The Houses You Labored to Build
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 Then be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people.
The sound of weeping and crying
will no longer be heard in her.
20 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live
only a few days...
21 People will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and others live in them;
they will not plant and others eat.
For my people’s lives will be
like the lifetime of a tree.
My chosen ones will fully enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor without success
or bear children destined for disaster,
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord
along with their descendants.
24 Even before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like cattle,
but the serpent’s food will be dust!
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on my entire holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
This morning I savored these sweet words of promise about the coming Kingdom from Isaiah 65. A place where no child dies too early, a place where we never wonder, was it all in vain? Later, as I drove to my post-op doctor's appointment along the same route again to the same hospital where I found out Hazel had died and later had to undergo surgery, and as I wondered how life would be different if I hadn't heard those terrible words four weeks ago, the song above started to play.
The houses you labored to build
will finally with laughter and joy be filled.
The serpent that hurts and destroys shall be killed
and all that is broken be healed.
For I am with you, I am with you.
I am with you, I am with you
For I have called you,
called you by name
Your labor is not in vain.
As salty tears covered my face, I thought of the house in Heaven God is building for us, and the joy it will hold as I know Hazel there. I thought of all of the sorrow and brokenness that even amidst God's comfort fills our home, and how one day that sorrow will be no more. I thought of all of the difficulty of my 20 weeks of carrying Hazel. The endless sickness and how far I felt from myself. Was it all in vain? And this song reminded me, It's never in vain. No toil, no labor, no suffering, no surrender done unto King Jesus will be in vain, he tells us. Even if we can't see the seeds we plant grow fruit, or the babies we carry take breath, one day. Jesus came. He is returning. Our labor is not in vain. This promise has brought me great comfort over years of ministry, but it's sweetness tastes different now. There are so many ways to labor for King Jesus, I now see, and not a one is ever in vain.
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