Isaiah 55:12 the trees of the field will clap their hands

Isaiah 55:12  “For with joy you will go out, and in peace you will be led forth; The mountains and the hills will break forth before you a shout of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  [translations mine except where noted]

A lot of Christians don’t like reading the prophets of the Bible.  They find them depressing.  Constant judgment and condemnation.  There is certainly a lot of that in them, but there are also descriptions of what God wants to do in people’s lives that you might not find anywhere else.  In God’s appeal to people who reject Him, He often shows them what they are missing.

When we read passages of judgment, we tend to think of God’s displeasure toward people for failing Him, and it can be easy to think of ourselves as failing God as well.  But rather, this judgment is for people who should have known better and they then reject God.  God often then highlights what it is that they have turned their back on.  The interesting thing here is that Christians are often surprised by what it seems that they are missing.

Isaiah 55 begins with a general call to all people.  We see in the verses that follow that God’s heart is for all people and not just Israel. 

Isaiah 55:1,2  “Hey! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.

Are you thirsty?  God wants to quench it.  You want sustenance and satisfaction?  You can have it without cost. 

Some will stop right here and say, wait, aren’t we’re supposed to take up our cross, forsake all, and follow Jesus?

Same thing from a different perspective.  When the disciples left their nets to follow Jesus, it wasn’t something that they had to figure out on a calculator whether they could afford the cost or wanted to.  When you find the One who has the words of eternal life, how can you not leave everything else, so to speak, to follow Him?

Verses 6 and 7 are a little clearer on what this buying wine and milk without money looks like.

Isaiah 55:6,7 (NASB95)  Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

It’s all about seeking God, not your own way and your own thoughts, but God and His ways and thoughts.

Thoughts?  Forsaking your thoughts and thinking God’s thoughts?  God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours like the heavens are higher than the earth.  Isaiah 55:8  How can we do that? 

God’s Word in our lives can accomplish all that God wants for us and in us.  Isaiah 55:10,11  “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; ¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, but do what I desire, and succeed in what I sent it.

And then we come to our verse: Isaiah 55:12  “For with joy you will go out and in peace you will be led forth; The mountains and the hills will break forth before you a shout of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  [translation mine]

The word for joy here has the connotation of mirth.  It’s not this quiet sense of feeling good in your heart.  It’s this kind of joy that breaks out in laughter and even giddiness at times.  I don’t want to paint a Christian life that is based on or run by emotions, but I am seeing more and more that emotions are something not to be belittled or neglected.  I don’t think this is emphasized in the Bible because it is not the goal, it’s a byproduct.  When people make it their goal, they end up seeking the emotion and not God.  But Christians often have God but lack the expected emotions. 

Emotions can tell you a lot about the state of your Christian life.  I know there are often difficult times in life, but joy is an essential part of what it means to know God.  If there is little or no joy, we are missing something big.

The word for peace here is shalom, that Hebrew word which encompasses everything that is good: wholeness, peace, fulness, contentment, wellbeing.  Joy and peace.  Two markers.

The best part here is what happens with nature.  It’s like all nature is sharing your joy, God’s joy in His creation, especially in those humans who freely have come to love and enjoy the presence of God.  We think of nature as either inanimate objects or non-sentient things, but as part of God’s creation, God’s life and power envelops and energizes them.  This is no pantheistic sentiment, but just an extension of the awesomeness of our God.

I’ve been a Christian for a very long time.  Why did it take so long to learn about joy?