When the Rivers Turn to Deserts

For a long time I have kept silent,
I have said nothing, holding myself back;
Now I cry out like a woman in labor,
gasping and panting.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
all their undergrowth I will dry up;
I will turn the rivers into marshes,
and the marshes I will dry up.
I will lead the blind on a way they do not know;
by paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will turn darkness into light before them,
and make crooked ways straight.
These are my promises:
I made them, I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:14-16

When the rivers turn to deserts
and the seas to barren sands,
on what pathways will you send us
through those dry, untrodden lands?
On such unknown roads, O Shepherd,
we are lost without your hand!

When the shadows all have lengthened
and the night we fear descends,
let us find in it our shelter
and the refuge of your wings.
As our crooked ways are straightened,
may we greet the dark as friends.

For the days are surely coming
when the skies dissolve in flame,
and the earth is rent asunder
by the sounding of your name.
When you come to us in thunder,
Savior, may we not be shamed!

When you come, come with compassion
for the creatures you have made.
Come and fill all that's found wanting
when you weigh us in the scales.
May we come to meet you gladly
on the roads that you make straight!

Sun, moon, and large telescopes above Chile’s Atacama Desert By ESO/S. Brunier – http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1218a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24975825

The Bruised

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased.
Upon him I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out, nor shout,
nor make his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow dim or be bruised
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
Isaiah 42:1-4

The bruised shall not be broken;
the light shall not go dim
until his word is spoken.
The coastlands wait for him
who comes as but as whisper
and shows but as a spark,
yet all the world shall listen
and seek him in the dark.

To all who thirst for justice
he is the living stream,
who hunger for the judgment
he is the boundless feast.
He shall not strike in temper
nor raise an angered voice,
yet Christ, the gentle shepherd,
will call us to rejoice.

For he, the reed once broken,
our brokenness shall heal,
and he, the word once spoken,
no secret shall conceal.
Now mercy's ancient brilliance
shall fill our nights and days,
for he, the light unkindled,
will never fade away.

Isaiah, fresco painted by Michelangelo and his assistants for the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican between 1508 to 1512 By Michelangelo – Self-scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2776989

Here Is the Servant of the Lord

Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
     my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
     he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
     not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
     and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
     the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
     I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
     as a covenant of the people,
     a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
     to bring out prisoners from confinement,
     and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7

Here is the servant of the Lord,
God's chosen one who comes as king.
In victory he lifts no sword,
but everlasting peace he brings.

Instead of spears, he bears bruised reeds
and smold'ring wicks instead of flame.
Behold the army that he leads:
a vanguard of the blind and lame!

No weapon for his empty hands,
he leads the ones of little worth,
but nothing hinders their advance
until his justice fills the earth.

And as they go, they open doors:
Our dungeons empty in their wake,
and good news reaches all the poor,
as mercy's light upon them breaks.

This is the Lord's anointed one,
and shall we, too, lay down our arms
to follow God's beloved Son
into the kingdom that has come?

The covenant of God and world,
he calls us with a quiet voice
to leave our darkness and come forth
into a light where all rejoice.