-Devotion by Jeremy Martin (TN)
Isaiah 35: “2 They will see the glory of Yahweh, The majesty of our God.
3Strengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling. 4Say to those with an anxious heart,“Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.” LSB.
So yes, your God is coming with vengeance, and the recompense of God will come, but He will save you. Be strong, and fear not.
Listen, Isaiah talks a lot about the blind seeing again, and it just gets me every time. If you know me or have read a few specific devotions I’ve written in the past, you’ll know that my dad is blind. It’s a terrible affliction, and I hate it. At the same time, without the act of my father going blind, I would still probably be lost; just another dumb sheep who had wandered off heading for the edge of the cliff, that stupid prodigal son who never had the sense to realize he was sleeping in pig crap. So while I hate the fact that my father has the affliction of blindness, I love the fact that our merciful God used that affliction to redirect me, and to save my soul. Dad has said much the same thing to me. So, whenever I come across a verse in the Bible that talks about restoring the sight of the blind, it makes me tear up a little.
I recently had an interview with Sean Finnegan on his podcast website “Restitutio.org” about a lot of that stuff, and if you are interested in the details you can give it a listen. If you do, note that I would probably have named it a little differently, and the episode number is #666 which is a little disturbing but I think that the content of the interview was good, and may be beneficial to some folks out there who are, like I was, being foolish. Look it up, it was released Aug 20, 2026.*
Back to Isaiah 35: “8And a roadway will be there, a highway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not pass by on it, But it will be for him who walks in that way, And ignorant fools will not wander on it. 9No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10And the ransomed of Yahweh will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting gladness upon their heads. They will attain delight and gladness, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (LSB)
So there will be a way called the Highway of Holiness and it will be for him who walks in that way (holiness). Even though there may be vicious beasts around you, none of them will be allowed on this path. The unclean, the vicious, the ignorant fools probably won’t even be able to find it, much less walk on it. The redeemed though, the ransomed of Yahweh will return along it. That’s me, I’ve been ransomed, and that ransom wasn’t cheap. It’s a deeply emotional thought for me that when I was unclean and a fool and seeking only my own desires that I may have been standing right beside this path and was never able to see it, because this is the way to God and life.
Psalms 116 says: “1 I love Yahweh, because He hears My voice and my supplications. 2Because He has inclined His ear to me, So I shall call upon Him in all my days. 3The cords of death encompassed me And the distresses of Sheol found me; I found distress and sorrow. 4Then I called upon the name of Yahweh: “O Yahweh, I beseech You, provide my soul escape! 5Gracious is Yahweh, and righteous; And our God is compassionate. 6Yahweh keeps the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7Return to your rest, O my soul, For Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you. 8For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. 9I shall walk before Yahweh In the land of the living.” LSB.
This is a part of my story too, because I literally died, and came back. In 2/14/2022, for about 5 and 1/2 minutes, I was dead on the table from a 100% blockage in the widowmaker (left anterior descending artery): happy valentine’s day! If you ever read Job 33:14-30, that’s a pretty good breakdown of “my story”, I also detailed it a little bit during the interview mentioned above. God saved me though, and then redeemed me.
Ps 116 continues: “12What shall I give to Yahweh in return For all His bountiful dealings with me? 13I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of Yahweh. 14I shall pay my vows to Yahweh, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. 15Precious in the sight of Yahweh Is the death of His holy ones. 16 O Yahweh, surely I am Your slave, I am Your slave, the son of Your maidservant, You have loosed my bonds. 17To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of Yahweh. 18I shall pay my vows to Yahweh, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, 19In the courts of the house of Yahweh, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise Yah!” LSB.
That question in v12 is probably the best question any of us could ever ask, and leads to salvation. The answer is probably best answered in v16. The cost of a soul is high. When Peter’s life is redeemed in Acts 12, the cost of his salvation was the lives of 16 soldiers. When I initially escaped the environment that was going to kill me in my youth, it cost the life of at least 1 other man. I am certain, even this many years later, that the sole reason that I lived and others did not is because even in the depths of my depravity, I feared the name of God. Whether you are aware of it or not: God paid a very high price for each of us. We are not bought cheaply, but at a cost higher than we could ever repay: the blood of His only begotten son.
I have noticed that sometimes folks who haven’t gone through as much terrible stuff as I have don’t appreciate the little things that God has done for us. Offering up His son in exchange for us was a big thing though, just think about it for a moment. We can never repay such a high price, but if God is willing, we can spend a lifetime trying to His glory.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Is there a verse, or group of verses, that speaks to you personally and deeply?
- How can we better remember with awe the terrible price that was paid for us?
- What are the best ways in which we can honor that price, and He who paid it?
PRAYER
Father God, Thank you. You saved me, and I wasn’t worth the cost. You are gracious beyond my understanding, and I am Your servant forever. Thank you. In Jesus name, Amen.
*Sean Finnegan Restitutio interview with Jeremy Martin on Aug 20, 2026
Seek Grow Love 