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Today’s Scripture
Isaiah 41:10-13
Today’s Devotional
In the aftermath of Turkey’s devastating earthquake in February 2023, a haunting photo came across newswires: a father sitting amid ruins holding a hand extending from the rubble—the hand of his daughter. We see the edge of the mattress where his daughter had been sleeping, and we see her lifeless fingers that he now holds. His face is grim; his grief is profound.
In this father’s gritted face, I see a semblance of our own heavenly Father. Genesis tells us that God was grieved by the devastation of sin in His creation: “It broke his heart” (6:6 nlt). Isaiah, speaking of the future Messiah, says, “He was . . . a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (53:3 nlt). God grieves for us, and with us, and sits at the edge of the rubble of our lives, reaching for us: “I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand” (41:13).
Whatever devastation you currently face—a tragic circumstance, the loss of a dear one, or maybe even the effects of your own sin—know that God grieves with you. Whatever earthquake has shaken your life, see that God is reaching for your hand. Whatever your current sorrow, hear the God of love saying to you, “Do not fear; I will help you” (v. 13).
Reflect & Pray
In what ways has your life, current or past, been shaken to the core? What does it mean to you that God grieves with you?
Father God, who grieves with me and for me, thank You for Your “righteous right hand.”
Today’s Insights
Isaiah 41 starts with God warning “islands” and “nations” (v. 1). He asks a rhetorical question: “Who has stirred up one from the east?” (v. 2). It is God Himself who has stirred up this “one.” He is Cyrus, the great Persian king who wouldn’t be born for another 150 years, yet Isaiah introduces him by name (44:28-45:1). God calls this future Persian monarch “his anointed” (45:1)—anointed in the sense that God will use Cyrus to vanquish those who’d conquered His people. He’ll do this “for the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen” (v. 4).
Isaiah 41:8-20 comprises a shift in tone from the first seven verses of the chapter: “But you, Israel, my servant . . .” (v. 8). God comforts a people long persecuted: “I have chosen you and have not rejected you” (v. 9). And He grieves with us and extends His comfort to us today.
