Word Live: The Joy Of Salvation
How has this year been for you? Good, bad, indifferent? Thank God for bringing you through it.
Bible passage
Isaiah 12:1–6
Songs of praise
12 In that day you will say:
‘I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence;
he has become my salvation.’
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
‘Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.’
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
What a wonderful passage to end the year with! Is there any better way to step over the threshold of the year than proclaiming, ‘Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid’ (v 2)?
The Lord alone is our source of strength. Too often we look to other ‘wells’ in search of the water of life, but God, the well of our salvation (v 3), is the only place where that living water can be found. And he gives not only grittedteeth endurance, but bubbling-over joy. Some versions of the Bible translate the second part of verse 2 as ‘the Lord God is my strength and my song’ (ESV). Let us enter the New Year singing songs of his goodness.
For Christ is the first and the last; his Spirit will guide us safe home; we’ll praise him for all that is past and trust him for all that’s to come.*
Whatever joys or trials lie behind or before us, our salvation is secure and we can praise him for it if nothing else. And, as verse 4 of our reading reminds us, we should tell the world of God’s goodness.
*Joseph Hart, 1712–68, ‘How good is the God we adore’
Author
Jennie Pollock
Respond
You may not have a way to tell ‘the nations’ what God has done, but – however you are spending New Year’s Eve – consider making time to tell at least someone of the glorious things God has done.
Deeper Bible study
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!’1
What a wonderful passage to finish our readings in the first section of Isaiah, to finish the old year and head into a new decade! Isaiah is setting out what he would say himself in Israel’s circumstances: what he would just love them to be saying. The whole psalm deals with Israel’s relationship with God. The first half concentrates on how this affects Israel; the second half just worships and proclaims the greatness of their God. There is no ignoring the past or pretending it didn’t happen. They had behaved very badly but, for the remnant that have returned to God, that is over and they can concentrate on looking forward. They can trust God, they can depend on him, they can accept that he has acted on their behalf and become their salvation and they can keep drinking from that well: it is not just a one-off. So, what else can they do but praise him, rejoicing that they can communicate with him and that they have the wonderful privilege of letting the nations know about him, who he is and what he has done! Our God is indeed great!
I am grateful that God constantly provides the opportunity of new beginnings! Of course, if we are ‘in Christ’ then we can be fully assured that what he did in coming, living, dying and rising has allowed us to set the past – however chaotic – aside and live in the ‘new creation’.2 We do fail, however, and it is really good that God has created time and gives us new days, weeks, months and now a new year, to start again. Let us, in the year ahead, sing his praises and ‘make known among the nations’ (v 4) what he has done for us and what he can do for them!
Talk with a friend about problems you have had or observed over the last year and resolve together to face the new year trusting, obeying and proclaiming God.
Author
Mary Evans
