One of my favourite passages of scripture is Isaiah 40 which begins with the consoling words “Comfort, Comfort my people says your God.”
There is no comfort or peace like the love and protection promised and given by God. For people of faith who believe God is all wise and all powerful there is no solace like the promise that God intends good for us and not evil and that he will transform even evil into a benefit.
Isaiah, the prophet, speaks to God’s people in a tender and encouraging way about the upcoming comfort which contrasts with the prediction of sorrow for the king’s foolish boasting that will later make Israel vulnerable to foreign invasion. He acknowledges that their present peace comes from God even though in their own estimation they have experienced God as harsh in the past. In fact they think God punished them twice as much as they deserved. We tend to underestimate the destructiveness of our sin and our propensity to backslide into sin. God says they have had enough discomfort and punishment to deal with their sin and from reading the history of Israel we know that time and time again they went through the cycle of sinning, forgiveness, restoration and comfort and then before long they repeated the cycle all over again.
We can smugly accuse the Israelites of being mutton heads and slow learners but the sad truth is we are far too like them to be smug or have any sense of superiority. For we too underestimate the severity of our sin and the correction needed to bring us back to a right relationship with God.
We are not to be discouraged by the message however. There is a voice of God for us (in the prophets and evangelists) sent by God to prepare for his quick return.
A voice of one calling in the desert “prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God, every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.”
And then the prophet makes clear we will all see this when we listen. He says, “The glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Like the father in the story of the prodigal son God continues to run towards us to welcome us home with him but we are more reluctant to believe in the father’s love and welcome than the father is to give acceptance and welcome.
This week let me encourage you to receive the comfort of God who has promised to work all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Isaiah 40:10-11 “See the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him, 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 who have young.”
Submitted by Rev. Calvin Brown