Encouragement (Part 1): Week 5, Day 1

Today we are going to read a passage in Isaiah that is talking about a time yet to come.  A time in the near future that we can patiently wait for, knowing without a doubt that God will fulfill this promise.  Be encouraged as you read and study about the future.

Read through Isaiah 35: 1-10 slowly, OBSERVING the words of the Scripture.

The wilderness and the desert will be glad,
And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;
Like the crocus
2 It will blossom profusely
And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the Lord,
The majesty of our God.
3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
4 Say to those with anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.
7 The scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground springs of water;
In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
8 A highway will be there, a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for him who walks that way,
And fools will not wander on it.
9 No lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;
These will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will [g]find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." 

Read through the passage again, and mark the text in the following ways:

• Mark every reference to glad, joy, and rejoice with a red cloud colored yellow
• Mark glory with a purple cloud colored yellow
• Mark holiness and "that way" in verse 8 with a purple box colored yellow
• Mark every reference to God with a purple triangle colored yellow (color all pronouns yellow)
• Mark redeemed and ransomed with a red box colored yellow

In case you are wondering, I use yellow for things that are specific to God.  True joy comes from God.  True glory comes from God and belongs to God.  Holiness is of the Lord.  Redemption comes from God.

Read through the text again, now that you have marked it.  In your notebooks, summarize what the overarching theme of this passage is.  Aren't you already encouraged?

To read the previous posts on Encouragement, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3