Day 5: All things new
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God's salvation (Luke 3:5-6; see also Isaiah 40:4).
To whom can we compare You, Sovereign God, Holy One...who is Your equal ...You who bring out the starry host one by one and call forth each of them by name? Because of Your great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:25-26).
Just as You guide the laws of the heavens, You guide the course of human history so that details at every level combine toward Your flawless purpose from everlasting to everlasting. You weave the threads of lives and the threads of nations, and the threads of events towards Your ends, Your plans, Your fulfillment.
Thus it can be that a prophecy by Isaiah about the return of Your people from captivity in Babylon is recalled by John the Baptist—and recounted by the gospel writer Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—to point to the greater significance of a Messiah who would free humanity from the captivity of sin (Isaiah 40:4, Luke 3:5).
Lord Jesus, Your great power and mighty strength are just as evident over the ruling of the universe as over the affairs of a nation. To You belongs the power over the natural and supernatural. By You all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through You and for You (Colossians 1:16).
But the toll of sin on the world has left us bloodied and weary. All around us we see ruin, wreckage and rubble—in our communities, our nations—even our families and our churches.
By Your great power and might, You bring order and restoration in both the natural and spiritual realm to a world reeling from the trauma of sin, death, and destruction. You repair, Your rebuild, You redeem and You restore. You make all things new. You set our feet on a firm foundation that can never be shaken.
We lift to You even now the splintered, shattered, fractured, and broken places in our lives, our families, our circles, and our world. We pray for all that seems damaged beyond repair. We pray for all that has been razed. We pray for all that is bent, crooked, and misshapen. We name specifically all that seems hopeless and dire, desperate and impossible.
Nothing is beyond Your power. Through Your great salvation, Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain (Isaiah 40:4).
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