Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. (NRSV)
As fires rage in Ventura, Los Angeles and now in areas of our very own county, we have no trouble seeing the temporary nature of the grasses of the field. They go up in smoke in an instant… and more solid appearing plants as well as human built structures. It doesn’t take long for a small ember to become a roaring fire consuming all in its tracks. It is especially vivid when there is a strong wind feeding and pushing it.
Isaiah the prophet heard the voice of God compelling him to speak. What was he to say? To tell the people that their lives are in God’s hands. Even though our lives are no more secure than the grass of the field, God’s Word is just the opposite. This is interesting, because we feel so solid, secure, stable. We feel like we’ll be here to carry out our plans for next week, next year, ten years from now. But will we? And usually we think of a word as fleeting, spoken and then gone, as quick as a breath. Spoken promises are easily broken. Even written words guarantee nothing. But God’s Word will last forever.
So the message here is to look to God for our strength and security, and not to our own talents or powers, and certainly not to our own possessions. Nothing short of God’s power, which is love by the way, will provide what we really need. God will provide for us as a good shepherd provides for the flock. We have seen this imagery before. It is so prevalent in the Bible, especially the Hebrew Scriptures. God will tend, provide for and protect God’s people.
I recognize it is a hard message to swallow for a people who have been in exile their whole lives, since their parents were young, but think about it… how much worse it might have been. The people could have been all killed, wiping out the culture. Their forefathers could have abandoned the old stories as invalid when they were taken into captivity. But no. They were sustained by the power of the Spirit.
If you are in distress now, in a situation of struggle or pain, you might agree that it is hard to sustain the confidence that God has your back. But it is true today as well. No matter what happens, God will see you through it. That is the promise and we can see its truth time after time in the Scriptures. So like I said yesterday, take heart.
blessings to you,
Pastor Karla
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Words To Live By 