Hanging up the phone, I gathered a few items and waited for my husband to arrive. He’d just called from the church where he and our son had been working on a few building repairs. From the brief exchange, I learned that our son had been in an accident but was stable enough for us to drive him to the hospital. Even with uncertainties pounding in my mind, I knew in that moment how important it was to make my worship stronger than my worries. The supremacy of God and His goodness had not changed.
Perhaps there’s no more strident awakening than crisis. Shaken by the unexpected, we reach past everyday routine and settled complacency for the sureness of God’s hand. Tempted to know God simply for what He can do, we discover in the unknown an invitation to become intimate with the God before whom nothing is hidden (Isaiah 45:3).
The people of Judah had been taken captive by sin through the illusion that it would secure human affection, security, and success. But Isaiah called them to “wake up” to their inheritance: They were set apart for God (Isaiah 52:1). They’d doubted God’s goodness, but their pursuits had served only to leave them dominated by what they’d wanted to eliminate: the reality of being controlled by someone or something outside of themselves (Isaiah 52:2-5).
God answered their distress as He answers ours—with the call to know Him. More than a means of identification, His name reveals His splendor (Isaiah 52:6). Even so, His sovereignty isn’t founded in domination but restoration (Isaiah 52:9-11).
Jesus suffered so that we might connect directly with the Father (Isaiah 52:14-15). Through knowing God, we can experience the strength of His unconditional love and sure covering, even in life’s uncertainties (Isaiah 52:12).