not.forsaken…

And you shall no more be termed forsaken.
and your land shall not be termed empty.

They shall be called Sought Out.
They shall be called Redeemed.

And you shall be called by a new name
That the mouth of the Lord will give.

A holy nation; we are his possession.

We shall be called Sought Out.
We shall be called Redeemed.
……………………………..conVergeMusic

1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
2 The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.
3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,”
Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”;
But you will be called, “My delight is in her,”
And your land, “Married”;
For the LORD delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin,
So your sons will marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
All day and all night they will never keep silent.
You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;
7 And give Him no rest until He establishes
And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8 The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm,
“I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies;
Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.”
9 But those who garner it will eat it and praise the LORD;
And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.
10 Go through, go through the gates,
Clear the way for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.
11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
12 And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the LORD”;
And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”
………………………………………………. Isaiah 62 (NASB)

If you’re reading this and you do not attend conVerge church, you may not be familiar with the song that opens this blog post. It is music written by the worship team of conVerge but the inspiration comes from Isaiah 62. Originally, this song was written and performed by a band whose style goes beyond even what we would call “contemporary” worship. Now that our worship team has shifted and the style has changed to an acoustic-style format, the song didn’t work as well, but it was too good to scrap, so we set out to rework it—and what resulted was quite beautiful in its new-found harmonies. And somehow, this accentuates the meaning of the song, as if it really was meant to be sung in harmony, and claimed as a calling and a challenge.