If you are old like me, you will remember a song on Hee-Haw, performed by Buck Owens and Roy Clark.
Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me
The news in recent years has appeared to be nothing but gloom, despair, agony, and bad luck. The Old Testament version of Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me! was the lament.
During the times of the Old Testament prophets, there were plenty of occasions for lamenting their situation. The events that led up to the exile and the exile itself were horrific for the nation.
The good news was that God is active in history. He does not abandon His purposes, even if His people rebel against Him and turn to idols.
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will behold a land that stretches far away.
Your mind will muse on the terror:
“Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed the tribute?
Where is the one who counted the towers?”
No longer will you see the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language that you cannot understand. (Isaiah 33:17-19)
Can you imagine your tax dollars going to pay off an aggressive superpower? What about the time when what was designed to protect you failed? How horrible would it be to come face-to-face with an army, and unable to communicate with them?
These are things that God’s chosen people experienced during the era of the prophets. Certainly, they knew gloom, despair, and agony.
However, God was not through with His people. He promised a king who would arrive in his beauty, who would transform their situation.
Jerusalem, an Image of God’s Provision
Jerusalem had been conquered by foreign armies, but Isaiah prophesied a time when the city would be a place of security and prosperity.
Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, an immovable tent
whose stakes will never be pulled up
and none of whose ropes will be broken.
But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams
where no galley with oars can go
nor stately ship can pass.
For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our ruler;
the Lord is our king; he will save us. (Isaiah 33:20-22)
Instead of gloom, despair, and agony, Isaiah prophesied permanence, peace, and protection.
The tent and tabernacle were designed to be moved. Under God’s rule, His place of worship will be permanent in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew people, who longed for peace, will live in a quiet habitation.
There isn’t a river in Jerusalem today, but one day that will change. Here is what God showed to Ezekiel.
Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and there I saw water flowing out from the right side of the temple, eastward, with the water flowing down from under the right side of the temple, the south of the altar (Ezekiel 47:1).
As you continue reading the next verses of Ezekiel 47, the image becomes more attractive sentence-by-sentence.
No One Left Out
Without a doubt, the people who suffer the gloom, despair, and agony of failing governments are the people who live on the lowest rungs of society.
The future God promises His people is that the “least of these” among humanity will not be overlooked.
Then the blind will divide abundant spoil,
and the lame will take plunder.
And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who live there will be forgiven their iniquity. (Isaiah 33:23-24)
In the ancient world, the blind, sick, and lame not only had to bear the weight of their affliction, they were also socially ostracized. Their conditions were thought to be God’s punishment for sin.
God turned this idea upside down with Isaiah’s prophecy. The outcasts of society would share in God’s bounty and experience the forgiveness of their iniquity.
Reflections
Paul reflected one of God’s profound truths when he wrote, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
A preacher commenting on Paul’s words said, “We sow sin, but then pray for a crop failure.”
The nations are living through the logical results of what we have sown. We should not be surprised that there is inequity, oppression, division, and war raging around the world.
We are living in a time of gloom, despair, and agony. Yet, that is not the end of the story. In His love, God is working in history. He is fulfilling the prophecies made by both Old and New Testament prophets.
Meanwhile, what can we do? We can do our part and return to God with our whole hearts. The message of 2 Chronicles is a good place to start.
“If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 