An Ever Widening Future

The many lives of the ancient Israel — and you.

This morning’s devotion comes from Daily Grace, the latest 365-day devotional from Mockingbird.

Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.

Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns. (Isaiah 54:1-3)

You’ve known those people who, like cats, seem to have at least nine lives. They’ve survived illnesses and accidents and really toxic relationships, and they are, miraculously, still standing. The Israel that Isaiah addresses here is like that cat — possessing, at the very least, four lives.

• She is the barren woman of the exile in Babylon, fearing that Israel’s family tree is in danger of being uprooted (v. 1).

• She is the widowed woman of that same exile, feeling at times like God, her husband, has died (v. 4).

• She is the momentarily deserted wife (vv. 6-7), whom God walked out on in anger over her flagrant unfaithfulness.

Yet somehow, in God’s plan, Isaiah prophesies that all those past and tragic lives will be swallowed up in a new “covenant of peace” (v. 10). And her new identity will be that of the reunited wife of God and beloved mother of God’s growing brood. In fact, verse 2 suggests that she will need to keep patching that tent, keep widening those stakes in all directions, in order to hold all the children God will bring into her home.

I don’t know you, so I don’t know how many lives you’ve had nor which life you are currently living. I do pray, however, that God’s presence in your life will enlarge your tent to shelter an ever-widening future.