“The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: He shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies… ‘…I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to walk paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things I will do, and will not forsake them. But they are turned back: be you utterly ashamed that trust in graven images, who say to the molten images: You are our gods.’” (Is 42: 13, 16-17, Septuagint-translation)
In His divine zeal for saving us, God is willing to “crush the war” or various wars in which we often find ourselves, in unusual ways. “I will turn darkness into light” for you, He promises, “and crooked things into straight.” He will also “bring the blind,” like me, “by a way that they knew not,” and “will cause them to walk paths which they have not known.” These paths may seem so unusual for us, that at times we might “turn back” and prefer other “gods,” including our self-inflicted “wars.”
But today, if I face the “darkness” of some uncertainties in life, or am led onto “paths which I have not known,” which may be unpopular or unfashionable in our day, – whether at work, in personal relationships, or elsewhere, – let me not be “turned back” from God’s loving, zealous willingness to lead me through it, as He always has. Thy will be done with me today, O Lord, as it was yesterday. Amen!
