Isaiah 12:2-6 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 12:2-6 on biblegateway.com
Verse 2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. Verse 3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Verse 4And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. Verse 5Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Verse 6Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Devotion
Songs of praise and thanksgiving to God for salvation of the faithful describe both the Magnificat and the reading from Isaiah 12:2-6. Both texts give voice to the mighty and glorious acts of God, for Isaiah in the context of eighth-century B.C.E. Israelite history and for Mary in response, to Elizabeth’s own song of praise. If read together, Mary’s words articulate what Isaiah’s claim about God’s salvation can mean. The prophet proclaims, “…For the Lord God…has become my salvation” (v. 2) and Mary gives words to what God’s salvation looks like in her life. As the hymn writer notes, Mary can now say, “I am full of grace” (ELW 251).
Prayer
O God, the great wonders you have done fill us with grace. Help us to look for and sing about your salvation in our daily lives. Amen.