Obtaining gladness and joy: Is 51:11

"So the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 51:11)

The Hebrew word for "obtain" means to "reach, obtain unto, overtake." The sentence could easily be translated, "They shall overtake gladness and joy." God has created for us a highway by which we may return to Him. On this highway, God has placed gladness and joy. As we walk along the highway, we will overtake gladness and joy. Gladness and joy are found as we return to the Lord and as we walk along the way.

I have know some people who have "sat down" in their walks with the Lord. Along the way they became hurt or offended, so they stopped walking and sat down, waiting for God to heal them. They long for times of gladness and joy and wonder why God has not yet granted such times. So they sit, and wait, and wonder when God will move. Its not that God has refused gladness and joy for them, He has already made provisions for them, its just that He has provided them a little ways up the road from where they are. As long as they sit and wait, they will never find the gladness and joy the desire and need. If they would rise up, return to the Lord, and move forward down the Highway of Holiness, then they would overtake what they so much desire.

There is a principal that God is trying to show us. "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint , but rather be healed."(Hebrews 12:12-13) There are so many people waiting for a healing from God before they will walk with God. Yet God has already provided the healing they need, its just ahead of them on the highway that leads to God. Paul counsels us to "make straight paths for your feet." The times when we don't feel like walking with God are the times we need to the most. When we feel like giving up and sitting down, we need to stand up and press on towards God. We need to live what is right and trust God to provide the things we need along the way. Joy and gladness are waiting for us, let us press forward on God's highway and overtake them!

David Robison