The Monday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 4, 2026 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 14:1-3 (NKJV)
14:1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve.
Devotion
The Old Testament nation of Israel certainly did not deserve mercy. In fact, its captivity in Babylon was a direct result of its rebellion against God, and its repeated failure to repent of its sin and do what God commanded it to do. Yet mercy is exactly what God promises them. In our reading for today, not only is Israel told that it will return to its own land—surprising enough, for a nation removed from its own borders—but that also it will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.
Ancient captive Israel might have been tempted to think that this was because of their own strength, or their own cleverness. Today, we might like to think that our victories and the good things we experience in this life are because of our might or our wisdom. But in truth, good things, especially our daily bread, are given to us by God. We should therefore be patient when things are not going our way, and humble when they are, because we know that in either case God is in control and knows what is best for us.
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.
