The Barren

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 54:1-3

Now I don't know about you, but there's something about that little word barren that I just don't like. It's a highly technical term that in effect means something that someone didn't have. Whether you soon will have it is entirely up to the Lord. But up until now, it has not happened yet. At this point, some of you might be tempted to wonder how a good God could allow such a thing to happen. Yet that is hardly the point, as you will soon see here. Could it be that our God has another perspective in mind, one that we as of yet know nothing of. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth means that God has some high ways indeed of which we know not. In all this though, our God is still good.

Even now he is ruling and reigning in the affairs of men. For such a thing we too ought to praise him though, it would be nice to know for what cause first. See, this woman has been through some dark days indeed. You might could even say through hell and high water. Yet in all that though, as David once found, God's hand too still guided her and his heart towards her was good. Even when you don't think the providing's any good, of this you can be sure, that God still guides you very well. Let's see what will happen now to this one who hasn't had a child as of yet and likely never will. Notice her state of being barren, abandoned, and never in pain as seen here in the text. Through all this though, she still praises God for his guidance. Somebody shout 'he's leading me.'

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

The God that has led thus far surely will bring something back out. It might be a test and a trial just yet but when God is through, rest assured, his providing will soon catch on back up. See, most people praise God for his providing. Yet here this woman praises him for his guiding and for being God all by himself. See, there were some situations that you might not have known about but God did. All that, God has rescued her from. There is shown a shift coming in the text. She's given the divine directions to enlarge her tent and make it bigger as though expecting some company. In case you're wondering, a habitation is where someone dwells. For God, all of Heaven and earth cannot contain him, how much less this house that you have built.

Yes, it's very much like the house that Jack built only without Jack. Sure, there are some people working on it, but of this you can be sure. Best let that founder and maker thereof be God. Else will you be like that holy city, which needs not ought but the Lord. Look on with me then, as the work of stretching out a certain house even now has already begun. The cords and the stakes spoken of here are hardly instruments of cruelty or the only thing which this one now possesses aside from a tent. Rather, these are things that speak of the hidden abiding of a life firmly planted in Christ. He is that good ground then on which we stand, or that rock on which naught else was laid.

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, as David once found, for he's a good God indeed to his people. There's company coming, as we see in the text, and nobody knew it but for the Lord. See, man thought they had restricted her, kept her firmly fenced in. Yet when you know the Lord, there is no mountain too high, no valley too low, nor place ever to far that his grace cannot rescue you from. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so indeed. Could it be God had another point of view. As seen here in the text, his providing though without was never at fault.

Come on now, God has guided thus far, and now his providing has just caught this woman up. There's something coming of her from which God will use to bring forth the nations. How could this woman want for anything as of just yet. She's birthing something great, and God has used it to bring out his people. There's a seed of the Gentiles and some desolate cities in need of repair. In all your struggles and pain, see how good God is yet to his people. It seems the providing of God was never at fault. Could it be that your perspective just hadn't caught up. Now that too has been made new, together let's witness God's care for his people.