“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news…” Isaiah 52:7
This verse has always been somewhat entertaining for me; one, because I really don’t like feet and to call them beautiful is out of my realm. But, more importantly, when I think about the feet of those who bring good news to people, the last thing I would think to call them is beautiful. Dirty, rugged, tired, worn—that’s more what I picture. And the past 6 weeks I finally understood how this paradox could be—and is—absolutely true.
I visited 3 countries in Central Asia and walked rugged dirt roads along which millions and millions of people are lying in Spiritual darkness and are perishing without ever hearing the Good News about Jesus Christ. At the end of the day my feet were dirty and tired—anything but beautiful. They were far from having a fresh pedicure, which is what most would define as beautiful feet, especially in the US. And yet, there was something beautiful about it. Those dirty feet had walked among some of the poorest people in the world who still had smiles that showed all their missing teeth. Those feet were tired because they had been walking for countless hours on rocky, dirt paths visiting people who desperately needed to know that Someone cared for them, especially enough to come and visit.
It became more and more clear that the way the feet looked had nothing to do with their beauty; it was where those feet had walked that made them beautiful. More and more, I longed to have beautiful feet—feet that walk where very few before have walked so that Good News may be brought to those that are lost in darkness. Though my feet will look more and more worn and feel increasingly fatigued, there is a simple and profound beauty to feet that bring good news to places it has not yet gone.
