The Friday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 8, 2026 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 52:9-12 (NKJV)
52:9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Devotion
When God does what He said He would do, His people have cause to rejoice. In our reading for today, God has redeemed Jerusalem, which has been the object of scorn and ridicule among the nations after seeing how they were oppressed by the Egyptians and the Assyrians in turn. In addition, they were in the midst of the Babylonian captivity, which brought more suffering.
But that suffering is temporary. God would return a remnant to Judah in His own time. The nations may be mighty, but God is mightier still, and He has made bare His arm, so that all the nations can see just how mighty He is. Just as in all His dealings with sinful men, it is God’s strength, and not ours, in which Jerusalem (and we) should rejoice. His timing may not be our timing, but His promises are sure, and we can rely on them. Because we know that God is on our side, we will go in confidence, not in haste; we should behave honorably and uprightly as befits the children of God.
Collect: O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will: Grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest, and desire what Thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
