God Will Make All Things Right | Read Isaiah 61 | Devotion for Today - October 30, 2014 | Fernandez, Asha

The oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Isaiah 61:3

 “Mommy, my truck broke!” Little children instinctively run to their parents to have them fix the broken things in their lives. But as they grow older, they learn that Mommy can’t fix everything. She can’t make that girl you have your eye on like you back. She can’t prevent the emotional scars that result from your being excluded from a social circle. She can’t protect you from all the consequences of your foolish choices. She can’t heal you from a life-threatening disease. 

No other person can put everything right in our lives. But we know the God who will one day make all things right. Today and tomorrow we’ll get a glimpse of how God will finally restore our world, with its broken bodies and fractured relationships, and transform our mourning into joy. 

This passage comes at the end of the book of Isaiah, an extended prophecy of the coming judgment on Judah. But destruction was not the end of Judah’s story— it was a painful step along the journey, but the final destination was freedom and the Lord’s favor. The ruined cities would be rebuilt (v. 4). The land would again be fertile and productive (vv. 5, 11). Their descendants would have a future in this place promised by God (v. 9). 

In addition to the restoration of the land, God promises restored joy and a relationship with Him (vv. 6–7). This relationship is summed up in verse 10: “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.” What a great comfort— someday our sovereign God will not only change our circumstances but also fill our hearts with delight in Him.