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May 2 Beautiful Feet

A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing. ~Proverbs 13:17

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “your God reigns!” ~Isaiah 52:7

“A trustworthy envoy brings healing.” “No more cancer!” “You’re getting a raise!” “You’re hired!” All of those messages are certainly good news and healing to the recipient. It’s fun to be the bearer of good tidings as well. Think of those angels singing in the sky with only the shepherds for an audience. It didn’t matter! The news was just too good to stay silent.

I remember a position I had a while back. We had been wanting something like it for about fifteen months. Our house sold within three days and, basically, everything fell into place so easily when it finally happened. It was such good news at the time. It certainly was healing after all the interviewing and anxiety and struggle.

After talking about how hope deferred makes the heart sick, I’m sure that we can also all relate to a piece of good news that we have received that was experienced as just such a blessing. Isaiah goes even further and says that the one who brings good news even has beautiful feet!

Consider the real condition of feet in those days, trudging through dirt, and sand, and who knows what else, in open sandals. To say, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,” must make the good news very special indeed.

People like to hear good news, so it may be tempting to share what sounds like good news, just because it makes you popular. But if you announce good news, it had better also be true. It had better be believable. You and the good news you bring have to both be “trustworthy.” This reminds me of the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day. “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” ~Jeremiah 6:14

They were really wicked messengers because they were saying what sounded like good news, but they were lying! Neither they nor the message should have been trusted. God used Jeremiah to try to warn them. “A wicked messenger falls into trouble,” but why would that be? Is he trying to destroy the message? Perhaps he is trying to trip the one with beautiful feet and prevent that one from getting through. Proverbs assures us, in the end, the wicked one will not succeed. His feet are not beautiful. He will trip and fall in the end.

Did you ever consider how even your feet are beautiful when you are sharing the best message of all? Jesus noticed feet. He washed them and made them beautiful before His crucifixion. It was an intimate act of love. Jesus wants us to love like that, no matter how we show it. One meaningful way that we love and care for others is as we bring the good news of His love to others.

We may stumble and falter. After all, it is a Holy message we carry. That’s a big thing for us because we are unholy in our humanness. But God trusts us with it anyway. He holds our hand and protects us when we stumble. He wants us to get through enemy lines so that others can enjoy the healing that we have received!

Prayer: Jesus, Your feet are the most beautiful of all! Though they are pierced and were blood stained, you bear the scars of your offering for our sake and we know we are saved! You hold us in your scarred hands. The nails from the cross engraved us into your palms! You and Your message of love for us are two of the most trustworthy things in all the universe! Thank You Lord for making us beautiful too, by giving us this message to share with those who have yet to hear. May we be faithful and successful in our mission. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Song: Our God Reigns

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