Have you not been paying attention?
Have you not been listening?
Haven't you heard these stories all your life?
Don't you understand the foundation of all things?
God sits high above the round ball of earth.
The people look like mere ants.
He stretches out the skies like a canvas—
yes, like a tent canvas to live under.
He ignores what all the princes say and do.
The rulers of the earth count for nothing.
Princes and rulers don't amount to much.
Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted,
They shrivel when God blows on them.
Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind.
"So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, INSIDE AND OUT.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind. "
-Isaiah 40:21-31 The Message
Emphasis added by me.
First and foremost, this is one of my absolute favorite passages in the Bible, and I love how 'The Message' phrases it all.
There's not going to be a lot of my writing in this post... mostly just reflecting on what this passage is saying.
And it's saying a lot.
You know sometimes, we can lose sight of God.
Real quick.
You know where I'm going...
School, work, hobbies, people, things, feelings, food (yeah this definitely needs to be mentioned), ourselves... all of these things... are not bad things.
But they become bad.
Not by what they do, what they are for, how they are used... but by our attitudes, by our thoughts, by our initiatives, actions, beliefs, and general perception.
Our culture craves these things.
Life craves these things.
And God says, 'Crave me.'
Maybe we need to sit and let that soak in.
God says, 'Desire me.'
---------------------
All of a sudden this passage takes on a new meaning.
"Have you not been paying attention?
Have you not been listening?
Haven't you heard these stories all your life?
Don't you understand the foundation of all things?" (40:21)
Can we really stand here and say, "Yes, actually we are paying attention, we are listening, we do know your stories, we do understand the foundation of all things."
Really?
We do?
If that's true... wouldn't that make us... gods?
What did God say to Job out of the storm?
'"Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?"' (Job 38:2-7)
Oh and it get's really nasty after that... God let's him have it.
What is God saying?
We all have idols.
We all have things that we aren't letting go. We aren't surrendering. We aren't paying attention to God when we are in the midst of these things.
It's different for all of us. How do I know that we all have this problem?
Because it's a human problem.
Sin in it's most basic form is playing God.
It's forgetting God.
It's putting something before God.
We all sin... Everyday.
We all have idols.
And sometimes............................................................................... it's us.
----------------
God is expressing is incredulity towards idol worshipers, even though worship of God has reached back to 'the foundation of all things'.
"God sits high above the round ball of earth.
The people look like mere ants.
He stretches out the skies like a canvas—
yes, like a tent canvas to live under." (40:22)
We could pull so much out of this little verse here... but what I see is probably not the most common theme.
God sits high above... sovereign over all. And he provides shelter.
He provides.
He could stand up there and throw lightning in our midst.
He could stand and shout.
He could stand and swallow the earth in the brilliance of His majestic creation.
But instead he sits.
Instead he provides for us with that same creation.
When you provide for someone... you are expressing a love toward them.
YaHWeH- yireh: The LORD who provides.
"He ignores what all the princes say and do.
The rulers of the earth count for nothing.
Princes and rulers don't amount to much.
Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted,
They shrivel when God blows on them.
Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind. " (40:23-24)
God is sovereign, God orders all things.
And He holds power and might to reign.
But then the tone switches... it's no longer about what God can do.
It becomes who God is. His nature. And this is why I bolded and underlined certain phrases:
'"So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, INSIDE AND OUT.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.'
There are times in life where we all want to throw in the towel. Where the situations and cirumcstances in life seem too overbearing. We feel as if, 'God has lost track of me' or that 'he doesn't care what happens to me' We begin to feel that God has abandoned us.
Israel felt the same way.
Enslaved in Egypt.
Rescued.
Persecuted by kingdom after kingdom.
Exiled in Babylon.
It's not a new problem and feeling...it's a human problem and feeling.
And so here is my manifesto, here is my purpose of this post:
Why does Isaiah repeat himself, he again asks the same questions 'Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?'
He's contrasting us to God.
We, who know nothing about him compared to 'He knows everything, Inside and out.' (Ha... that phrase reminds me of this really cool blog out on the interwebs... you should tell your friends about it ;) )
But seriously... We, who know nothing about Him... compared to the fact that 'He knows everything, Inside and out.'
He hears our struggling, our cries for help. "He energizes those who get tired."
Why is he contrasting us? Aren't we made in His image? Aren't we supposed to be "like Him"? Isn't that the goal?
Because sometimes our biggest idol, the biggest thing we need to get over... is ourselves. Us.
The ants that God needs to give shelter to. Humans.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 state, 'This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
or the powerful boast in their power,
or the rich boast in their riches.
But those who wish to boast
should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
who demonstrates unfailing love
and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
I, the Lord, have spoken!"' (NLT)
Micah 6:8 tells us, "He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?" (ESV)
In both of these verses we get a sense of Humility.
The ONLY thing we should boast in is IF we can say that we 'truly know and understand the LORD'
What does God require of us?
'To walk humbly with your God'
But here again is the 'LORD who demonstrates unfailing love' that he would even invite us to walk with Him. That He would even show His nature that we may know Him.
And that He would keep us close enough to call us His own:
'But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine. "' -Isaiah 43:1
We are HIS.
And even more, that you are so close to Him that he says He has '...engraved you on the palms of my hands...' (49:16)
God is a provider. A lover. A strengthener. A comforter. And He is mighty to be all of those things. Nothing can change Him. Nothing can force His hand to change His mind... to change His heart.
Nothing can come before Him.
Why then, do we try to put something before Him?
The next time you are going through an issue, a suffering, a rocky road... examine your motives... examine your heart... examine YOUR nature. And then see that NOTHING can come before God.
This is the nature of God. And through this nature we see His character, through His character we see His love.
That He is who He is.
That He involves us in His journey... His story. (I can't get over this idea, this truth... and I probably never will.)
And that He IS love.
No matter what our hurts, our trials, whether it is the cause of our own idolatry, or another form of suffering... Know. Listen. Pay attention. Hear the stories. Understand the foundation.
God provides.
God strengthens.
God loves.
God is just.
God will pull you through.
Because that's what He does. That's what He's about.
"God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, INSIDE AND OUT.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind. "
'His love is over, it's underneath. It's inside. It's in between' -tenth avenue north
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