The Holy Road Home by Constance McNeill
The Holy Road Home (Isaiah 35:8a)
Though the book of Isaiah contains many beautiful passages, much of what the prophet has to say is not pleasant or easily welcomed. The book confronts the sin and disobedience of God’s people, repeatedly calling them to repentance and forgiveness. Yet, against this stark background, Isaiah 35 rises as a strong song of hope.
Here is the promise of God’s salvation — a vision of healing and restoration. God will act against the enemies of God’s people. The weak will be given strength. In the midst of a desert, a lush and living landscape springs to life. And through it all, a Holy Road appears — a way out of hardship and exile, leading God’s people back to everything God originally promised them.
Like me, I imagine you’ve been on many different kinds of roads. While in another country driving a rented car, I followed a road that I thought would take me where I wanted to go — only to have it end abruptly in a salt storage field. I decided to drive between the mountains of salt and somehow made it to the other side, where the road began again!
One spring when I was a teenager, my mother and I needed to go into town from the farm. Heavy rains had made our usual route impassable, as small creeks had turned into rivers. We tried a different road that we thought would get us around the flooded spots, but we soon found ourselves stuck — the road had no bottom, and the car sank deep into the mud.
When you are on the right road, though, it takes you where you’ve longed to go. The trip itself becomes what you hoped it could be — steady, sure, and full of purpose. It seems that only God could provide a road like that. Isaiah’s Holy Road is just such a way — only those who choose to follow God travel it. You can’t take a wrong turn, there are no dangers along the way, and this road leads home. It leads to the place God has hoped we would come to all along.
Is this a time of unrest or discontent for you? A prolonged season of uneasiness or fear? A place of anger or frustration? You are not alone. You are traveling this Holy Road toward home, with many companions walking beside you — and God among them. If we can rest in the certainty that God’s presence is with us, then we can trust that God’s will is being accomplished. And at the end of the road, we will be welcomed home, where gifts of grace await us.