~ In the above verse, when Isaiah uses the word profit, he is not speaking in a business sense. That is to say, he is not discussing say net profit or ROI.

~ What Isaiah is talking about is something much larger and deeper. He is talking about flourishing and this in many ways such as relationally, spiritually, emotionally, and yes – even materially or financially sometimes.

~ Isaiah is talking about a loomingly large picture in life. When God leads you in the way you should go—you do not simply survive, but you also ultimately thrive.

Having said that consider the following-suppose that:

On Sunday, your car breaks down.
On Monday, your alarm fails and you miss an important work meeting.
On Tuesday, a tree falls on your house.
On Wednesday, you get food poisoning.
On Thursday, your laptop shows you the blue screen of death and is fried.
On Friday, your home heating system fails-and it’s pretty cold.

I.e. Given that on Sunday through Friday, something goes wrong, can you reason thus that something will go wrong on Saturday too?

Ans. No. You cannot.

Why?

Because –

• If you’re walking with the Lord,
• If you’re learning from what He teaches you,
• If you’re going in the direction He is leading you,

then

• you are headed towards profit.

The last word on your day, your week, your month, your years, your decades—even your entire life—will be profit.

You cannot follow God and come out with a loss. That is an impossibility. You simply can’t. No matter how challenging life becomes, if you are following God and learning well from Him, then you can only flourish.

To push the envelope a bit further, consider this: suppose an angel had appeared to Job, a good bit before his trials began, and said to him,

Angel: “Job. Trials are on their way. You are going to see a lot of ups and downs. Brace yourself.”

Suppose then that the angel tore out the last page from the book of Job, in the Bible and handed it to Job, and it contained this:

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. ~ Job 42

Suppose Job were given the above, then how would Job now handle his trials? Would he curse the day he was born? Would he launch accusations at God? Would he ask for a legal trial before God where he could prove his innocence?

~ Like so with Naomi. What if an angel appeared to Naomi, and tore out the last page from the book of Ruth and gave it to her – the part about Obed and David, and her joy and so on.

~ How would Naomi have handled her trials then? Would she refer to herself as Mara?

(So why doesn’t God tell us the outcome of our trials if it can be helpful. (1) He has. See Revelation 21:4 for example. and (2) Telling us too much would short-circuit growth. We have to experience somethings in life, in order to grow.)

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
~ Joel 2:25-26