An Awakened Ear

Isaiah 50 is one of the passages often called the Servant Songs. The speaker is the Servant of the LORD, and as you keep reading Isaiah, the Servant turns out to be the One who would be “pierced for our transgressions.” Christians have long read these songs as pointing to Jesus. When you read Isaiah 50, you are listening in on the heart of our Savior.

Listen to how He begins. “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word.” Jesus had a word for weary people. He still does. He said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He knew exactly what to say to the woman at the well, to the thief on the cross, to Peter on the beach. Where did that come from?

The next line tells us. “He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” Before the Servant spoke a word to the weary, He listened. Every morning. The Father woke Him up and opened His ear. The tongue of a disciple came from the ear of a disciple.

That order matters for you. We want to be people who know what to say. We want the right word for the friend who just lost her job, for the teenager slamming doors, for the coworker who is falling apart. But you cannot give out what you have not taken in. A good tongue comes from a listening ear. If you want to sustain the weary, start your morning by being taught.

Then the passage turns. “The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.” Listening led to obedience, and obedience led somewhere hard. “I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.” Read that and think of Jesus before the high priest, Jesus in Pilate’s courtyard, Jesus beaten and mocked. He did not turn back.

Why not? Verse 7. “Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint.” Flint is a hard stone. It does not crumble. Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem knowing what waited for Him there. He went to the cross on purpose, for you. Peter says, “When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

Here is the good news. Because Jesus listened perfectly and obeyed perfectly, His obedience counts for those who trust Him. You are not saved by how well you listen in the morning. You are saved by the Servant who never turned back. But now, as His follower, you get to learn the same rhythm. Wake up. Listen. Obey. Speak a word that helps.

Maybe this morning you feel more like a weary person than someone who can sustain the weary. That is all right. Let Him speak to you first. Open your ear. Then, as the day goes on, watch for someone who needs a word. A text to a friend. A kind sentence to the cashier. A few honest words to your spouse. Let what you heard in the morning come out in what you say.