Text: Isaiah 48:1-22, Isaiah 49:1-26, Colossians 1:13-14, Hebrews 4:12
Recently, I have felt a loneliness and isolation that I’ve never quite known before. It’s not that I’m alone. I’m not. As a matter of fact, I’m often surrounded by people. And yet, in a way that can only be described as wandering in a desert, I do feel alone. Have you ever felt that way? Like you were wandering aimlessly, directionless, wondering if you would make it back home?
I imagine that’s how the Jews felt in the Babylonian exile: defeated, alone, fearful, maybe even abandoned. Their faith was lacking (see Isaiah 48:1), but the truth was they were not alone. As Isaiah prophesied, God desired to get their attention.
“Listen to this, house of Jacob—those who are called by the name Israel…” (v.1).
“Listen to Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me…” (v.12).
“All of you, assemble and listen!” (v.14).
“Approach Me and listen to this…” (v.16).
“This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says…” (v.17).
These aren’t merely hopeful suggestions from God. He was commanding their attention—not just to rebuke them, but to comfort them in their exile. Sometimes God uses these moments of loneliness and isolation to eliminate distraction so we might turn to Him.
Isn’t this like our God? We fail to listen, we lack faith, but He continually pursues us. God reminds those who feel fearful, defeated, and alone that He is the faithful one—He is a covenant-keeping God. All of His promises are “yes” in Christ, and ultimately found in the gospel (2 Corinthians 1:20).
So, what does this mean for us?
In our despair, the Lord reminds us that He has not forgotten us. Even if a mother may forget her nursing child, the Lord will never forget us—He will restore (Isaiah 49:15,18). He comes to meet us in our despair. And just as Jesus healed and comforted those He saw in distress, He has compassion on us today. Christ is the ultimate servant, bringing salvation to all who turn to Him.
And so we lift up our tired hands and strengthen our weakened knees, for we know the truth (Hebrews 12:12): God is near. He comforts us by the presence of His Spirit and in the promises of His Word.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.
– Hebrews 4:12
This is good news! May this knowledge lead us all to sing for joy, for our God “has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him” (Isaiah 49:13; Colossians 1:13-14). There is no greater comfort than this.
No matter how alone we may feel, the truth is that is God is near and is never callous toward our pain. His desire is to comfort, encourage, and heal our hearts. Today and every day, He offers us the perfect, unending peace that can only be found in Him.
Trillia Newbell is the author of Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God’s Good Gifts, Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves, and United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity. Trillia is married to her best friend, Thern. Together, they reside with their two children near Nashville, Tennessee. You can find her find her on Twitter at @trillianewbell.
As a student in professional school, I often do feel lonely and isolated, consumed with my studies. I’m thankful that God uses these times to call me nearer to him, even when I put Him second to school sometimes. Praise Him for never forgetting me. I certainly could not face the pressures and challenges of school without His faithfulness.
God is meeting me exactly where I am today through this study. It is amazing. I felt quite lonely today and I am reassured and feel peace and rest after spending time here.
God has felt distant lately and this is getting me through the day
This message was wonderfully comforting to me today. There are many times that I feel forgotten or alone and I love that God has given me His word so that I may know that he will never forget me. I am so grateful for this reminder today. The reading through Isaiah was one that I was certainly daunted by and worried it would feel much too heavy to press on but while there are messages of justice and destruction, there are so many messages of hope sprinkled throughout it all that lift my spirit and have me singing praises. Thank you for helping me to read through this book so beautifully and thoughtfully.
I feel the same way about reading Isaiah! I’m sorry you’ve felt the pain of loneliness, but I’m glad you’ve seen how God is still faithful, no matter what our circumstances.
No matter how alone we may feel, the truth is that is God is near and is never callous toward our pain. His desire is to comfort, encourage, and heal our hearts. Today and every day, He offers us the perfect, unending peace that can only be found in Him.
Yes to every word.. a balm for my lonely heart today.
It always comes as a surprise to me that God CHOOSES to pursue us…daily. I know this truth but it still catches me off guard. In all my selflishness, God still loves and pursues me? But then I am reminded that He sees His son in us…he sees himself in us…we were created in His image. He sees our potential. He saw the children of Israel and their potential. They were never really alone and abandoned and we are never alone and abandoned, despite how our situations may look or feel…we are His.
I love this reminder, thank you for sharing! What beautiful grace that He sees Christ when He looks at us!
I’ve been using Matthew Henry’s commentary (it’s now an app too!) alongside my reading to give more context and meaning, and this morning found many truly beautiful prophecies about the Church in Isaiah 49. To paraphrase from Matthew Henry:
Through the Servant of the Lord, Israel will be renewed into a family of Nations. The Church will gather from afar (spiritually) and be an ornament as the bride of Christ (v. 17-18). The barren, desolate land will be overpopulated (v. 19). Children (the new Church) will be brought up from the stones – not natural children brought up by the mother Israel, but joyfully received into the family nonetheless (v. 21). The Spirit of the Lord will beckon to the Gentiles through the banner of His Gospel and bring out not only believers among them, but also their aid to the cause of the Church (v. 22). Children of this Church will be rulers or aided by rulers (Esther, Constantine), and if not, those opposing rulers will bow before the Church (Rev. 3:9) and its Head, Christ (Ps. 72:11).
Beautiful words about the Church, through Christ, that we see being fulfilled in history after the writing of Isaiah, and through to today!
It’s so interesting to me how pervasive loneliness is and always has been, and yet how solely specific to us it always feels in our quiet moments, even though we know, somewhere deep inside the haze we feel, that we aren’t the only sufferers. I don’t know that anyone is exempt from this hollow, though I imagine everyone copes and hides and suppresses it differently. For me, I find myself in this place a lot, always a little disoriented and confused how I got here. It reminds me of the C.S Lewis quote that describes how our deepest yearnings not being satisfied means that we were simply made for another world. How true this is – our entire being screams out toward God, in shouts and pain and even in the incompleteness of our earthly joy (*something* always is missing even in this place). Never is there a moment where I do not need to reach out desperately to our Heavenly Father and our only true solution for our peace, Christ Jesus. We are such cyclical creatures, which used to really frustrate me (how did I forget Him AGAIN?), but the benefit of this if we are to keep forgetting is that we are freshly surprised as though it is the first time we are discovering the supreme gift of His glorious presence, each time we do return. Feeling encouraged today, that not only is or Lord with us every moment (when we fall asleep, awaken in the middle of the night, work, arise – who is here for us like this? Who is like You, God?), but that He brings us the gift of togetherness, even by way of an online community, stretching across boundaries far and wide to let us all know we aren’t alone in this truly special and unique way as well. In this way and thousands of others, He whispers to our hearts and wraps us in His love, quieting the questions in our minds and the sadness that we feel with the awareness that though we may not yet know all that we want to know, we can be sure that He will never give us over to the deep.
Beautifully said. Thank you!
Oh wow! Love your words, thank you!
This was such a sweet reminder for this morning, J. Thank you for sharing. So, so grateful to have you in our community.
– Stormye
Love this. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for this!