The Rise After the Ruins

 

Stepping into Isaiah 61 and the anointing that follows healing

If Isaiah 54 is the chapter of rebuilding, Isaiah 61 is the chapter of becoming.
One restores the woman who survived.
The other commissions the woman who is ready to rise.

In Isaiah 54, God heals you.
In Isaiah 61, God calls you.

Henri Nouwen once wrote, “The real work of healing begins when we accept that our brokenness can become a blessing.”
Isaiah 61 is the moment that blessing takes shape in your life.

The Spirit of the Lord

The chapter opens with purpose placed upon someone who thought her story was ending. God puts His Spirit on the one who learned to stand again. This is not an anointing for the confident or the unscarred. It is given to the woman who discovered God in her deepest sorrow.

Dallas Willard said, “Grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning.”
Isaiah 61 is grace clothing you with a strength you did not earn but grew into.

You are no longer performing.
You are no longer trying to prove anything.
God fills empty hands first.

The Great Exchange

Isaiah 61 names what you carry and then offers the holy exchange.
Ashes for beauty.
Mourning for oil of joy.
Heaviness for a garment of praise.

This is not denial.
It is the truth that your sorrow becomes something different in the hands of God.

Thomas Merton wrote, “We are warmed by the fire of our own brokenness.”
Isaiah 61 reveals that the warmth becomes a light for others.
You carry your history with wisdom rather than weight.

Oaks of Righteousness

Isaiah 54 rebuilt your foundation.
Isaiah 61 roots you.

You are no longer fragile.
You are the oak God planted after the storm.

Brennan Manning said, “Define yourself radically as one beloved by God.”
Isaiah 61 shows that this belovedness has settled into your identity.
You are grounded and steady in ways you were not before.

Rebuilders of Ruins

One of the most beautiful shifts in the chapter is this:
“They shall rebuild the old ruins.”

God rebuilt you in Isaiah 54.
Now He invites you to rebuild the world around you.

Your life becomes a refuge.
Your words become strength.
Your story becomes healing for others.

Nouwen once said, “When we honestly ask ourselves which persons made the greatest difference in our lives, we often find that it is those who shared their pain.”
Isaiah 61 turns your pain into presence and compassion.

A Double Portion

Then God speaks the promise that lifts the entire chapter:
“Instead of your shame, you shall receive a double portion.”

This is not a return to what was.
It is a step into abundance.
It is clarity, peace, and authority that come from walking with God through fire.

The double portion is the fruit of every tear you sowed.

A Life That Becomes Praise

Isaiah 61 ends with a picture of a woman whose life has become a hymn.
Not performance.
Presence.

Dallas Willard wrote, “The most important thing in your life is not what you do. It is who you become.”
By the end of Isaiah 61, you have become steady, whole, and radiant with hope.

Isaiah 54 rebuilt your walls.
Isaiah 61 opens your gates.

This is beauty after rebuilding.
This is strength after sorrow.
This is calling after loss.
This is the rise after the ruins.

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Isaiah 61:3
“…that they may be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that He may be glorified.”