Your Holy One

I take great comfort and delight in the oracles found in Isaiah 40-55, the section commonly called, "Second Isaiah."  Here is the assurance of salvation, deliverance, and homecoming for a people who have been held captive in a foreign place for a long, long time. 

Lately, as I am reading these texts, I have been reassured by the self-revelation of the God who appears in them.  The promise of deliverance and God's activity for every exile is a source of hope.  But it is the identity of God, who is revealed before and after these great empowering promises, that is a source of great joy.  I delight in this God!

Here's but one example of my meditation.  It is from Isaiah 43:14-15.

Thus says the LORD,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I will send to Babylon
    and break down all the bars,
     and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation.
I am the Lord, your Holy One,
     the Creator of Israel, your King.
--New Revised Standard Version

The breaking down of all the bars and barriers that keep us caged--God's action that turns captors' taunting jubilation to grieving lamentation--this activity is framed by the revelation of God.  The Lord is "your Redeemer," "the Holy One of Israel" . . . . "your Holy One," "the Creator of Israel," "your King."  These are not honorific titles, granted without historical grounding.  These titles reveal a God who is high and exalted.  They also reveal that God is engaged in creative and redemptive activity.  This God knows about Babylon and can get there, too.  This God is sovereign and saving.

Reading literally, and taking this revelation to heart, I wonder about the move from "the Holy One of Israel" to "your Holy One."   Captive people of God, this is your Holy One.  Weary pastors of the church, this is your Holy One.  Grieving mothers and fathers, this is your Holy One.  It is a movement that brings God close to us in our own places of exile.  It is a move that brings the gift of resilient joy.

A Prayer for This Day
O Holy One, send for me today.  Draw me to your hope.  Free me by your love.  Carry me home.  Amen.