first devotional this week, and this doesn’t sound familiar, the first few minutes of Wednesday’s episode provide more context.

In the third week of the New Hope program, we talk about barriers to our healing and in our relationships with God, others, and ourselves. We read Scripture together and do a drawing activity to demonstrate how we see these barriers. In one group, a young woman sat staring at her paper for the better part of ten minutes as the women around her created detailed images of the barriers they perceived in their own lives. When the time was nearly up, she scribbled down two words and showed them to the group: “sin” and “suffering.” “I can’t figure out where one ends and the other begins,” she said. “What part of my pain is my fault, and what part is other people’s fault. It seems easy for the rest of you to find the line, but I don’t know how.” This young woman had suffered from several addictions and escaped an abusive relationship. She, like so many others in her circumstances, had been shamed by others into blaming herself for what she had experienced. She wondered aloud to her group whether God’s grace was for someone like her. She had left her home country and run far from the source of her pain, but as is true of many in these circumstances, to escape physically is only to have one of many barriers removed.

Today’s verses from Isaiah draw us into the situation of the people of Israel post-Babylonian exile. Following closely after chapters which speak hopefully of God’s redemption of his people from their captivity by a foreign empire, the later chapters of Isaiah, including today’s passage, reflect a kind of disappointment among the people. They were free from exile but not experiencing the kind of dramatic restoration they had expected their freedom to bring. They were back in the land of their ancestors, but their holy cities had become a wilderness, and there were serious divisions in the community about pressing ethical issues. They had been forced to recognize the reality of their sin, as well as the persisting effects of the suffering inflicted on them in exile. Like the woman in New Hope, the line between their own responsibility and that of others was blurry. They had moved physically out of captivity, but barriers in relationship with God and others remained. 

What is God’s response in today’s passage? He reminds them that he lives “in a high and holy place” but that this does not prevent him from being “also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit.” He acknowledges his anger at their sin, but promises healing, guidance, and restoration for mourners. 

For God, the barriers that his people construct, whether due to their own sin or to protect themselves from the pain inflicted by others, like the young woman in New Hope, are not insurmountable: “Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people,” he commands. To those of us who live with–or watch people we love live with–the lingering effects of sin or suffering, and to those of us for whom the line between them remains indiscernible, causing us to wonder whether God’s grace is wide enough, receive this promise to his people: “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them . . . Peace, peace, to those far and near, says the Lord.”

So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.