Isaiah 9:1
“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.”
Have you ever gone through a time of darkness and despair? What is the number one thing we all think when we are in a difficult spot? “This is never going to end!” There is something about hardship that convinces our minds that the darkness will never lift. But it does lift. Nothing remains the same forever. Hope wins.
This prophetic word in Isaiah tells of a “time in the future when Galilee… will be filled with glory.” We know from the New Testament that Jesus was from Galilee — a fulfillment of this prophecy. This place in the midst of judgment, defeat, and humiliation would not stay down forever. All they needed to do was hold on long enough for Jesus.
The world will not remain in darkness and decay forever. Your difficult situation will not always be the way it is right now. Pause and ask yourself, “What am I expecting to stay the same in my life? What am I expecting to change?” God is at work in your life right now. What do you expect will come of that work? Perhaps it is not better circumstances, but a greater closeness to God’s presence that will brighten your world. May we all, like Galilee, be filled with his glory.