26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for [a]security.
2 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,
The one that [b]remains faithful.
3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
4 “Trust in the Lord forever,
For in [c]God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
5 “For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
6 “The foot will trample it,
The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless.”7 The way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.
8 Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly;
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.
9 At night [d]my soul longs for You,
Indeed, [e]my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For when the earth [f]experiences Your judgments
The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 Though the wicked is shown favor,
He does not learn righteousness;
He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.
As one begins this chapter, we see a strong city, even an unassailable city. One has to ask then, how and when could that ever be, for Judah was conquered, and Jerusalem invaded multiple times. Even now, with all their defenses, it is not impenetrable. Truthfully, I don’t know that this has ever happened since Isaiah wrote down these words.
Before that, perhaps one might have called them a “righteous nation” and “one that remains faithful” as they sometimes were under the kings who honored and served God, take David for example. So what then, we just throw it on the shelf and say, “well, some day…”?
No, I think it is a challenge to us today, for those who claim to love God, to truly live that claim. Do we want His peace, to be held where “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”? Then we should take heed of the description of that righteous nation, the faithful people.
They are steadfast in mind, and trust in God forever. They follow the straight and narrow (level & smooth) path, following God’s law. Those are high standards, but v. 9 takes it up a notch, “At night my soul longs for You, and my spirit within me seeks You diligently…”
Do we crave God that much? We should, and I often don’t, but I need to. If we want to stay away from the wicked way, to learn righteousness, and deal justly, to see the glory of God revealed, then we need to crave Him day and night. In reality, our soul already does long for Him (always), but we ignore it and satiate our flesh instead.
We need to feed our souls, every day, and even at night, and before we go to bed. Most of us are quite good at listening to the needs of our body, but Isaiah challenges us to listen to the needs of our soul. That is, we need God and more of Him, so dig in, and feed your soul today.