In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song: he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name: make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.”
Isaiah 12:1-5
Praise the God of Our Salvation
It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but there are some things for which even a picture is not good enough. When your new born child squeezes your finger for the first time, how can you put that feeling into words? Can that even be captured with a picture? When the doctor says, “Your cancer is gone,” is there any way to describe that feeling? What Isaiah is trying to explain in our devotion today is even more difficult to put into words. He is a sinner standing in the presence of a righteous God. He knows that he deserves God’s anger and punishment. But something startling happens. God turns away his anger. Instead of punishing him, God rescues him.
Of course, Isaiah is talking about what God does for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus came and rescued us by paying for our sin. Jesus bore the punishment for our sin, and now instead of facing God’s anger, we have full forgiveness and life everlasting. How does one express the amazing relief of that enormous load being lifted off? How does one express the sheer joy of that forgiveness?
Expressing heartfelt thanks to God for his salvation is what Isaiah is doing here. You can almost see him running up and down the streets, leaping for joy, trying to tell people how it feels to be saved. Fear is gone, only trust remains. The Lord is the true strength of his life and the song in his heart. God sustains him with the living water which he draws from the well of salvation. So he gives thanks to the Lord by singing his praises and proclaiming the good news of salvation to everyone.
Isaiah is expressing his gladness over all the glorious things that the Lord has graciously done for him. Listen to Isaiah shouting and singing for joy, and join him in praising the God of your salvation.
Prayer:
(Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal – 242)
Oh, that I had a thousand voices to praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices, would then proclaim in grateful songs
To all, wherever I might be, what great things God has done for me.
This devotion was selected from the Daily Devotion archive.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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