“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. - Isaiah 43:18-21
Sometimes, when I see the whisper of something in a verse, I wonder if I am reading in something that isn't really there. This was one of those passages this morning. I hadn’t seen it before, but I saw echoes of Matthew 15:21-28 when I read it this time (Jesus’ conversation with a Canaanite woman, and her daughter healed because of her faith.) But referencing Matthew Henry’s commentary, I can see that I was on the right track.
God’s plan for salvation was for his people, but his people didn’t reach out to God for saving or praise him for his mercy. But his provisions were not wasted, as even the animals around his people (the Gentiles) benefitted from and honored God for the provision of salvation. This was a new thing, that God would extend his provision to anyone who would accept it, not just his chosen people or a select few. From Matthew Henry: “The sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as the beasts of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stupid as the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to honour God for the extent of his grace to his chosen among them.”
I see echoes of this in the Canaanite woman as she responds to Jesus, who tells her, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Her response: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” From this conversation, we pray the Prayer of Humble Access each Sunday before communion:
We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.1
I may not be part of God’s chosen people by lineage, but I am so grateful for the gift of salvation and to be adopted into his family.
There have been several versions of this prayer, and while this is not the version that we pray on Sundays - “that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and “ is omitted - I do like this version from the 1662 & 1928 versions of the Book of Common Prayer.