ISAIAH 55:10 & 11 - "God's Rain"

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the Light shined." (Isaiah 9:2) Have you ever tried to walk around with your eyes closed and pretended to be blind? I remember as a child doing just that. I can't remember for how long I did it, but it was long enough for my Mother to be concerned. She would tell me not to pretend that I was blind, or I might become blind. She always told me stuff like that: don't make that silly face, or it will be stuck like that; don't crack your knuckles, or you will have arthritis; don't eat those watermelon seeds, or you will have watermelons growing out of your ears. I remember once, asking my Great Grandfather, if he eat watermelon seeds; I don't think he understood the question. Anyways, I do remember that I would have to practice my walk blind thing in the privacy of my room, so that my Mother would not know; until that is, that I would stumble into something, and there would be a crash, or a yell. Then she would pop into my room and flip on my light; at which point I could see what my problem was; my room was a mess. In the opening verse, there is a reference to "The people that walked in darkness". This word 'darkness' has several different meanings, almost all of which are not good. The Hebrew word is 'Choshekh', (it almost sounds like something I would exclaim when I stumbled), it means: dark, darkness, obscurity, night, dusk; misery, falsehood, and ignorance. It can refer to the darkness of the grave; such as dead; not alive; lost; forsaken. It has a figurative meaning of blindness, hiddenness, and judgement. The sad thing is, unlike what I did as a child, wherein I knew I was walking in darkness; many do not know that they are in darkness; and darkness loves darkness. They are lost, but do not know they are lost; blind, but do not know they are blind; condemned, but do not know they are condemned; and they are dead, but do not realize that they are dead. So what makes them to realize the state that they are in? The Light!!! In Isaiah 55:10 & 11, God is making a very great proclamation; besides that fact that He sends forth His Word, He declares that just like the rain is intended to make things grow, which means to give life; so too His Word is poured out to give Life, and to spread Life. Another term which can be used for Life is Light; but Light is always associated with Life. Verse 10 says: "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater". This verse starts off with the word 'For', and if you remember, this word 'For' is meant to establish a previous thought, or statement. So, if we go back to the previous statement which God makes in verse 9, we can see why God is now saying what He is saying. What does this declaration in verses 10 have to do with His ways and His thoughts being so much higher than ours? Well, to see the answer to that, we look to verse 11: "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." So what does this have to do with people that are walking in darkness? Simply this: When God sends forth His Word, one way that He chooses to do it is through us that have the Light shinning within us. Those people that are walking in darkness, do not realize that they are in darkness, until they get exposed to the Light. And what are we called to be? We are called to be Light; and as we walk through the land of the shadow of death, we are to shine with the Light of Jesus. And what is Jesus? He is the Word!!! You know, sometimes we just make things so complicated; when really, they are quite simple. We think for instance that we must lead someone to the Lord; when really all we are being asked to do is to turn on the Light. How do we do that? By simply proclaiming Jesus! That is all there is to it, Really! In other words; we must be specific about the God that we know and serve. And why do we have to do that? It is really quite simple to understand, Really! We can not just say that we are what we are because we know God; but we must be more specific and declare that we are what we are because we know Jesus. Why is this important? Okay, let me give you a for instance: If for example you have a coworker, who sees your life is full of joy and peace; so they approach you with this question, "Why is your life so different?" If you said simply that it was because you had God in your life, and left it at that; then, if you coworker wanted to search out God, they might pick a lessor god, and be led astray. However, if you were to be more specific and say, "It is because I have Jesus"; then really, that is all that you would be required to say. But of course, you could go on and on; but for now that's all I have to say... (I wonder if they have the Internet in Heaven? Oh, well it really doesn't matter. Happy Mother's Day Mom!)