Saturday, October 22: Isaiah 51-

As I read verse 11 (The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away), I found myself humming a song from my college days:

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord will return

And come with singing unto Zion

An everlasting joy will be upon their heads.

 

They shall obtain gladness and joy

And mourning and crying will flee away

 

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return…

As I hummed, something felt familiar and I remembered I did this not long ago. I thought for a bit and recalled it was part of my thoughts from Isaiah 35:9-10: … the redeemed … of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. The words weren’t an exact duplicate but very close.

The most noticeable change was the word “ransomed.” The word is similar in meaning to redeemed but ransomed, at least to me, suggests the idea of being kidnapped.

I thought about that. In the garden when our ancestors Adam and Eve sinned, we were ‘kidnapped’ or taken hostage by the serpent. Oh, he didn’t throw them in a car and carry them off but he hijacked their minds, causing them to dream that they could be like God if they only disobeyed and ate what God had forbidden.

I pondered the ways my mind gets hijacked or kidnapped today… the thoughts and thought patterns that drag me off God’s intended route and bind me.

Thank God for Jesus’ ransom on the cross… Yes, thank God!  That is exactly what I will do…

Lord God, thank You for the gladness and joy that fills my life as I consider my ransom by Jesus. Tomorrow I will gather with others who have been ransomed by Jesus and we will praise You with gladness and joy in our hearts because of what You, O God, have done for us! Alleluia Amen.