I would love to invite you to pause for a moment and reflect with me on the beautiful song found in Isaiah 12, a song rising from the heart of a people who know both sorrow and joy. It comes from a time when Judah trembled under the shadow of the Assyrian Empire. Yet in the middle of fear and political turmoil, Isaiah teaches the people to sing, not because life is easy, but because God is faithful.
Isaiah does not pretend that the harshness of life is not real. He reminds readers how God’s people walked through wrath, brokenness, and the consequences of their own choices. They felt at times as if God was angry with them. But Isaiah will not let the story end there. He moves the people forward into a future shaped by God’s mercy, into a post-wrath time, a time when guilt is lifted, when God’s anger has passed, and when God bends low to comfort his people.
This is the rhythm of faith: we tell honestly the truth about our suffering, and we trust the deeper truth of God’s healing. We stand in the tension of joy and sorrow, knowing God is already at work making all things new. He is the one who can offer true comfort.
Isaiah promises that what God is bringing is glorious. Grief will not have the final word. Oppression will cease. People will flourish, and the next generation will inherit blessing rather than despair. Isaiah invites us to look at the new creation springing forth and to look into God’s future overflowing with life.
And so this hymn becomes more than worship; it becomes witness. God’s people cannot keep quiet about what God has done.
They give thanks.
They call on God’s name.
They make God’s deeds known among the nations. And this is how God’s name becomes known in the whole world.
They shout, sing, and live with joy.
Why? Because the Holy One has done “glorious things.” Because fear has turned to trust. Because even when God’s work feels severe, God’s final word is always comfort, restoration, and new life.
This is not just Israel’s story; it is ours. We too live in a world marked by disruption, anxiety, and longing, unrest, war and economic uncertainties. Yet we can join God’s work of new creation today and to let God remake us:
To transform our fears into hopes.
To become people who embody God’s joy even as we carry sorrow.
To proclaim, with our lives, that Christ has ushered in a kingdom where all creation finds its place.
Isaiah 12 calls us to live as witnesses of a God who is still creating, still redeeming, still healing. Can I inspire you today or in the nearest future to ask someone to share their story of walk with God and share your own story with others!
Revd. Dr Svetlana Khobnya
