Imagine a Baltimore where—

1. •No gunfire is heard.
   

2. •Streets are safe and clean.
   

3. •Gangs are non-existent.
   

4. •Boarded-up houses are few.
   

5. •Every child lives with their father and every mother has a husband.
   

6. •Every student graduates.
   

7. •The population is growing.
   

8. •The police are seen as friends and treated with respect.
   

9. •Drugs and dealers are distant memories.
   

Impossible? Not as God sees it!

Through the ancient prophet Isaiah, God makes amazing promises to those who seek Him and pursue His desires—

1. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.1
   

2. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.2
   

3. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.3
   

From Here to There—

The reality today is that much of Baltimore is devastated and wasted. Our population is shrinking, our streets are violent, our children are under-educated, our neighborhoods derelict, and our families broken. How did we get here? The prophet Isaiah diagnoses our condition—

1. . . . our sins sweep us away. No one calls on Your name or strives to lay hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.4
   

The path from here to there—from devastation to restoration—begins quite simply—

1. Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
   

2. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.5
   

The decline of our city has been attributed to many different reasons:  deindustrialization, reduced federal aid in the 80s, the most centralized (and unreformed) municipal government in the nation, a lack of parity in state funding, etc.—all contributing, we are told, to the quality-of-life and public safety issues that have brought us to where we are today. The one reason you will never find listed in a policy paper, heard in a political speech, or opined on the radio talk shows? The failure to know and follow God’s ways.

What might happen if we gave ourselves to seeking God—turning from our sin and learning His ways? The evidence of “our ways” is tragically obvious; there has never been a more critical or opportune time for “God’s ways”—

1. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways.6
   

1Isaiah 61.4  2Isaiah 32.18  3Isaiah 65.23   4Isaiah 64.6-7

5Isaiah 55.6-8  6Isaiah 64.4-5a