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“It Will Not Return Empty” 

Isaiah 55:10-13 

July 12, 2026 

Rev. Rebecca DePoe 

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 

If you’ve been watching the local news this week, you’ve probably heard about the overnight lane closures on the Parkway East. Crews are preparing for a major bridge replacement project that will affect traffic for weeks. But since this is Pittsburgh we’re talking about, I suspect the bridge replacement will be finished sometime around Christmas. 

Now, nobody enjoys road construction. We complain about the traffic. We grumble about the detours. We wonder why it's taking so long.  

But if you’ve ever driven past one of those projects, you also know something else. There are long stretches when it looks like almost nothing is happening. The lanes are closed. The equipment is there. But from the driver’s seat, it’s hard to tell whether any progress is being made.  

What we can’t see from the driver’s seat is that behind the scenes crews are laying foundations, reinforcing structures, and replacing the infrastructure that most of us will never see. And over time we realize the most important work isn’t always the most visible work. And that may be especially true of the work God is doing.  

I wonder if that’s a little like the way we think about God’s work in our lives.  

Because sometimes we look at our lives from the driver’s seat and conclude that nothing much is happening. To understand how God works, Isaiah asks us to watch what happens every time it rains.  

Rain falls from the sky. It soaks into the ground. At first, nothing appears to happen. The fields don’t suddenly turn green. The crops don’t spring up overnight.  

But, beneath the surface, something is already happening. 

The dry ground begins to soften. Moisture reaches the roots. Seeds that have lain dormant begin to awaken. Life begins where no one can yet see it.  

By the time green shoots finally break through the soil, the real work has already been underway for quite some time.  

That is the image Isaiah wants us to hold onto as we think about the work of God.  

For Isaiah’s first hearers, rain wasn’t just pleasant weather. It was life itself. Without rain there were no crops, no bread, no future. Everyone listening would have understood that rain was one of God’s greatest gifts.  

God’s word often works much like the rain. It arrives quietly. It doesn’t force itself upon us. It doesn’t usually transform our lives in a single dramatic moment. More often, it settles into our hearts over days, months, and years. It nourishes faith. It reshapes our thinking. It strengthens hope. It forms character.  

And much of that work is invisible- at least at first. 

I think that’s difficult for us because we live in a world that measures success by what we can see. We like immediate feedback. We want to know that our efforts are paying off. We count attendance, test scores, promotions, followers, and bank balances because visible results make us feel confident that something worthwhile is happening.  

But God’s kingdom doesn’t always grow that way.  

Sometimes the holiest work God is doing is hidden beneath the surface, long before anyone- including us- can recognize the fruit.  

If that’s true, then it raises an important question: How can Isaiah make such a bold promise? 

Isaiah’s confidence doesn’t come from human experience. It comes from God’s character. After all, our words don’t always work that way.  

We make promises we can’t keep. We start projects we never finish. We have good intentions that never become reality. We say we’ll call, write, visit, or change, and life gets in the way.  

Our words are limited because we are limited.  

But Isaiah isn’t talking about our words. He’s talking about God’s.  

And that makes all the difference.  

One of the remarkable things about Scripture is that when God speaks, things happen.  

In the opening chapter of Genesis, god speaks, and creation comes into being. Throughout the prophets, God speaks words of warning, comfort, judgment, and hope. And in the fullness of time, God doesn’t simply send another message. God sends the Living Word in Jesus Christ.  

From beginning to end, the Bible presents us with a God whose Word is never empty because God’s Word is always joined to God’s character.  

God is faithful. 

 God keeps God’s promises.  

God finishes what God begins.  

God’s Word is trustworthy because God is trustworthy.  

We don’t keep doing these things because we’ve seen immediate results. We keep doing them because we trust the One who made the promise. 

That’s why Christians can keep praying when answers seem delayed.  

That’s why we keep worshiping even when attendance rises and falls. 

That’s why parents and grandparents keep passing on the faith. 

That’s why we keep serving our neighbors even when we don’t immediately see the results. 

Our confidence isn’t in our ability to produce fruit. Our confidence is in the God who has promised that God’s Word will accomplish God’s purposes.  

What caught my eye as I read through this passage is that Isaiah doesn’t stop by assuring us that God’s Word is quietly at work beneath the surface.  

He also gives us a glimpse of where all that work is leading.  

He paints a picture of God’s future.  

And that tells us something important. God’s Word isn’t simply meant to comfort us in the present. God’s Word is bringing about the future God has promised. Every promise, every act of grace, every word of hope is moving creation toward the day when God will make all things new.  

It’s one of the most beautiful images in all of Scripture. Mountains singing. Trees clapping their hands. Thorn bushes giving way to cypress trees. Briars replaced by myrtles.  

Isaiah isn’t asking us to imagine that trees will suddenly grow hands. He’s using poetry to describe a world that has been made new by the gracious work of God.  

The curse is being reversed. What was once barren becomes fruitful. What was once painful becomes beautiful. What was once marked by brokenness becomes a testimony to God’s faithfulness.  

As Christians, we hear these words through the lens of Jesus Christ. We believe Isaiah’s vision began to unfold in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, Wherever Jesus went, lives were restored. Sins were forgiven. The forgotten were welcomed. The sick were healed. Hope broke into places that had known only despair.  

And yet we also know the story isn’t finished.  

We still live in a world where there is grief, injustice, illness, and loss. We still wait for the day when God’s renewal reaches every corner of creation.  

That’s why Isaiah’s vision is both a promise and an invitation. It reminds us what God is bringing about- and it invites us to live as citizens of that coming kingdom even now.  

That’s why I keep thinking about those orange construction barrels on the Parkway East.  

Right now, they mostly represent inconvenience. Traffic slows. Lanes narrow. Commute takes longer. If all you can see is what’s happening today, it’s easy to wonder whether all the disruption is worth it.  

But the people designing that project aren’t thinking about this week’s commute. They’re thinking about the bridge that thousands of people will safely drive across for years to come.  

In the same way, God is never focused only on the present moment. God is always working toward the future God has promised. Sometimes we see only the inconvenience, the waiting, or the uncertainty. God sees the completed work.  

Because the One overseeing the work is faithful, we can trust the finished result.  

Friends there are seasons when it feels as though nothing is happening.  

The prayers seem unanswered.  

The work feels unnoticed.  

The seeds remain buried.  

But Isaiah reminds us that buried seeds are not dead seeds.  

Rain does its work long before the harvest appears.  

And God’s Word does its work long before we can measure the results.  

So don’t lose heart.  

Keep praying.  

Keep loving.  

Keep serving.  

Keep worshiping.  

Keep trusting.  

Because the God who sends the rain is the same God who brings the harvest.  

And God’s Word... 

... will not return empty.  

Thanks be to God, in Jesus’ name,  

Amen.