Saturday, May 17, 2008

My Salvation, My Strength, and My Song

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isa.12:2)

I am aware these words of Isaiah speak about (and to) the nation Israel and their future; but we have inherited so many of their blessings by default that passages like these, which give us a picture of God's special care for His own, thrill my heart every bit as much as any Sarah, Miriam, or Hannah. Everything I read in this verse that He was to them, I can be sure, from other passages, He is to me.


—My Salvation—
In this I find the promise of eternal life that will last as long as He does. "[H]e is become my salvation," the verse says, and by this I am assured that in every crisis of this life, He will reach down His arm of salvation as He did for the drowning Simon Peter. And if He does not return before I die, that same salvation will reach beyond the grave to draw me to Himself.

—My Strength—
God is my strength; therefore, I am able to go on, hold on, and pray on, long after I have exhausted my own. As the old song says:

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving has only begun.

—My Song—
I may sing of other things from time to time, but when these songs become meaningless and hard to sing, my song of Him only becomes easier. After all these years, the words lie even closer to the surface, and the melody flows from an exceedingly deep and full cup.

The result of all this is found in the middle of the verse: "I will trust, and not be afraid." This is a fearful world that we live in, and trust is at a premium. But as long as the God Who is my salvation, my strength, and my song, remains, I need never fear, "though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea" (Psl.46:2).

Salvation for the soul, strength for the day, and a song in the night—it works for me!

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