In that Day

In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” – Isaiah 25:9

I’ve always questioned the Biblical Prophets sense of timing. For example, the prophet Isaiah in this passage writes, “in that day… this is our God…” Well, what day is that and if today is that day, then I surely do not want this to be my God because today is absolutely a bad day! On a bad day, when our hearts are distressed, when we feel poor, when we are undeniably alienated by a world so ruthless, we seek out refuge only to find none and we curse our God and wonder about His existence or if He was the one that created this situation for us. That is supposed to be our God? Yet, doesn’t it seem like every religious professional is telling us that on truly bad days we will be saved and we find no salvation? Then we question whether there is even a God who cares, but often times we go back to the professional religious folks and they tell us we just don’t have enough faith or that we’re not praying hard enough. So we figure, if this is that day, when my life is just left of falling apart, then this God of ours, that we worship, is not worthy of any worship. We would just be glad in finding our own salvation because God will not give it to us no matter how much we seem to trust in Him. I say this in retrospect of a bad day, week, month and year because on any day that was subjectively bad, trusting a God who seemingly doesn’t save me is worthless. This is the sort of thing people say to confirm their suspicions that their religion is really a set of empty practices. Yet there is a beauty and unspeakable wonder that goes for trusting God on days that are truly bad, isn’t there? There is a sense of hope, although fleeting and abstract, that comforts us. But what if this sense of hope that God will save us is not abstract or fleeting but the stark reality of our very existence? That on any day, in particular, this day, when we trust in Him, we effectively feel His salvation upon our lives– what would that look and feel like? Isaiah says God’s salvation feels like “heat reduced by the shadow of a cloud” or a “song that is stilled.” When we look back on our past struggles that is the day we can be glad God saved us. Likewise, when we are in the midst of our struggling and bad days, that day is what we look forward toward, when we can be glad of God’s salvation. This is why we trust in God through our bad days, weeks, and months; because in that day, God will wipe away your tears from your face, He will remove our disgrace from this Earth and we can say, “Surely this is our God.” We already have a taste of this salvation through redemption in Jesus Christ sacrifice and resurrection from the cross and grave. If we have never trusted God and are seemingly stuck in our bad predispositions, I wan you to make this that day where you trust in God and begin to rejoice in the salvation He already gave us and expect much more to be given to us through it and by it. There is shelter from the storms of our lives; a banquet at wait for us at His table. God spoke today to be that day– surely our God saves.