The Lord will not abandon God’s people. This response to today’s Responsorial Psalm sums up the content of the first reading from the prophet Isaiah. In an unusual twist, God’s message through the prophet is not intended for the rebellious Israel whose fate has been sealed, but rather for Assyria, the instrument of Israel’s chastisement that had been chosen by God. God had “allowed” Israel to be chastised a little in an effort to rouse her from her slumber of rebellion and infidelity. However, Assyria became proud, attributing her conquest of Israel to personal power and wit. And as if that was not enough, Assyria’s plan was to annihilate not only Israel but to sweep all the peoples from the face of the earth (cf. Isaiah 10: 7, 13). God was not going to allow this to happen, because by acting as Assyria had planned to, it was God and not Israel or the peoples of the earth that Assyria was trampling upon. Isn’t God both the creator and father of those that Assyria wanted to destroy? Isn’t God the upholder of justice? If Israel had sinned, her punishment was to be served justly.
God’s other name is justice. God’s other name is defense and protector of the powerless. God never sits back to watch the innocent undergo suffering. As the Psalmist points out, God created mouths so that men and women can cry out to God, and when they do, God is sure to come to their rescue.