Isaiah 40:21-31
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Israel has been in captivity to Babylon. It would be easy to lose hope. To lose faith that the God they believed would not allow harm to come to them has let them down. How could they lose their land, their homes, their country to a pagan nation?! But the promises of their God, as given to them by Moses were conditional. God’s love is unconditional but how their lives would go was dependent upon their obedience to the law. And now they find themselves slaves in a foreign land and they have lost everything and it is getting hard to hold on to hope that God would rescue them. Why hasn’t he?
To me Babylon represents the world we live in and what works in that world. The systems for advancement and status are wealth and power the the god’s of Babylon are appearances and talent and who you know. And Babylon always finds itself opposed to the Kingdom of God. We who are in the kingdom of God are captives to Babylon in a sense. God’s kingdom will one day reign on earth. Right now though we are to wait. We are to wait for Jesus to return. We live in Babylon but our hope is in the Lord. Isaiah would say the same thing to us when we grow weary of waiting on Jesus to return.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”
We need reminding that God is still God and always has been and from the beginning of time, what is happening now has always been a part of the plan. Men have always risen to power and chosen darkness over light, Babylon over God’s kingdom, selfishness over love for neighbor, sin over obedience and now matter how great their power, Isaiah goes on to remind them/us, they come to nothing in the end.
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
We take our eyes off of God and look at what’s happening and we get scared. We get overwhelmed with the “what ifs”. We look at the power of Babylon and compare it to our power to do anything about it and we sink into despair. “What if Trump is president again?” “What if there is a third world war?” “What if the Chinese hackers infect our internet?” “What if marshall law is declared in the country?” When we focus on Babylon and not God and his great might, we get overwhelmed.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
What is in front of us can get overwhelming and become all that we see. It tests our faith to remember that Jesus coming to us was God’s promise that His Kingdom reigns. I may not always seem like that is what’s happening but faith is acting on God’s promises not on what we see in front of us.
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
If I pluck this verse out of context, I can make myself believe that because I am a christian, God will give me energy and strength to prosper in Babylon. If I hone my moralistic behavior and values, God will bless me with energy and strength to be successful in my business and community endeavors. But if I keep this in context, I can take comfort in knowing that what I see around me, as long as I keep my eyes focused on the Lord, I will not sink into despair. The Holy Spirit opens my eyes to see that the present darkness will be like the lilies of the field that bloom today and tomorrow are scorched and blow away. But God and His goodness are forever.