We continue our advent theme this Sunday.  Isaiah 40:3 has been translated in different ways.  Such as (KJV) "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God". And (ESV) "A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God".  The 2^nd reading of this verse makes plain that it is in the wilderness or desert that the way gets prepared for the Lord to come.  Israel likely believed themselves to have been forgotten by God as their Babylonian exile wore on and on. They were in their desert place.  But God was coming to them once again with forgiveness and deliverance.  God constructs highways in the wilderness.  The salvation of God often emerges from the middle of life’s ugliness.