Isaiah 40:21-31
Do you not know? Do you not hear?
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 dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong 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 to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they 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.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, February 4, comes from Isaiah chapter 40, verses 21 through 31. Do you not know Do you not hear? 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 dwell in, who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness? Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown. Scarcely has their STEM taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their host by number, calling them by name, by the greatness of His might, and because he has strong in power, Not one is missing. Why do you say Oh, Jacob, and speak, oh, 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 to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young man shall fall exhausted. But they 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. Here hence the reading. Let's dig in, shall we? Let's start with the beginning. Do you not know Do you not hear has not been told to 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 habitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwelling, who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. This passage helps us to see how different our God is from us. That God is not someone who is in the middle of creation like we are. But as far outside it, it uses this idea of sitting above the circle of the earth, you know, when you look out and around you see a circle right there horizon acts like a circle. He's way above that. He looks down on the earth and its habitants are like grasshoppers to us. That's what you and me are like, like human beings are nothing when compared to God. Even so much that the mightiest of us is nothing, right? Who brings Prince's to nothing, as it says, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. The idea is that God is so much greater so much, far outside of our experience, that is difficult to truly understand who he is. Even this language doesn't quite get it right. It talks about God sitting above the heavens and stretching them out like a curtain. God doesn't have arms and the heavens don't stretch like stretchy pants. God is so far outside of creation, that all creation is contained there in and this is trying to give us the idea of the immensity of his vastness, the infinity that is so much beyond our minds that we can't even understand it without using language that falls far short of the real reality. It continues stalking about people now. Scarcely are they planted scarcely sown scarcely has their STEM taken root in the earth when he blows on them, and they wither and then Tempest carries them off like stubble. This is using a farming metaphor to help us understand. Farmers will plant sow seeds and it'll grow and harvest time will come and then the fall wind will, will come and they will all die off. And it seems like nothing to the farmer happens every year, season after season, year after year and we go out that's just normal. And God looks at human beings like that. were planted, sown. We take root and we die and It's all like nothing to him. And it goes on to continue you, it says, To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these, he who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name by the greatness of His might. And because he is strong in power, Not one is missing. So then God says, What in the world can you compare me to? Actually nothing, that's what in the world, right. And so he calls us to look up to the stars, and see who created the stars, only God, even the stars, are his creations and under his power. And that's an important thing to remember is that in the ancient world, they would often worship what they would call the starry hosts, as in all of the gods and goddesses that were floating up in the sky, the starry hosts. And even God says, All even these I created, nothing is outside of my power, and none of them exists without me. Now, this thing can be pretty scary. Having a god that's this big, and this powerful. He is everywhere, he created all things. He's connected to everything. And so it continues. Why do you say, oh, Jacob, and speak to Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God. What this is saying is that God's people are looking up at the God who is almighty and all powerful, and they're saying, God doesn't really know what is going on with us. He's not around to make right his promises. And for people who's facing enemies, and poverty and sadness, and people are going to invade, you could say, Yeah, that might seem like that to them. But God does not disregard. God can't be tricked, his attention doesn't doesn't wander, he doesn't get to be too busy. He knows everything, and is involved in everything. And that's what Isaiah says, 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, he is understand his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. So this begins by saying, God does not grow faint or weary, like we do. God is almighty. And this helps us to see a problem that we often have with our understanding of God. Because God is so different, so alien, so other to us, we almost always imagine God as a bigger and better version of a human being. And usually what that ends up looking like is something like the Greek gods, who are big and strong and powerful, but still, kind of, they've got problems and their attention wanders, and you know, they have needs, and they're a little bit like us, just big. But that's not what God is. God is not like us, but bigger. God is different. He is all powerful. He is everywhere. And he knows everything. He does not weary or grow faint. He understands all things. And that means that God knows where you are, and what you're doing all the time. And he cares about everything that is happening. And he knows where everyone is, all the time, and what they're doing. And he cares about what is happening. His understanding is unsearchable. Now for people who are wondering where their God is, and why his promises aren't coming true, that might be a bit of a what? It's God should be doing better things for us. For people who are a little scared of God, he is almighty power could be a little scary, right? God knows exactly what you're doing. But for Christians, a God who is everywhere and knows all things, it means that a god that's the same God who is always able to come through on his promises. It means that God is never too busy to listen to our prayers. He never gets distracted by the events of politics in Washington, DC. He looks down on us and knows all things. He is there to hear all prayers. He is there to provide Christ with his body and blood to every church on every Sunday no matter what. And he is there to give us His Word in every moment and pass out his Holy Spirit through the means of grace all the time.
And that's what he does for the people who believe in Him who Love Him who have faith in Jesus Christ. It says he gives power power to the faint. And to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary. And young men shall fall exhausted but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint. God sustains us, doesn't he? That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai