Again: if we seek just one OT chapter that embodies the sheer greatness of God, it’s arguably Isaiah 40 – surely one of the Bible’s most magnificent and lifegiving sections!
Now in v12 Isaiah really hits his stride, as God through him invites us to grasp His greatness:
`Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counsellor?… (NIV)
[So trust Him; He loves us, He’s great beyond imagination, & He knows exactly what He’s doing!]
`Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust…
Before Him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by Him as worthless
and less than nothing.
With whom, then, will you compare God?…
`Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.’ (NIV)
Hallelujah! Doesn’t it make you want to worship? And I’ve omitted a few key verses. Verse 16: `Lebanon [with its great forests] is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings’; if we’ve truly grasped all this, we’ll know no religious ritual can possibly be enough to `do a deal` with such a God, to bargain with Him, to manipulate Him. And there’s no need!- because we’re forgiven and given new life by His matchless gift of grace, we just have to gratefully receive it! Then there’s v19 – `As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold` – saying, idolatrous things, including the ones that can take our attention today, take it away from God (achievements? getting married? possessions?), can indeed be beautiful (like gold!), and the fruit of much human skill and effort — but they’re still utterly destructive if their attractiveness leads us away from giving the number one place to such a God!
But the biggest practical thrust of these wonderful verses is v23 onwards, how even the greatest powers of this world are transient, `swept away like chaff `. `Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away`, says the hymn; `they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day`… The huge Assyrian army in ch36 seemed so utterly overwhelming when it besieged Jerusalem, but God swept it away…. And this raises a question for me: What are the overwhelming powers of this life – right now – that I find hardest to think of as being under God’s control, as limited, and passing, and temporary? (Financial forces? My human probabilities and prospects? Powers at my work?) What difference does it make if these verses 22-23 are true, that God brings the powers of this world to nothing? What Isaiah proclaims here undermines the whole way of thinking that sees human strength as what counts – a temptation to us also: `I’m not as strong as, not as gifted as… If only…` In these magnificent verses God shows those myths for the nonsense they are; it’s God’s strength for us that counts!… Come to that, what are the things I myself have that I need to recall are only passing & temporary?— qualifications I have, achievements I have, financial resources I have… How does this sheer majesty of God affect what I value and where I put my trust?
Oh yes: our Creator as revealed in this chapter is utterly great, not just a sunday God. We must take him very seriously, 24/7. But here’s the next thing: as we do so, we find that we, you and I, are utterly valuable to Him. He created each of us, He is big enough to love each of us individually, and He is great enough that we are never alone! He is the unequalled, the utterly `Holy One` (v25) (and therefore we must be holy too!) – but as we repentantly recentre our thinking and lives around that fact, we realise He is also unswervingly faithful and reliable for us… So the chapter’s last five verses are very practical. Where do I, you, most need these?:
`Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
[Do I ever feel that?]
`Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and His understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint… (NIV)
May God’s Spirit dig these realities deep into my soul, our souls! `Here is our God!` (v9) – unwearying, but also unfathomable (v28) – which means we can’t always see what He’s doing, we need to trust Him. But then we don’t have to rely, fearfully, on our own understanding or strength, v29…. Which is just as well because in the end every human strength will fail, every Assyria, every Babylon, every one of their huge modern day equivalents will end in ruins with all who trust in them; in the end. `All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field… The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the Spirit of the LORD blows on them`(v6); `Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall` (v30)… But — `Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength` (v31)…
So how? How do I renew my strength? How do I mount up on wings like the eagles’, when I’m drained and there’s no more strength? Here’s Isaiah’s secret of renewal: `Hope in the Lord` (ESV `Wait for the Lord`): what will renew me, you, is `beholding our God`: grasping what He’s like, utterly great, ever reliable, ever faithful, ever wise, ever loving, ever true. This is the hope that as Paul says is our helmet; hope that as Hebrews says is our anchor…
God is `for us`, on our side, each of us. And what a God! So the practical question is: How shall I feed more on this God’s revelation of Himself that will take me through? Can I trust him? Will I trust him? Will I centre my whole life on this faith?
And the practical prayer here is: Lord, help me choose (because it is a choice) to hope in You, that You know what You’re doing, to wait for You; knowing that as I do so I will be renewed, will start to soar on wings like eagles’, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not faint…..
