In Is. 39:5-6 Isaiah delivers bad news: 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. (Is. 39:5-6 TNIV). Isaiah the prophet had to tell Hezekiah the king that tough times were coming—the city of Jerusalem would be attacked and its possessions and people dragged off to Babylon. Tough times were coming. Times of great struggle. Times of great weakness.
And when those times came, another prophet, Jeremiah, wrote these lines: 2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks…there is none to comfort her; 9…Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her…17 Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her… (Lam. 1:2, 9, 27 TNIV) It was a time of great struggle. A time of great weakness. And there was no comfort.
It sounds much like the text we explored last Sunday with its image of darkness. That’s the thing about Isaiah’s dreams: some of them are dark. But they are realistic, they are honest. They acknowledge that sometimes we do experience great struggle. Sometimes we do experience great weakness. Sometimes we have no comfort. We experienced some of this during 2008 didn’t we? I think of the year’s economic struggles: the Bank of America slicing off 35,000 jobs two weeks ago; KB Toys closing; the Big Three—GM, Chrysler, and Ford—trying to stay afloat; unemployment rising, even for some of you. I think of our congregational struggles in 2008: we left 443 S. Highland 11 months ago and still have months before a new facility is ready; the leader of our contemporary worship service resigned in August and we’re still searching for his replacement; we investigated Briarcrest as an alternative facility but negotiations fell through. And I think of the struggles many of us experience during the holidays—Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve without that loved one, friend, or spouse who died or who left us or who moved away. There have been times in 2008 when we experienced great struggle, great weakness, and there seemed to be no comfort.
But through Isaiah, God speaks comfort and the promise of a better future: 1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Is. 40:1-8 TNIV) It was a time of great struggle, great weakness, and no comfort. But through Isaiah, God speaks comfort and the promise of a better future.
Vs. 1 is a plural command: You all, comfort my people. It’s possible this is God speaking to his divine council of heavenly beings. Walter Brueggemann suggests the image of a policy meeting where the staff of God’s government gathers.[1] And God announces a new policy initiative. The policy? Comfort. So God tells his staff: comfort my people.
More specifically, God says this: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. With a new policy of comfort in place, action can now be taken. The first course of action? God authorizes the construction of a superhighway. At the time of their greatest struggle the people are in exile in Babylon. Oppressed. Homesick. Displaced. But across a vast distance is the city of Jerusalem. Their home. The place they long to be. And God now authorizes the construction of a highway that will lead from the one location of pain to the new location of joy. Along the journey God will fill every valley and level every hill, making the journey smooth and certain.
Let’s imagine two contemporary locations separated by a distance which is filled with valleys and hills. At one location are the economic struggles of 2008. Can you picture that location—the bankruptcies, the pink slips, the lost wages? Now, across that distance is another location—it’s just the opposite of the economic struggles. Can you imagine that location—jobs found, loans coming through, ends finally meeting? At one location are the struggles of our congregation during 2008. Can you picture that location—the transition, the uncertainties? Now, across that distance is another location—it’s just the opposite of those struggles. Can you imagine it—stability, a growing membership, a rejuvenated ministry? At one location are the struggles of the holidays—the loneliness, the stress. Across that distance is another location—it’s just the opposite. Can you picture it—family and friends, joyous events, peaceful days? Isaiah is saying that God promises a highway from one to the other. There are valleys and hills between those two. But God’s going to raise every valley. God’s going to flatten every hill. God’s going to make possible a journey from the place of pain to the place of comfort.
Two weeks ago I was talking with a woman on a flight from Memphis to Oklahoma City. When she found out I was a minister, she poured out her life story. Her husband left her years ago for his secretary. Then he was indicted for criminal activity at work and thus had nothing to offer his ex-wife at the divorce hearing. In addition, her two sons blamed her for the failure of the family and wanted nothing to do with her. Her ex-husband remarried and started a new family. Meanwhile, the two sons got caught up in drugs. They were arrested. Eventually the younger son got a golf scholarship to college. But due to his struggle with drugs, he was in and out of four colleges and universities over the next few years. He was now at his fifth college. It was a time of great struggle, great weakness, and no comfort. But do you know why this woman was flying to Oklahoma City two weeks ago? Here’s why: her son was graduating from college. In addition, he had completed a formal drug recovery program. And, he was receiving an award as an All-American golfer. Further, he wanted his mom back in his life. Finally, she was going to be picked up at the airport by the son’s long-time girlfriend with whom he was making wedding plans. She marveled at how God had brought her from the place of weakness to the place of comfort. She was amazed at how God had filled in the valleys that seemed bottomless and leveled the hills that seemed insurmountable. That’s what this God promises—a highway from where we are to where we long to be.
