On hopeless days, we all need a reason to rejoice.

Last week I shared an excerpt from my new book, A Word for Your Day, 66 Devotions to Refresh Your Mind. This devotional takes you on a grand and glorious journey through every book of the Bible. Each story-driven (often hilarious) devotion captures the essence of one important word. Starting with Beginning in Genesis and ending with New in Revelation, we’ll journey together through the highs and lows of life on this earth. We’ll laugh, cry, and praise God together for His faithfulness to walk with us all the days of our life.

One of the benefits of being a faithful reader is early access and sneak peeks, so today I want to share an excerpt from the book I hope will make you laugh, maybe cry, and, if I’ve done my job right, REJOICE. I pray it blesses you big time and remind you of all we have waiting for us.

Rejoice

Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him,  that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited  for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Isaiah 25:9 esv

Remember a time when you waited for something. Something you wanted badly. Something you knew would be the most wonderful thing in your life.I waited for college graduation. This event, I was sure, would launch me into the glorious world of adulthood and autonomy. With that precious piece of paper in my hand, I could leave behind the limitations of youth and rise to take my place in the world.

Several months later, I waited for my wedding day. No longer would I be lonely and incomplete. My husband would supply everything that was missing in my life and devote himself to making me happy.

Five years after we said “I do,” we waited for our first daughter to be born. The baby who stood on my bladder, pinched my sciatic nerve, and awakened me with her hiccups in the middle of the night would bring joy and happiness to our world.

Isaiah the prophet waited too. He waited for Israel to repent. He waited for the world to recognize the one true God. He waited for the Messiah to save His people from their sins. Most of all, he waited for God to usher in His forever kingdom.

The day I received my much-awaited college degree was a glorious one. My family gathered at a local restaurant and celebrated. That thin piece of parchment unlocked the door to my forty-year career as a dental hygienist. It also unlocked the door to long workdays, a stiff neck, and patients with cigarette breath.

And that marriage license? One hundred people gathered to witness our joy. It began almost forty years (so far) of learning to live with my best friend. It also began the challenge of trying to love each other well despite our tendencies to hurt and disappoint each other.

My nine-month wait for my precious daughter culminated in such overwhelming feelings of love I thought my heart would burst. David and I laughed, cried, and praised God for His goodness. Three days later colic began. Love covers a multitude of evils, but colic tested it to the limits.

Everything I’ve waited for and celebrated in this life has brought with it a mixture of joy and sorrow, triumph and trial.

But one day, Isaiah declares, Jesus will return, trials will disappear, and we will begin a celebration that will never end.

Someday, Isaiah wrote, Israel’s eyes will be opened and they will embrace Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah. “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:6–7).

God will usher in His kingdom with shouts of joy. “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance” (45:23 esv).

The good news of salvation will spread on grateful tongues across all the world. “You will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (49:6 nlt).

And, finally, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces” (25:8 esv).

It’s not only okay but appropriate to celebrate the long-awaited things of this world. But are we also actively waiting for Jesus to come back? Do we live each day eager to celebrate His coming? Do we hold the things of this earth loosely, knowing a better world awaits us?

Be assured, something far superior is coming—something that will cause the things of this earth to grow strangely dim. No longer a mix of joy and sorrow, our forever lives will be more satisfying and marvelous than we can imagine.

Ponder this. Hold fast to the faith. Imagine what it will be like to celebrate with Isaiah, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (25:9 esv).

No matter how long it takes for Jesus to return, wait. Be glad. 

Rejoice.

Will you pray with me that God will use A Word for Your Day: 66 Devotions to Refresh Your Mind to draw my readers into a richer, fuller relationship with God this year? And if you’d like to be one of the first to read A Word for Your Day, 66 Devotions to Refresh Your Mind, click HERE to order. Word has it that advance copies will begin shipping BEFORE its official release date of February 3. Wouldn’t you love to have one of the first copies?