Exit Plan

Lockdown

Restrictions, rules, enforcement.

Cabin fever, boredom, longing.

You feel desperate to visit your family and friends.

You get sick of watching TV.

You long for some kind of normality.

It was kind of comforting to listen to the Prime minister say that aroad map is being drawn up to get the country out of lockdown over the coming months.

Yeah, it was like catching a cool breeze of hope on your face.

One of the treasures of the lockdown for me has been the amount of quiet space I’ve had to reflect and think. Sitting often in almost total silence, letting my mind clear itself of the barrage of thoughts that run around inside my head. Letting my gaze focus on Jesus.

It was during one of these quiet moments that God led me to a scripture.

And

I was under no doubt that God wanted me to share it today.

Isaiah 55

As I read this passage which opens, “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost!”

Hey

As I read the whole chapter, it dawned on me that this is the greatest lockdown exit strategy, road, map, or whatever you want to call it.

And

I reflected on the period of time in my own life where I was on a lockdown of a very different type.

A deep, dark and heavy depression that had me lockdown in a place where I would never want to be ever again.

Interestingly, I had the same kind of feelings many of you will be experiencing now.

Cabin fever, a mind-numbing boredom and a longing to be free of it.

I needed an exit plan.

And

This passage of Scripture helped me to find one at the time, and continues to be a map to follow.

I was really lost at that time. I lost all sense of worth, all sense of feeling and all sense of purpose.

But reading these words, especially verses 12¬13, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briars the myrtle will grow. This will be the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
I remember reading those words, I mean really reading them, almost lectio style, over and over again, letting them flood my being, and letting the living word of God touch my life.

And.

The amazing seeds of hope started to land on me, started to flourish and helped me to see that there was more than just longing to look forward to, but reality awaited my life and was definitely attainable.

So, hey.

This is what I felt the Spirit of God say today.

He gave me a strong feeling that someone needs this boost today.

And.

I suggest you read this whole passage, *Isaiah 55 right now. Read it slow and hard. Push back the distractions. Let these words sink in today.

Maybe you have been floundering a little trapped and locked down not just because of the Coronavirus crisis, but locked down in something in your life that you long to be free of.

Let the spirit of God take you past the peak of your crisis and show you a real and irepressable exit plan right now.