Isaiah 23:1-7: a reflection

1The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them. 2Be still, you inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished. 3On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations. 4Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not travailed, nor given birth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.” 5When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. 6Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast! 7Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?

In this oracle over Tyre, the great and ancient trading city, Isaiah pictures the ships of Tarshish wailing at the news of her fall, the merchants stunned, the coastlands silent. And he asks a pointed question: Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Tyre had been a joyous city, proud and prosperous, her joy bound up with her wealth, her trade, her reputation, her long history. And now all of it is fallen, and with it, her joy. The joyous city has become a scene of wailing.

Notice where Tyre's joy had been anchored: in her prosperity and greatness. Her joy was the joy of wealth, success, reputation, an ancient and honored name. But that joy rested on things that could be taken away, and when they were, the joy collapsed with them. The joyous city became a wailing one, because its joy had been anchored in what it could lose.

That is a searching question for us: where is your joy anchored? If our joy, like Tyre's, is bound up with our prosperity, our success, our reputation, the things that can be taken from us, then our joy is as fragile as those things, and will collapse when they do. But there is a joy anchored in God, who cannot be taken from us, a joy that remains even when prosperity and reputation are gone. Do not anchor your joy in things that can be lost, as Tyre did. Anchor it in God, whose presence and love are unshakable, so that your joy, unlike Tyre's, cannot be swept away with your circumstances. Where your joy is anchored determines whether it will last; anchor it in God.

Lord, Tyre was a joyous city, but her joy was anchored in her wealth, trade, and reputation, and when those fell, her joy collapsed into wailing. Search where my own joy is anchored. If my joy, like Tyre's, is bound up with my prosperity, my success, my reputation, the things that can be taken from me, then it is as fragile as those things and will collapse when they do. Teach me instead to anchor my joy in you, whose presence and love cannot be taken from me, so that my joy remains even when circumstances change. Keep me from resting my gladness on what can be lost. Let my joy be anchored in you, unshakable and lasting, so that it cannot be swept away with my circumstances. Be the ground of my joy, Lord, above all that can be lost.