“Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’”
(Isaiah 49:1-3)
Identity and purpose.
This is what Isaiah gives us in this passage. First, he explains who he is – not in terms of his paycheck, his level of education, his race, his gender, his ethnic identity, his hobbies, his bank account, his Myers-Briggs personality type, his enneagram; no, he tells us who he is in who God made him to be from the beginning (“while I was in my mother’s womb”). Oh, and he’s an edgy dude! “My mouth like a sharp sword.” “A polished arrow.” Like all good prophets, Isaiah was made with piercing insight and an insatiable need to speak truth (later in the passage, we’ll find that he’s to speak truth to both church and society, both Israel and the world; see: verse 6).
But an identity, while necessary, is incomplete without a purpose – “You are my servant.” It is clear that Isaiah is to take all these characteristics that God has given him and use it in service to God and God’s glory.
Isaiah is truly blessed. He’s been given an identity and a purpose.
Here’s the Good News for you: So have you. You, too, have been knit together in your mother’s womb by none other than God Himself. You, too, have a purpose, a role to play in the new Kingdom that God creates in and through Jesus Christ. Maybe you’re not as edgy as Isaiah. Probably you aren’t, as communities need a prophet or two, but cannot be made up of only prophets. Maybe you have a mouth that sings, and you’re a music note hid in God’s heart. Maybe you have a mouth that teaches, and you are hidden in the mind of Christ. Whatever the gift(s) you’ve been given are, they are part of your God-given identity and point toward your God-graced purpose.
So, meditate upon this. Ask God in prayer who he has made you to be and for what purpose. I may not know the answer (no one may), but God does and God delights when we act as we were made to be. Amen.
