54 “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent;
[a]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
3 “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
And your [b]descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.4 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the shame of your youth,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 “For your husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth.
6 “For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
7 “[c]For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
8 “In an [d]outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your Redeemer.
We have in this chapter another picture of God redeeming His people. The land (or Jerusalem) is seen as a barren woman, and yet she will have children once more. Though naturally a barren woman cannot conceive, the husband is “your Maker”, that is “the Lord of hosts” or God himself. Thus will He look upon His people with compassion (v. 7) once more, even though God hid his face from them “for a moment”.
This was intended to be a comfort to those who would be taken into exile, that God would not “forget” them forever. Of course, He never would actually forget them, and this is reflected in v. 8 by an very key word: everlasting. Though Israel had rebelled against God and forsaken His commands, He never stopped loving them.
Rather, it was because of that love that He had to discipline them and follow through with their punishment. A parent who constantly threatens punishment and never does anything isn’t loving at all–even though a child may think otherwise. Through it all, God was faithful, and never changed, nor did He utterly forsake Israel.
The same applies to our relationship with God, when once we have been “grafted in” to the vine. We may be fickle and stray from the path, but that isn’t because the path moved or God changed. It is only because of our own shortcomings. Even when we forget Him, we are not forgotten–not today, not ever. We can rely on God to always be present and active in our lives. So don’t hide your face from Him, make God your number one priority, and trust in His enduring faithfulness as you walk in His steps.