"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money."
Isaiah 52:2-3
I love this, but it is also very telling. Symbolically this daughter of Zion represents the Lord's people, but his people in the dust, in bondage. We're (if we are his people, as we are all invited to be) presented as having sold ourselves in return for nothing, which sounds spot on for every single time we try to negotiate with the world rather than with God. God pleads with us to renew our spirits and free ourselves from the slavery that we ourselves have chosen... to become clean, to come back to him. And he promises redemption, forgiveness, even though the idea here is that we walked away from God and chose slavery over him.
These are verses about the last days, and there is so much more that is great in this chapter, but this opening image struck me because I think that is maybe where we are. We are in the dust, so consumed with the intricacies of the world that we forget who we are, and that we *can* stand up and free ourselves, and choose and do better. Today, let's turn to the Lord, and trust in his strength, and free ourselves to serve him instead, and to improve ourselves, our lives, and the world around us through remembering who we are as children of God, and believing in the glorious future that God has mapped out for us, if we will only follow his guidance.
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