“There’s no room!” You can’t come in! We are all full! Go, and find different place!”
These words are familiar to every child who has heard, the story of Mary and Joseph traveling, when she was near to deliver – ‘how absurd!’
“Go find a different place!” Take down the Landmarks!” “Get God out of the schools-no prayers-no mention of Jesus in the public squares!”
“Where is there room? To receive His precious grace?” “Where is there room, for the King to reveal His face?””Where can He be born? The King of all mankind? Where is there room for Love Divine?”
There is an answer! God gave it Himself!” It’s hidden in a treasure of words, perhaps dusty on the shelf! But it’s there, and He’s waiting and He knows all things – He knows your name. He’s alive, remember-He died and rose again!”
The birth of the King happens in places rough and low. It’s in the story that we know – but do we really know? The story has become starched and stiff and fitted on fire-place mantles, yet it’s dead and forgotten…as we light up the candles.
So, here it goes, straight from His word, in Isaiah 35 – powerful and full of hope and delight. So if your heart is stuck in a ‘desert place’ – rejoice! You are ever so close to even see His very face, as you draw near to Him in your rough ‘wilderness’ and He restores your sight and brings light to your night:
“Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.” (Isaiah 35: verses 1 through seven, New Living Translation. Hope for the hurting and broken and lost, because there’s room in the desert, He can find entrance there. There’s room in the solitary place, yes, there is room for Him there!
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its course,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Jerusalem[a] singing,
crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.” (Isaiah 35:1-10, New Living Translation).
“Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart…
prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing: “Joy to the World!”