In

my early fifties, I began to have trouble with my feet, and

eventually I had to have operations on both of them. Before that, I

took walking for granted. I even used to look at elderly folks and

wonder why they walked so stiffly. Now I wistfully look at children

skipping and playing, and at young people who have a spring in their

step. I know what it’s like now to have difficulty walking.

Part

of the picture of joy in Isaiah 35 was fulfilled one day when Peter

and John went to the temple to pray and saw a lame man begging for

money. “Look at us!” said Peter, and the man turned toward them.

Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I

give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” The man’s

feet and ankles instantly became strong, and he jumped up and began

to walk. Then he went along with them into the temple, “walking and

jumping, and praising God” (Acts 3:4-8).

Imagine

young deer leaping about in the open and bounding over brooks and

fallen trees in their woodland playground. That’s like a picture of

people celebrating with the sheer joy of redemption and new life in

Jesus, who has come to restore all things. “Gladness and joy will

overtake them,” for they will no longer bear the crushing effects

of sin and disease or any guilt, because Jesus bore it all on the

cross.