View as Webpage

Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

October 14, 2022

Feast of Henry Martyn 1812

Invitatory

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.

Reading: Isaiah 49:1-6

Listen to me, O coastlands; pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born; 

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord and my reward with my God.”

And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—

he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Meditation – Peter Vanderveen

Who is speaking here? 

My guess is that most people reading this text never ask or even wonder. It’s enough that it appears to be an individual, especially in light of the use of the first person singular and the references to birth. Maybe, if pressed, someone might say that this is Isaiah; the voice certainly sounds prophetic. And this alone might be cause for many to dramatically misread and misuse this text. It has nothing to do – absolutely nothing – with any determination of the beginning of human life. And yet these verses are notoriously most quoted precisely with regard to this issue. 

The worst abuse of the Bible occurs when it becomes no more than a sourcebook for defending convictions and ideologies that are already firmly in place. Pick a verse from here or there in the Scriptural canon and you can get God to say anything you want. It’s a great temptation; cashing in on the power of the divine and feeling justified in doing so simply because you’re so sure you’re right. This happens all too frequently. Or – we should be painfully honest – it happens all the time. It’s the deep injury that so many people and the church itself inflicts by presuming that God will, of course, be their indubitable ally. We continually reshape God into our own image. And with this text, so many wrongly harden a beautiful metaphor into something like a biological fact. We must refuse this whenever it is said.

The voice in this passage is the nation of Israel. And it makes perfect sense to speak of the birth of a nation, just as one could refer to mythic or historical forces that may have led to this event long before it occurred. Life consists of this narrative drama. There is always a “from whence” to every present moment; and there is always a “to where.” Nothing and no one is independent of this. But it would be absurd – and laughably ridiculous – to suggest that a national entity emerges from a literal womb. The paradox is that the people who most want this text to be authoritative are most blatantly irresponsible in reading it.

The passage, truly read, is a testimony to the actual providence of God; its fulfillment never ceases to include an element of complete unpredictability. Israel was God’s creation, reflecting God’s intent, and subject to God’s promise. The people of Israel, however, never suspected that they could fall into slavery or be abandoned to exile. Nor, when this happened, could they imagine that this was an essential or rightful episode in their destiny. Nor did they foresee that their salvation would be expanded far beyond their own borders – to all people. Yet, as prophesied here, every undermining of Israel’s limited expectations serves, ultimately, to show the boundlessness of God’s grace and glory. Nothing is sure, except God’s capacity to surprise us with a good that is even more infinite than we had thought or presumed. We must say this as often as possible.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

    hallowed be thy Name,

    thy kingdom come,

    thy will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

    as we forgive those

        who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

    and the power, and the glory

   for ever and ever. Amen.