In that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. ” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you. ”
Isaiah 12

Dear God, before I sat down today, I thought that I should probably spend some time i worship this morning. And then the verse of the day from Bible Gateway was the second half of Isaiah 12. Since the chapter is only 6 verses long, I decided to look at the whole chapter and make them my praise to you.

For context, the “in that day” refers to prophecy that you will restore Israel and bring them all home. There are times when I wonder if Christians in our country haven’t tried to replace Israel in your heart. Do we want the United States to be the country you preserve and restore? Is that why there is this great support for Israel from a political perspective among Christians, but there is a prejudice against Jewish people? We know you care about the land, and we appreciate the fact that Jesus came from there when he was on earth, but outside of that we don’t like Jewish people (and I say “we” as a Christian, although I’ve never personally understood prejudice against Jewish people or even knew it existed outside of Nazi Germany until I was an adult–I was grateful for that ignorance).

But I digress. Today I want to worship you. I want to worship you even when you are angry with me and have to deal with me. I want to worship you when I struggle through a life situation, and I want to worship you when things are good. I am sorry for expecting things of you that were unreasonable. I am sorry for being disappointed with you, although I am grateful to have been shown the error in my thinking and what I can expect from you.

I marvel at how you move in this world. I marvel at your security in who you are. You are able to love me when I love you and let me go when I want to go. Help me to love my children that wisely. Please pursue them and help the to bind the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. I don’t want any more for them than they would experience your full presence and the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and self control that goes with it. That they would feel the freedom of extending grace and heal from the damage done to their hearts over the years. Hold them as your own children, Father.

I worship you for how you provide for the work I do to serve others. Make my eyes bigger. Make my vision bigger. Help me to see the needs with which you want me to be involved, give me the courage to jump in and address those needs, and please bless each step of my path.

My life is yours, Father. I offer it to you as a living sacrifice. Grow in me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen