Scripture for Today: Isaiah 35:6 “Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

How often I have heard of a deer jumping out in front of a car!  They don’t just run, they jump and leap.  The deer is so fast and agile.  Some species can run 45 miles per hour for a short time on level ground.  But the height of their jump is impressive!  Research shows the deer can cover 30 feet between bounds!  That is as long as a school bus!  Because they can leap so high, it is difficult to find the right fencing to keep them out.  The standard  “deer proof” fence is often 9 feet high.

The deer leaping in our verse for today are not doing so to escape a predator.  They are leaping for joy!  The mute tongue is not just finding its voice but shouting for joy!  Water does not just trickle out in the wilderness but gushes out, forming streams in the desert.  This imagery is a beautiful depiction of what Christ’s return will do for His own.  There is already a partial fulfillment in the re-peopling of Zion or Jerusalem, but the complete fulfillment is larger and still to come.

When Jesus returns there will be a righting of all wrongs (II Thes. 1:6-7)  Creation itself will share in our completed redemption (Rom. 8:19-21).  There will be healings and miracles and hope realized!  There will be endless and astonished joy!  A deer leaping high in the air gives just an inkling of what we will be feeling on that day!  What a thought that “sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

Thank you Lord, for the sure hope You give me!  Help me to see past today.