“Comfort, give comfort to my people,” says the Lord. Isaiah tells us that a voice cries out to us, telling us to prepare the way for
the Lord in the wilderness, to make straight a way for the Lord in the desert. The prophecy of a voice crying out in the desert is fulfilled in John the
Baptist, who literally comes out of the desert to proclaim Jesus’ presence to
the world.
Perhaps we feel like we are traveling through the desert in our lives at this
very moment, struggling with our faith or with personal issues that are facing
us, struggling to incorporate God into our daily lives, wondering where God’s
presence is in the midst of the chaos and violence of our modern world, or in
the midst of our own personal problems. Yet, this voice is indeed crying out to us, telling us to take a moment out of
our busy lives to recognize that God’s presence indeed with us regardless of
whatever else is going on. We need to remember that Isaiah brought his message of comfort to the people of
Ancient Israel when many of them were in exile in Babylon, when their beloved
Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. “Comfort” does not seem like a message that you would hear crying out in the
middle of all this despair and destruction. We can find God in the midst of the pain and struggle in our lives, perhaps especially
in that pain and struggle. No matter
what is going on in our lives, let us prepare a path for him.
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