Listen

Yes, you will go out with celebration, and you will be brought back in peace. Even the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you; all the trees of the field will clap their hands. In place of the thorn the cypress will grow; in place of the nettle the myrtle will grow. This will attest to the Lord’s stature, an enduring reminder that won’t be removed.

Isaiah 55:12-13

Think

Earlier this spring, Artemis II launched into space, traveling around the moon. In my house, when the Integrity capsule splashed down safely in the ocean, we clapped and shouted with joy. They were only gone eleven days, but Earth was already markedly different than on the day they left, and I imagine the astronauts themselves were radically changed by their journey.

In Isaiah, God’s children are returning home from a place of exile so foreign that it must have seemed like the dark side of the moon. Their journey home was cause for joy so great that creation’s celebration could not be restrained. Still, the home to which they returned after this journey was going to look a lot different than when they left it. The prophet reminded them that God would make a new thing grow and flourish.

Where we go with God will change us, and the prophet wants us to be encouraged that God will see to our renewal as a testament to God’s faithfulness always.

Jenny Oliver Hinderer

Question to Ponder:

In what ways have you been changed by the ways you’ve served God?

Pray

Majestic God, you tower above the lowly thistle and stinging nettle. Like the mountains and hills, let me shout with awe and sing at the top of my lungs for your unwavering greatness! When I return home, may it be that the seeds you’ve left behind have grown into the sturdiest of oaks. In your name, who keeps me rooted in your faithfulness, Amen.

Go

As the hours of the coming day pass, calm presence and bustling activity will ebb and flow.

God is near. God renews. Moment by moment. Each moment for the next moment.