Isaiah 40:9-31 - God can be trusted

There is a lot in this chapter, but I find that the main idea being addressed is whether the Jews trusted God or not. As I have read and reread this chapter several times the past few days I find that it is very applicable to my own life, as I go transition from one job into what comes next. Change is hard. It can be very good, but it is also usually very hard. We get set in our ways, we get comfortable and feel secure, and then everything gets shaken up and we can’t depend on our usual support systems. Perhaps that’s the point of change: it’s God’s way of keeping us dependent on Him and not on the things of this earth. When things are not normal, and our world is changing around us, it means we can’t lean on anything in the world because if we do, we might fall. It makes us realize that our identity and purpose are found in God, and not in any job, relationship, or personal property.

Isaiah 40 is addressed to the Jews who are returning from Babylonian captivity. It is the first part of a series that proclaims that God is ultimately trustworthy, and will do as He says He will in saving the exiles.[1]

⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,
    go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
    lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
    say to the towns of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
    and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense accompanies him.
¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
    he gently leads those that have young.

Israel and Judah were sent away from the Promised Land because of their sin and disobedience to God. It wasn’t just that they didn’t keep the rules, and follow the Mosaic Law, they didn’t even know who their God was and what He could do. And now, they have gotten comfortable in their captivity. Seventy years is a long time for us, but all that is going to change. They will see His power and sovereignty. They will know that He is good and gentle and loving. Verse 5 says, “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.” Everyone would know about God, and that He is good, just, and gentle towards those He loves and who follow him.[2]

In the next section, Isaiah declares that God is the ultimate Creator. It is only in God that all created life finds its purpose and meaning:[3] “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 weighted the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” He is God, and we are not. He is so much larger and grander than even what we can imagine. In light of this, verse 13 and 14 ask who are we to think that we can council and teach God? Who are we to think that we know better? Who are we to complain about what He has given us, and the nations of the world? Do we know more than him?

Life is hard. It is, the changes we go through and the uncertainty about the future is enough to make us weary and desperate for answers. Who do we turn to for answers though? Oprah? Astrologists? Facebook friends? Isaiah 40:17 says that God is so big that when all the nations are stacked up before Him they look like nothing and are hardly worth noticing. When we forget how big and powerful and loving God is, we turn to other things to fill needs we think we have. A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple. When we feel that we have nothing of value to bring God, we turn to idols, so we can feel good about ourselves and what we do have to offer.

But Isaiah reminds us:

²¹ 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?
²² 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.
²³ He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
²⁴ 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.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

It is better to bring our puny offerings to God, the great Creator of the Universe, than to present them before an idol where they would look grander. After all, if God, in His perfect precision, can keep track of the millions and billions of stars in the universe, he can also keep track of us, and ensure that we do not come up missing as well. God is able to great things with what we offer Him, because He is God. No idol can compare.

Therefore, because God is the Creator and the one in control of all the Universe; because He precisely monitors the heavens and earth; because He is ultimately sovereign and good and has no equal, “Why do you complain, Jacob?” Why don’t you trust Him? Verse 27 continues by showing that the Jews still say, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God.” Isaiah counteracts this lie by proclaiming that God is the everlasting Creator who doesn’t rest and lose track of his Creation, but rather understands it all on a level that no one else in all the Universe can. It’s not that He is too big to care,[4] but that because He is so big, he can care for all of His Creation. He exercises his great power over all Creation, but also imparts it to us, His people:

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ 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.

In faith, we must wait for Him and His timing and will for our lives. The phrase, “renew their strength” is in Hebrew literally, “change strength”. That is, change out the old for the new, like putting on new clothes.[5] When we are compared with God, we are nothing, less than dust. But God still comes to us, redeems us, strengthens us, and gives us hope for a greater future. He is so big and great that He doesn’t have to care about the insignificant nations, and our puny offerings, but He does. That’s what we need to remember. He does care, and He does watch out for us, so we can trust Him with everything we are going through, because He is in control of it all.

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[1] J. Gordan McConville, Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Prophets, Vol 4, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2002), 23.

[2] Ibid., 24.

[3] Derek Kidner, The New Bible Commentary: Revised, edited by D. Guthrie and J.A. Motyer, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), 611.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., 612.