But how will this be? That’s what Isaiah takes up in the next section: 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 his arm rules for him. 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. 12 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? 13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor? 14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding? 15 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. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 18 With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? 19 As for an idol, a metal worker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20 People too poor to present such an offering select wood that will not rot. They look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple. 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 them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. (Is. 40:9-26 TNIV).
Is it really possible for God to mow down those hills and fill those valleys that stand in between the weakness of our present situation and the glory and comfort of a better situation? Is it really possible for God to move you from the some of the difficulties of 2008 to a bright and fulfilling 2009? Yes! How do we know? Just look at God. Isaiah is told to get up on a high mountain, and to say: Here is your God! This highway is possible because of the kind of God we have. What kind of God? Isaiah describes him in verses 10-11 as a God of unparalleled might and mercy. God is able to bring this about because of his unparalleled might and mercy. Verse 10 is a summary description of the might of God: 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. Verse 11 is a summary verse of the mercy of God: 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.
So often we say to ourselves and to others “Here is my problem! Here is our weakness! Here is what’s not right!” But God tells Isaiah to get up on that mountain and say, “Here is your God!” When our eyes remain on our problems, on our weaknesses, on our struggles no bright future seems possible. But when we move our eyes off the struggle and on to God, a much different future becomes possible. That’s why Isaiah says “Here is your God!”
What follows is a breathtaking description of the might and the mercy of God:
· A God who can contain the vast oceans and lakes of the world in the hollow of his hand (vs. 12).
· A God who can measure the immeasurable breadth of space with his hand (vs. 12)
· A God who can hold the endless acres of soil on earth in a bucket (vs. 12)
· A God whom no one can teach but who can teach everyone (vs. 13-14).
· A God so majestic that the largest nations look like a speck of dust (vs. 15).
· A God so glorious no craftsman or artist can capture him (vs. 19).
· A God so mighty we are like grasshoppers and the fathomless universe is his tent (vs. 22).
· A God so powerful the mere whisper of his breath can topple the superpowers (vs. 24).
· A God who put the stars in place and names each one (vs. 26).
Philip Yancey gives the following description to help us appreciate the scale of the universe and thus the scale of God: If the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the continent of North America, our solar system would be the size of a coffee cup. Yet, it’s taken the Voyager spacecrafts three decades, traveling at 100,000 miles per hour, to reach the edge of that coffee cup. And the Milky Way galaxy is the size of the North American continent. Yet, that galaxy is only one of perhaps 100 billion galaxies in the universe. [2] Yet here is God who with the breadth of his hand can mark off that distance. Here is God whose tent takes up that space. Here is God who names each of those hundreds of billions of stars. Don’t you think that kind of God can pave the way from where you are now to where you long to be?
Consider for a moment how you would answer these questions: During 2008, Highland’s greatest struggle was ________________. During 2008, Memphis’ greatest struggle was ______________. During 2008, America’s greatest struggle was _____________. During 2008, the world’s greatest struggle was _______________. During 2008, my greatest was _______________. There are the struggles. But here is your God:
· A God who can contain the vast oceans and lakes of the world in the hollow of his hand (vs. 12).
· A God so majestic the largest nations look like a speck of dust (vs. 15).
· A God so powerful the mere whisper of his breath can topple the superpowers (vs. 24).
That’s the kind of God capable of bringing comfort and a brighter future. That’s the God capable of constructing a superhighway from where you are to where you long to be.
But Isaiah doesn’t leave us there. He takes this one step further: 27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 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. 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. (Is. 40:27-31 TNIV). Through Isaiah, God says, “No more complaining. No more questioning. Yes sometimes you experience great struggle, great weakness, and no comfort. But stop worrying. Haven’t you seen me? Haven’t you seen your God? Do you not know? Have you not heard?”
More importantly, God says that He will not grow tired. It’s debated, but the point of that statement seems to be this: The might and mercy displayed by God in the past is still active today. It’s not like God did all those amazing things listed in these verses, and is now worn out, and is going to stop. No. He’s not done. Sure, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But God never does. God doesn’t know “quit.” So, all that amazing might and mercy he displayed in these verses, he’s going to display in our lives.
Here’s what that means: the powerful work of God doesn’t end with the last page of the Bible. The Bible is not a record of the mighty works of God which he did then but isn’t doing now. God’s not done. He’s not tired. He didn’t go on sabbatical when the Bible was finished. He is still enacting a policy of comfort. He is still paving superhighways from weakness to strength. And the promise is that if we’ll face the future with him, if we’ll look at him, the LORD will renew [our] strength. [We] will soar on wings like eagles; [we] will run and not grow weary, [we] will walk and not faint.
