Westhill Church | Church in Auburn WA

The WEekly Word

A Blog of Encouragement from our Pastors

weekly word – 10/01/2026

Praising Him in the Waiting Room — Isaiah 26

This chapter is the next song in a series of songs about the future redemption of Israel. But it’s more than that. It shows us how we should think about God in relation to ourselves. Too often and too easily, we elevate ourselves in our thoughts. We think we’ve made the right choices and carved out our place in life. We trust ourselves to accomplish our ambitions. But Isaiah corrects this illusion of our autonomy, directing us instead to God’s sufficiency and our total dependence on Him.

He begins the song with an introduction, “In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah.” Isaiah's talking about the day Yahweh will rescue His nation, as discussed in chapter 25. What follows in 26:1–6 is the humble praise His people will sing to Him one day. They praise Him for creating a strong city to save and protect them in “perfect peace”, since they trust in Him (1–3). Then they encourage each other to persist in trusting Yahweh since He is an “everlasting Rock” who brought down the oppressive city so that they would trample it (4–6).

They are crediting Him with doing everything for them, as they should.

Reading this opening song is a relief in the book of Isaiah. Throughout this book, we hear about the wickedness and self-sufficiency of Judah and other nations. It’s a joy to read of a people praising Yahweh without taking any credit for themselves.

Next, verses 7–11 show the response of Isaiah and the other believers in his day. They remember Yahweh as the righteous judge in the past and hope for Him to come soon to make things right again (7–9). Then they lament that the wicked around them ignore Him and take His patience as a license to sin (10–11). His adversaries are destined for the fire of His wrath (11b).

Isaiah returns to praise in verses 12–18, but praise of two very different kinds.

First, he praises Yahweh as the One who will “establish peace for us” just as He has already “performed for us all our works” (12). Isaiah is acknowledging that any good His people have done has come only because of Yahweh’s work for them. This fact, that God has accomplished all of Israel’s good works, is the main point of the chapter. It ties back to the main purpose of the book of Isaiah: to give full credit to Him and depend on Him alone for salvation.

Isaiah continues by saying Yahweh has been the only master His people should remember (13). Then he adds, “through You alone we bring Your name to remembrance”. God’s sovereign grace is the only reason they have hearts that remember Him. Only He vanquishes their foes and expands the nation (14–15). Whether on the spiritual side or the political side, all credit for what the nation was, is, and will be belongs solely to Yahweh.

Second, Isaiah offers a self-humbling form of praise on behalf of the believing remnant in verses 16–18. He points out that Judah barely has the strength to call on Him in its distress (16). He acknowledges that, like a woman who cannot give birth, the nation is powerless to accomplish its purpose (17–18a). With theological insight and humility, Isaiah openly confesses, “We could not accomplish salvation for the earth, and the inhabitants of the world were not born” (18b). Seldom do we see such recognition of the original Abrahamic purpose for Israel, as stated in Genesis 12:1–3. But such is the understanding of this profoundly Spirit-led prophet.

The song nears its end with the hope of resurrection in verse 19: “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise.” In the meantime, God tells His people to enter their rooms and wait “until indignation passes by” (20). This indignation is explained in the final verse: Yahweh will “visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth”, i.e., bring judgment. The message is that God wants His people to hunker down and wait patiently for the end of His judgment on earth.

Whether we are lifting Him up or lowering ourselves, He deserves our praise as the One who meets our every need in the perfect life, death, resurrection, intercession, and return of His Son.

Pastor David

9/24/2026 – Praising Him in the Banquet - Isaiah 25 – David

9/17/2026 – Praising Him in the Rubble - Isaiah 24 – David

9/10/2026 – God's Long-Term Politics - Isaiah 23 – David

9/3/2026 – Depend on Him - Isaiah 22:15-25 – David

8/27/2026 – A Leadership Lesson from Jesus – Bryan

8/20/2026 – Ahab's Fatal Flaw

8/13/2026 – The Valley of Vision - Isaiah 22:1-14

8/6/2026 – Details on the Legacy Standard Bible

7/30/2026 – The Aftermath of Babylon's Collapse - Isaiah 21

7/23/2026 – God's Prophecy for Egypt and Cush - Isaiah 20

7/16/2026 – Yahweh Destroys and Redeems Egypt, Part 2 (Isaiah 19)