Isaiah 40:3-5
Every year about this time, the mailbox is filled with envelopes telling us: “You may already be a winner,” and even though we doubt it, our dreams of finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow forces us to open the envelope to see. The gullible truly believe their ship will come in one day or their rich uncle will die and leave them his fortune.
The prophet Isaiah isn’t telling the people of Israel they’ve won the lottery. He’s bearing an even more enticing message: “Your exile is over! Soon you will see the glory of the Lord.”
Many folks who win the lottery lose their minds, discover more relatives than they ever thought they had, lose their children through the canker of riches; their marriages through the ruin of wealth, and their own lives through the pursuit of pleasure. But I’ve never seen anyone who truly received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord lose anything! The lie of the huckster is that you can have your joy today with no money down and an easy-pay-plan. The promise of God is that He will show us the pathway to perfect peace and the price of entry has already been paid.