Racing Hearts – Isaiah 35:4-7

A text – Isaiah 35:4–7

4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.

He will come and save you.”

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A reflection:

In preparing to write to you about this text, I learned about two words especially: fearful and vengeance.

In the first verse, the writer says who this passage is meant to address: those with a fearful heart. But I learned that an even better translation is “those whose hearts are racing.” I found that interesting. In these days of high anxiety, whose hearts are NOT racing? We are all anxious about many things. Perhaps because so much happens so fast that we cannot control – or even be sure of what our response should be. And when we are forever in reactive mode, we feel we don’t control much. We feel subject to people with more power than we have who could make things happen that we might be harmed by. That anxiety makes our hearts race.

The writer of this passage wants us to hear that we have a God who is not intimidated by the folks who worry us and make our heart race, whether it be a playground bully or a national enemy or a health problem or a looming debt – God will deal with it. In fact, that is one way to translate vengeance in this passage – not revenge as much as an even-ing of the odds or an authority dealing with someone who is causing trouble.

And when God deals with things, look what happens. Not only is the threat removed but everything starts to relax and blossom and flourish the way God intends. So take heart. Let not your heart be troubled. Let your heart stop racing. God sees. God knows. Trust God to deal with the threat and make things flourish.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being our protector. Help us to calm our racing hearts and trust your promises. Help us to share that faith with others whose hearts are racing, too.

Amen.