It is not uncommon to see people struggle in life. Indeed, life can be so burdensome that to survive a day is just by the grace of God. Even King David survived his daily struggle and joyfully said, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens” (Psalm 68:19). Unless the Lord helps us, we can be engulfed by life’s problems. No amount of effort on our own can extricate us from our burdens. This is also the reason why the Lord Jesus had to extend his invitation saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). He knows the burden that we carry daily.
While life can be very challenging, we can take comfort in the promise of the Lord, that he will not leave us nor forsake us. To this, the apostle Peter said, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). With the Lord Jesus with us, we can always look forward to better days. And when the difficult and gloomy days are gone, we can only respond with joy. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isa. 55:12). Yes, we shall break forth into praise as we conquer each burden that comes our way.
But unless we persevere enough in our walk with the Lord, the light of dawn might not be forthcoming. It is when we commit our lives fully to the Lord that we shall see his deliverance. To this, the Lord said, “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard” (Isa. 58:8). The Lord will not only prepare the way ahead for our deliverance but will also secure and guard us from behind.
When the Lord said that we shall break forth into joy, he said so based on three premises. The first premise is that we need to seek the Lord with all our heart. He said, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isa. 55:6). Seeking the Lord calls for true repentance and returning to him. One of the biggest barriers that can cause us to not have a breakthrough in our spiritual walk is unbelief. Unless we fully believe in God, we will not take him seriously, nor take sin and its consequences seriously. Unbelief only results in worldly repentance that leads to death.
The next premise is to trust in the Lord. We need to realize that we are so limited in many ways, but the Lord is able to lead us through all the challenges that we face. He said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). These words should encourage us to trust in God all the more, knowing that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against forces of evil. We can only be strong enough to overcome them if we trust in God and in his mighty power.
The third premise is the need to cling to the Word of God. Let us treat the Word as infallible, for the Lord himself said, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10-11). Because of the certainty of the Word of God, this should serve as our guiding light daily. We need to instill these in our hearts and our minds so that we can receive the fullness of God’s promises. At the end of the day, we should be like Joshua who testified, “Not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed” (Joshua 23:14).
The only time that we can break forth into joy is when we are able to break through the challenges of life. Therefore, let us persevere in our walk with the Lord that we may break forth into songs and dances as we overcome each obstacle that we encounter in life. Let us continue to seek him, trust him and cling on to his words. Let us remember that not one of his good promises will fail. Hallelujah!
