Renewal in God’s Way
This is the great chapter of wilderness renewal but before we rush to embrace it we need to be clear that Renewal in God’s Way may not be quite the same as renewal in our way, which too often means little more than restoration.
We need to begin, as the chapter begins, with the recognition that some things are not right or at least not as we would expect. There is an expectation that every wilderness and all dry land will produce something. We expect it to blossom and give joy and pleasure. So also with people. Weak hands and feeble needs have a right to strength. Those who live in fear surely need help to overcome their fears. Who would not give sight to the blind or hearing to the deaf if it were within their powers? All that can be achieved when we begin to enjoy God’s renewal as the waters wash over the wilderness and bring it to life.
But the blossoming wilderness is not necessarily the same thing as the cultivated wilderness. The crab apple does not have to become a Golden Delicious; it can remain a crab apple. The desert may rejoice and blossom ‘like the crocus’ (v 2) but not every plant is going to look like a crocus or the desert become a field of crocuses.
Great as it may seem to achieve sight for the blind (v 5) we need to be prepared for the fact that they may not see as we see; the perceptions of the blind often far outclass those of the visually sighted. Lame people who leap ‘like a deer’ (v 6) may not look exactly like people who leap with all their faculties, as we discover when people with severe physical limitations play tennis or climb the Munros.
Renewal in God’s Way means coming to terms with people and the created order as it is and not necessarily as we imagine it is or as we would like it to be. It means acknowledging that God knows best and only when we are prepared to talk his talk do we qualify to walk his walk (v 8), share in his joy in his creation and enjoy the benefits (vv 9-10).