Isaiah 12
The LORD Is My Strength and My Song
12 You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Let’s take a moment and recap what has happened so far because chapter 12 marks the end of a long subsection that covers chapters 7-12. If you remember, the great theme of chapters 7-12 is regarding placing our trust in the Lord over everything else. You may recall that Isaiah was called to challenge King Ahaz, the king of Judah, to trust the Lord.
Ahaz rejected that opportunity and the “name your sign” invitation that the Lord gave Ahaz as an opportunity to truly trust the Lord. Ahaz refused to place his trust in the Lord and instead trusted the nation-state of Assyria to deliver Judah from her enemies. However, that trust was gravely misplaced as Assyria eventually turned on the kingdom of Judah and almost destroyed Judah completely.
But God…, no two words are greater!
But God demonstrated that He can be trusted by declaring that He would provide light and hope in the midst of Judah’s self-inflicted darkness in the form of a descendant of David who would be “God with us”. A sign that would be both revealed in the immediate context of Judah’s darkened condition, but also one that points to the Messiah, to Jesus, with the promise of peace not just for the people of God, but for all people everywhere.
Chapter 12 is a hymn of praise to the Lord regarding how He can be trusted. The Lord should be trusted simply because he is God, but even more so as we realize that His righteous anger is turned to comfort and salvation.
There has been a great back and forth happening since chapter nine. Since that chapter, we’ve been hearing about troubling times, but we’ve also heard that the Lord would be with His people. Specifically, we read prophecies that have a double meaning; one for their time, but also prophecies that directly point to Jesus. This hymn, at its core, is one of praise to the Lord for what He has done.
Go back and read this short chapter again, and as you do, underline or highlight all the action words that we are called to do in response to what the Lord has done (I counted seven starting in verse 4).
God will be praised, and there will be shouts of joy and victory because, and this is very cool, the Lord is with us.
Can you fathom this? Can you imagine that day and what a glorious day it will be because God is with us? We already have a sense of that beginning through the promise of Jesus Himself; He promised to always be with us (Matthew 28.20), but we anticipate an even greater day to come.
Here’s the thing I want you to grab hold of today. Go back and read verses 4-6 again.
“Give thanks”, “call”, “make known”, “proclaim”, “sing praises”, “shout”, and “sing for joy”.
None of those actions can be done in secret. This is all an outward expression of an inward reality of the presence of the Lord with His people.
However, the Lord’s presence with us is not to be just for our own personal enjoyment. It is to be proclaimed to everyone around us so that they, too, can come to know the forgiveness, mercy, and love of the Lord.
Think about Isaiah’s calling and that of all the prophets. Think about the Great Commission of the disciples of Jesus in Matthew 28.19-20.
They were not called and saved for their own sake and personal benefit. They were called and saved so that they could declare the incredible love, mercy, and forgiveness of the Lord!
Now it’s our turn.
God bless you, and know that you are prayed for constantly.
Scott