Isaiah 49:17-26: a reflection

17Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you. 18Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says the LORD, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride. 19“For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ 21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’” 22The Lord GOD says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; and those who wait for me won’t be disappointed.” 24Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? 25But the LORD says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the plunder retrieved from the fierce, for I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your children. 26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

To a Zion that felt bereaved, abandoned, and alone, God speaks words of overwhelming comfort. Your children are coming back, he says; lift up your eyes and see them gathering to you. The desolate one who thought she had lost everything will be so surrounded by returning children that the land will feel too small. God promises to reverse her barrenness and desolation with an abundance she cannot imagine, until she asks in wonder, who bore all these for me?

God pledges to act on her behalf against those who oppressed her. Even what has been captured by the strong, he says, will be taken back; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. And the purpose runs through it all: then you will know that I am the Lord, and those who wait for me will not be put to shame. God fights for his people and vindicates those who have waited on him, so that their hope is not disappointed.

If you feel bereaved, alone, or abandoned, this passage is a wellspring of hope. God has not forgotten you. He is able to fill the emptiest life with unexpected abundance, to take back what the strong have seized, and to contend for those who cannot contend for themselves. And the promise stands: those who wait for the Lord will not be put to shame. Whatever you have lost, keep waiting on him. He fights for his own, and he does not disappoint those who hope in him.

Lord, to your bereaved and desolate people you promised returning children, unexpected abundance, and your own hand contending for them. When I feel alone or abandoned, remind me that you have not forgotten me. Take back what has been lost, contend for me against what I cannot fight, and fulfill your promise that those who wait for you will not be put to shame. I wait on you. Amen.