Today’s Scripture Reading (March 2, 2020): Isaiah 35
I grew up in
the land of broken cars. There was a parade of them that made their way through
my Dad’s shop in the garage. They were crashed, smashed, sometimes abandoned,
and always ugly and not much to look at, at least to my eyes. But Dad saw them differently,
not as they were in their brokenness, but as they could be one day when all of
the brokenness had been washed away. When the cars reached my Dad, they found a
place that where could be loved and treasured once more, like they were when
they were driven off of the showroom floor. In a day when cars were made mostly
of metal, my Dad would straighten and twist and pound at the cars until they
looked as good as new. I also early on heard about the evils of Bondo. Not that
the substance never touched Dad’s cars, but that the filler was always the province
of the last resort, and its use was always minimized as much as was humanly possible.
In my Dad’s hands, what seemed to be irreversible brokenness found healing. And
there was always the day when what was once broken, now stood on our driveway
lovingly restored, looking shiny and new.
I also remember
the parade of people that passed through my Dad’s shop. It took me quite a few
years to realize that the work being done in the garage was not always just on
the cars. Men would stop by for a coffee or a visit while Dad worked away in
the garage on his vehicles. Sometimes they would grab a hammer and pound out a
dent or straighten a bumper. Later in life, I have heard the stories from some
of these men who went through a restorative work in my Dad’s garage, along with
the cars on which they were working. It was a mystery that I never fully
appreciated when I was younger.
Isaiah preaches
of death and destruction that will come. But there is a principle with God that
we need to understand. God’s story never ends with destruction and death. The
story of God always includes a moment when what was broken Is restored. So,
while the armies of the nations would experience destruction, after the
destruction, the wilderness would bloom and rejoice in its moment of
restoration.
The principle
applies to Isaiah’s prophecy of the world, but it also applies to our own
lives. If you are in a moment of destruction right now, hold onto the hope that
after the destruction always comes restoration, where what was once broken is
lovingly restored, better than it was in the first place. In the hands of the
Master, beauty is coming, if we are willing to trust in him.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
36
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