Comfort & Strength in the Waiting: Part 3 (Isaiah 40:6-8)

 

            I can’t tell you much about my surroundings at the time other than that I was out in the front yard of my childhood home.  Ever contemplative even as a young child, my mind was given to frequent wanderings that led me so deep in thought that I was completely oblivious to the outside world.  I once looked up from reading a book to find myself alone in a dark classroom – everyone had gone to the cafeteria for lunch without me.  On this particular occasion, I was studying our clean-cut lawn.  Somehow, a question had arisen in my mind – probably extending out of a question I had been asked before: if I could be any animal, what animal would I be?  Out of inquisitiveness more than fear, my mind took it a step further and was searching for the answer as to whether there was anything I could be that would be completely free from danger.

            An ant is so small it can hide and go unnoticed, but it can also be stepped on.  Birds can fly but can also be shot out of the sky.  Every animal I could think of was prey to some sort of predator.  I could be one of the kitchen utensils, but they can all break, bend, or melt.  Surely tall buildings, mighty fortresses, would be immune – but even they fall to the destruction of fire, erosion, battering, and time.  A blade of grass, its rich color being the very representation of life, seemed safe enough.  Yet, even the grass can be cut.

            The truth I had unknowingly stumbled upon was that of the second law of thermodynamics.  Everything breaks down.  Everyone dies.  Flowers wither, mountains crumble, empires fall, and bodies decay.  No exceptions exist within the created world.  Everything we work for, long for, and wait for in this life is transient in the end.  All that we gain apart from Christ, we will one day lose in some way or another.  Still, somehow we are surprised by pain, suffering, and loss.        

            “A voice says, ‘Call out.’

            Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’

            All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 

            The grass withers, the flower fades,

            When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;

            Surely the people are grass. 

            The grass withers, the flower fades,

            But…” (Isaiah 40:6-8a).   

 

            But: how often I have sighed in grateful relief for this three letter word in Scripture. 

 

            “But the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8b). 

            God is not subjected to the ever-increasing entropy of this world because He is the holy Creator – the set apart source and origin of all life and energy.  He is a category all His own, and His Word stands firm – unshakeable and unchangeable.  His promises are sure, and His character is unchanging.  As the source, He is the only one who can provide and offer eternal life.  His power is the only power that can bring about resurrection and new life. 

            In his letter, Peter directly applies this passage in Isaiah to the good news that God did in fact provide and offer eternal life and resurrection to us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus (see the first chapter of 1 Peter).  This good news, this message, this word of God is the only thing that will endure forever, and by trusting in Jesus (who is Himself called the Word of God – John 1:1), we also will live forever with Him.  When we trust in Him, we are “born again not of a seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).  This truth is what lasts and what matters above all else.  We will all die physically (unless Jesus comes for us sooner) because we were all born physically and conceived by perishable seed of parents who are perishing day by day.  Those of us who have been “born again” by trusting in Jesus Christ “will live even if [we die]” (John 11:25) because we have been spiritually re-born through the imperishable Word of God.  God has provided the way for us to know more than decay, destruction, and loss.  This is why Paul can say, “…I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” (Philipians 3:8). 

            From time to time, we need to remember the brevity of life and the temporary nature of all that we know and hold dear in this world alongside the steadfast eternity of God’s Word.  Doing so changes our perspective in a way that allows us to endure suffering, to wait with peace and hope, and to experience joy in a world that is quite literally crashing down around us as a result of sin.  It won’t always be this way.  We have a hope that is sure and steadfast.  Our faith is not wishful thinking, but it is a confident assurance of what we know to be true.  We have a rock and anchor to cling to not in our faith itself, but in the object of our faith: Jesus, the eternal, unchanging, unfading Word of God.  Knowing Him is worth far more than anything. 

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