Joy of the Redeemed

The title is taken from the Chapter title of Isaiah 35, which is what inspired the poem in the first place.


When all those years
you could not see
when sorrow took you to your knees
when fears and failures
overwhelmed

God was there

Giving strength
to feeble hands
giving aid
to broken hearts
giving just enough
to slowly heal

Then the day will come
He will come with vengeance
because our God loves justice!

He will come with vengeance
with divine retribution
He will come to save you
it won't be slow in coming
and there will be retribution
there will be joy
there will be justice

Gladness and joy will overtake you
sorrow and sighing will have no place
when your deep ocean
is love and joy

Gladness will be contagious
ashes will be gone
and the beauty of the Lord
will be all that remains

Oh Lord let it be soon!
Let me be clothed
in a garment of praise

Isaiah 35

Joy of the Redeemed

 ¹ The desert and the parched land will be glad;
   the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, ² it will burst into bloom;
   it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
   the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
   the splendor of our God.  ³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
   steady the knees that give way;
⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
   “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
   he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
   he will come to save you.”
 ⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
   and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
   and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
   and streams in the desert.
⁷ The burning sand will become a pool,
   the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
   grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
 ⁸ And a highway will be there;
   it will be called the Way of Holiness;
   it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
   wicked fools will not go about on it.
⁹ No lion will be there,
   nor any ravenous beast;
   they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
 ¹⁰ and those the LORD has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
   everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
   and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 61:3

³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
   instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
   instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   a planting of the LORD
   for the display of his splendor.