The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.

We saw yesterday that there is good news in the gospel for the broken-hearted.

Primarily, this is for those whose hearts break over their sin: the genuinely repentant.

But I don’t think it can be limited to this. Once we are right with God, we find in Jesus a balm for all our sadness. What He does for us is summed up in the thrice repeated: ”instead of”. He replaces the negative with something positive; gives the better instead of the lesser.

When I was a small boy I had a highly prized colouring book. One day, when my dad had to go away for a short time with his job, he asked me to give it to him, so he could let my sister have it. There was no way this was going to happen! After a short period of trying to persuade and cajole, he gave up, and produced from behind his back a bigger and better colouring book, and gave it to my little sibling!! I could have had the superior ‘instead of’ my inferior possession, had I known better. But, alas, I had made my choice.