A Promise Is a Promise

I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, And restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

Isaiah 57:18 (NKJV)

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, the author teaches us that there is a time to rejoice and a time to weep. It is a passage that brings comfort to many people and offers them hope. Even when we feel like giving up and sinking into despair, we continue to hope. Sometimes, as we traverse the valley of despair—and as the wait for the time of rejoicing seems interminably long—some wonder why they must suffer. They worry deeply about their future, while feeling powerless to change their current situation. It is precisely for this reason that Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow.

God never makes empty promises. Even when He sees you navigating the dead end of uncertainty—and when He does not act in the way you had hoped—it does not mean that His gaze is not fixed upon you. You see the present and its pain, but God sees the future and its joy. Although the people of Israel were living in sin and had drifted away from God, He took the time to fix His gaze—and focus His attention—upon those who, even amidst their sin and the suffering that stemmed from it, still held the fear of God in their hearts. He resolved to come to their aid and to heal them. This meant that He would forgive their sins and restore their relationship with Him.

The wilderness of despair and uncertainty in which you currently find yourself must, under no circumstances, cause you to stray from God's path. His silence is not a sign of abandonment or rejection; It is, rather, a process of transformation that He is working in your life—a process designed to help you reach a level of maturity that will enable you to navigate, with faith, through any future times of weeping that may come your way. Weeping is not a sin, just as feeling despair is not a sin either. This is so true that God Himself tells us that He will comfort those who weep and bring relief to those who are in despair. Wait patiently for your time of rejoicing, for God will not delay in granting it to you. It is a certain promise.

May the grace and peace of God be with you.