Reflections On Isaiah 40...

God speaks comfort to His people. Where the bulk of the prophets seem to be sending warning and speaking judgment on Israel for their transgressions, here the message is comfort. We are reminded that our God is a God of love, compassion, and forgiveness. No matter how many times we turn our backs on Him, He is astoundingly quick to forgive. In one sense, no one's favor is easier to earn than God's, in that we do not earn it but simply receive it. And yet our sin is great enough that it takes the work of God for us to turn to Him (though how that work exactly plays out is debated...). God has made every accommodation to reach out to us, he sent the last Old Covenant prophet John, crying out in the wilderness that the Messiah is coming. The Lord came to us in the flesh in Jesus, God incarnate. In humility He became one of us, in suffering He was crucified by us, in glory He rose before us, so that in love He might restore us. This great work has been written down, that God might be revealed to us. If His Word stands forever while we along with the grass wither, then where should we place ultimate authority? In our own reason, perception, understanding and conclusions? Should we trust our own assessment and set ourselves up as little gods, bowing to the almighty individual, every one doing what is right in his own eyes? Or do we submit ourselves to the Word of the Lord? We as Christians must believe that God's Word is authoritative, and I think most of us really do. But so often we do not act on this, but do what we feel is right. At least I know I often struggle in submitting to God's Word, failing to understand that His teaching is absolutely for my benefit, failing to understand that He knows what is best for all of us, that not out of indignation but out of love He has communicated to us His instruction. He knows how best to operate in this world He created, and He did not stand aloof and distant but through the pages of Holy Scripture is screaming at us, 'life is found here, life is found in me!', or at least something to that effect. Life is found in the Christ revealed in all of Scripture. It stands forever as authoritative, as comfort to a weak and sinful people. God is a God of great might, no one can measure Him, no one can weigh the creation that He spoke into existence, He sits above the earth. Yet still He tends to us, carrying us close to His heart. He knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. It is a comforting thing to be in the hands of a God who is omnipotent and at the same time the very definition of love, and to be able to affirm that God is as much aware of our own frailty as He is of His own glory and power. We should make every effort to know these truths more completely. The Almighty God, as perfectly revealed in the Suffering Servant, is our strength and comfort.