All bad things will come to an end

Isaiah 14: 3-4

On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the King of Babylon:  How the oppressor has come to an end!  How his fury has ended! NIV

The biggest list of “fear not” verses is in my King James concordance.  Since, for the most part, I’m not working with a King James translation on this project, each day holds a little surprise when I get to the verse that is noted.  Here, the concordance said, “from thy sorrow, and from thy fear,” which looked interesting to me, so, here I am, still in Isaiah.

This is a very powerful reminder not to worry — all bad things will come to an end.

The rest of this chapter, which comprises the taunt against the King of Babylon,is, to me, the biblical equivalent of “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.”

I absolutely love the Wizard of Oz.  When I was a kid, it came on TV just once a year, and, for the week before it was on, I was very excited.  I knew that I would be too scared to watch the house drop on the witch, and I would also chicken out when her feet curled up under the house  after the Good Witch took her shoes, but, I still wanted to watch it.

One year, on the big day, our TV broke.  My sweet father went to the 7-11, and rented a TV so that we would not miss the movie.  Turned out, it was a color TV.  Ours was black-and-white.  Nothing seemed different when the movie started, but, once the witch died, I was amazed at all of the gorgeous colors!  I saw the movie in a whole new light … everything in the Emerald City was, well GREEN, and I was amazed by all of it.

But, my absolute favorite part of the whole movie has always been the musical number “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.”  Over my life, when trials have come to an end, and they always do, I have found myself singing it.  Sometimes, really loudly.  I love the feeling of absolute relief that prompts me to want to sing that song.

And here, in Isaiah, the people are being directed to do just that sort of celebrating, “When God has given you time to recover from the abuse and trouble and harsh servitude that you had to endure, your can amuse yourselves by taking up this satire, a taunt against the King of Babylon.” MSG

Everything in life is a sine wave.  There will always be ups and there will always be downs, but, neither will last forever.

Today, I will embrace that feeling of relief.  I will sing “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead,” just for good measure.  And, I will delight in the wonders that this day is sure to hold.