Isaiah 50:4-9 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 50:4-9 on biblegateway.com
Verse 4The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. Verse 5The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. Verse 6I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. Verse 7The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; Verse 8he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. Verse 9It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Devotion
There are words that take life from us, that diminish us in who we are. "Faster! Higher! Harder!" they shout, until we feel small.
But then a voice, a word, a whisper breaks in: “Peace. Hope. Love,” it chimes. The psalmist chants, the prophet declares, the priest intones the word that sets us free. Isaiah gives thanks and he declares,
“The Lord God helps me;
Therefore I have not been disgraced...
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?”
The words that kill recede into darkness as the Word of Life draws near. In the whispered echoes of his word, we find ourselves restored.
Prayer
Lord, you wake us each morning by your grace and for your world. Teach us to listen that we might hear your life-giving word. Amen.