This is for a special day. Maybe today, this will be just what you wanted to hear. Perhaps tomorrow. In biblical times, war was common, life was cheap, cruelty was expected, death was welcome, recognized and dealt with. Stay with me as I deal with God's people and their destruction. Where was God?

In 586 BC, the Babylonians captured and destroyed Jerusalem. The surviving elite population was exiled, leaving the poor to remain in Judah and be slaves to their captors. Surely, all the survivors must have remembered the prophet Nathan who spoke to King David, "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever!"

One of the saddest memories comes from Psalm 137, "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered our homes so far away. On the trees of Babylon, there we hung our harps. We could not play them. Our captors tried to make us sing songs of our past glory. They laughed if we sang and wept. How could we sing the music of God in a foreign land? Our songs were meaningless!"

None of us may ever have to face captivity like these ancient Israelites did. We do, though, have other forms of captivity that are just as cruel, just as harsh and just as real. If you look and ask around, you will find that there are people all over your hometown, neighborhood, where you work and perhaps even in your own family who feel this lostness. Every one of us has been in a situation where you felt trapped and powerless to act.

I remember an accident in Florida that happened just a hundred yards north of my old church. A young boy had been hit by a car. I left the sanctuary to see if I could help, but by the time I knelt by the boy it was too late for CPR. The driver could only say, "Why? Why did I come this way this morning? Why wasn't I looking his way? Why did God let this happen?"

I stayed there until the police came, took notes for their report, waited for the EMT vehicle and watched the driver leave. To this day – and believe me, I have tried – I cannot remember what I said to anyone there, at church or at home.

I look back now and accept my helplessness and the captivity of the moment. I can't forget.

There are and will be times like that for so many of us when we need words of support. We need someone to say, "Don't worry, it is going to be okay."

After 50 years of servitude, the voice of God is heard in the voice of Isaiah, "Be comforted, Israel. The war is over. Your sins are forgiven. You have more than suffered enough. You are going home to Jerusalem. God will fill in the steep places, flatten out the mountain peaks and you will walk home on a road that is smooth and flat and as straight as an arrow." Those words and those images would be like the smell of grass after a good rain, like a sunset over the water, like lying between cool sheets when you are comfortably tired.

Those ancient people had the voice of Isaiah. What about us in today's world? We might just need a word of hope when so much of our world seems hopeless and unchangeable. Along comes hope and our world asks, "Are you the one we have been waiting for, or must we give up hope and wait for another?"

And the one we ask replies, "I am the One who will open every prison door and overcome even what you may argue is the impossible!"

Today, your past has been forgiven, your hope has been restored and you are living in the now of your life! Choose right now to stay in the past or live for today.

God has spoken to us.

Thanks, God!