Awake, awake, Zion,
    clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendour,
    Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
    will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
    rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
    Daughter Zion, now a captive.

There is no ‘let go and let God’ here.

It is clearly not a call for passivity.

It is essential that we take seriously the Bible’s verbs – it’s doing words/commands. There are so many of them in this short passage they are almost tumbling over each other.

Whenever God tells His people to do something, the inference is that His grace will be with them (us!) to enable it.

Here God is speaking to a whole community of people – a nation – and it’s important to understand that there are acts of obedience churches need to perform together. But also, we need the help and encouragement of fellow-Christians in order to follow our own pathway of faith/obedience.

What is God telling you to do at the moment?

What are you telling Him you can’t do?

Or you don’t think it’s a good idea for you?

Really?