Isaiah 51:2
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
The call is addressed to those who seek the Lord and follow after righteousness, bidding them look to Abraham as their father and to Sarah who bore them. It recalls that God called Abraham when he was alone, and then blessed him and increased him. In that history lies confidence that God can bring great growth from a small beginning. Read together with what follows it, it assures that the Lord will comfort Zion and turn her wilderness into a place like Eden and her desert into a place like the garden of the Lord, where joy and gladness and thanksgiving and melody will be found. Its full meaning will be understood more clearly in the future.
The surrounding chapter gives assurance and hope because the Lord carries the burdens of His people. The verse is exceedingly precious to read with assurance and hope during tedious and painful affliction. Then it shows Jesus watching the sufferer in the night, strengthening by grace for work and counsel, carrying every burden, turning the affliction to the glory of God, and giving strength not to murmur or complain.
The verse is a plain scripture on the Sabbath question, making clear that God has made no change in His day of rest and holding wonderful promises for those who obey His law. It is to be searched out along with other Sabbath scriptures, put into tract form, kept plainly before the people, and brought to the front now to do its important work in hearts as workers draw near to God and receive the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. It urges workers to redeem the past by trusting God and going into the waste places of the earth to labor for the salvation of perishing souls, moving forward with singing through close and trying times and temptation and trial, because the Lord is an all-powerful helper who cooperates with every unselfish effort.