What We Will Say Then

What We Will Say Then

You will say on that day:

I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

   for though you were angry with me,

your anger turned away,

   and you comforted me.

Surely God is my salvation;

   I will trust, and will not be afraid,

for the Lord God is my strength and my might;

   he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say on that day:

Give thanks to the Lord,

   call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations;

   proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

   let this be known in all the earth.

Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,

   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 12:1-6

It can be a little confronting to read a passage all about joyfully praising God when that's the last thing you feel like doing. I'm sure that for some of us, as we read Isaiah 12 at this time, joyful songs might be far from our lips. Some of us are just trying to tie up the loose ends of another difficult and messy year. Some of us are struggling with anxiety as we see injustice and division escalate around the world and at home. Some of us are feeling that our faith, which was once simple and fruitful, has become scattered and churned up by uncertainties. Maybe not the best time for a song.

Well surprisingly, Isaiah's exuberant words in chapter 12 are written to an audience with nothing to celebrate at all. They are a wounded and scattered diaspora, the remnant of a once prosperous community whose faith in God had been radically shaken. Their experience of exile has led them to living in genuine fear for their future. So why is the prophet talking about them joyously singing?

Just before this passage, Isaiah has painted a picture of what God's future will bring. Indeed, chapter 11 is filled with some of the most beautiful imagery in all scripture. It dares us to imagine a world so tilted towards love and justice that even the divisions between predator and prey, the dangerous and the vulnerable, are gone. Instead, the most famous enemies of the animal kingdom take a nap together, and a small child is so safe that a snake can be their playmate.

And all of this transformation has happened because God's promised one, a fresh green shoot of life, has come into the world.

Even as poetry, maybe this seems too much to ask a broken people to imagine. And so in chapter 12, Isaiah takes another approach to make this promise feel real to his audience. He gives them some words that they will be able say when all of this has come to pass. Instead of describing the future again, he lets them in on what they will be saying in that future. And striking words they are: I'm not afraid anymore. Now, God, you are my comfort. I'm not in danger anymore. Now, God, you are my strength. These are words that each of us can say too. Even if today is not that day, or that day feels far off. The fact that these words might sound too good to be true is kind of the point. In giving us them, Isaiah is also giving us a different way to measure the astounding distance between how things are now and how they will be then.  

But chapter 12 doesn't completely leave poetry behind. In verse 3, Isaiah tells us that this future salvation will feel like drawing abundant water from a well. At this point it's hard to stop your mind wandering forward to an episode in Jesus' ministry centuries later. His meeting with an outcast woman at a well, and His promise that true life is found in the living water that flows from Him (John 4:13-14). I doubt that a day earlier this woman had any inclination she'd be running through her village shouting with joy. But her encounter with Jesus turns her life upside-down, and her proclamation to her neighbours may not have been too different from "Shout aloud and sing for joy, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you!"

If this Advent you are finding it hard to believe or even imagine God's promises being fulfilled, maybe you too can take hold of Isaiah's words for yourself and say, I don't know exactly what is coming, or when it will arrive, but I know what I will be saying: "The Lord himself is my strength and my might, he has become my salvation....Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously."

On that day you will joyfully draw water from an abundant well. And you will see at last God's salvation and justice flow.

Phil Walker-Harding is board and card game designer living and working on Gadigal land. He and his wife Meredith run Joey Games where they make board games about Australia for kids and adults to play together. Phil also has a Masters of Theology and has worked in local church and creative arts ministries. 

This devotional is part of a series of daily email devotionals for Advent 2024 reflecting on the life-giving, thirst quenching justice of Jesus we long to see flow across these lands. A justice overflowing with love and compassion, bringing forth hope, healing, nourishment and flourishing for all.

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