We Esteemed Him Not
Phase 3 - Grace as the Means
Passage: Isaiah 53:1–3
The Servant is not what we expected, and we rejected Him because of it.
“He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.” Isaiah 53:3 (NLT)
Keywords: Rejection, Sorrow, Despised
Reflection
Isaiah begins with a question, who has believed what we have heard? In other words, who actually sees this for what it is?
Because the reality is, the arm of the Lord has been revealed, but it is not recognized. Not because it is hidden, but because it does not look the way we expected.
The Servant does not come like Saul. He is not impressive, commanding, or the kind of leader people naturally follow. Instead, He grows up like a root in dry ground.
That image is not just that He is unimpressive, it is that He is unexpected. This is not where you would expect life to come from. There is nothing about Him outwardly that would draw your attention or suggest authority.
Isaiah makes that clear. There is no beauty or majesty that attracts us to Him. Nothing that makes us stop and say, “this is the One.”
We are drawn to what looks strong, successful, and what appears to carry weight and authority. We tend to measure value by what we can see.
So when the Servant comes without those markers, the response is more than hesitation, it is rejection.
“He was despised and rejected.” That word “despised” is strong. It is not just dislike. It is dismissal. Not worth my attention or time. Not what we are looking for.
And that leads to something even more confronting. “We hid our faces from Him.” We looked away.
It becomes very real, because if we’re honest we do this. We do not like to be around suffering, we avoid it. We step back from it, because we don’t want to engage with it.
And the Servant is described as a man of sorrows, familiar with grief. He does not just pass through suffering, He lives in it. Instead of drawing near, we pull away.
And then Isaiah says plainly, “we esteemed Him not.” We assigned Him no value. We paid Him no attention.
That is the human response to the Servant. And this is not just about Israel, this is about us. Because the issue is not simply that they failed to recognize Him. It is that He did not fit what they expected, and so they dismissed Him. And we can do the same.
We expect God to move in certain ways. Clearly. Powerfully. In ways that align with our understanding. But when His work looks different, when it looks quiet or weak or shaped through difficulty, we can overlook it.
And not because He is not working, but because we are looking for something else.
So the question is not just how they missed Him, rather it is whether we are missing Him too.
Pause
Where might you be overlooking what God is doing, because it does not look the way you expected?
Prayer
Father God,
Forgive me for the ways I have overlooked You. For the times I have expected You to work in certain ways, and missed what You were doing because it did not match my expectations or understanding.
Help me to see clearly, and not through my expectations, but through Your word, Your truth.
Jesus, thank You that You came in humility, not to impress, but to save. Thank You that You stepped into suffering, even when it led to rejection.
Give me a heart that does not turn away from You, but that draws near to You. A heart that recognizes You, even when Your work looks different to what I expected.
Help me to trust You, and to follow You.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.