A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isaiah 40:6-11
One of the reasons I like working in our yard, perhaps the strongest one,
is the cycle that manifests itself year after year. If something is going to bloom, there is
going to be a bud. The bud will open
and, even if you’ve seen it a thousand times before, the bloom will have its
own surprises. It may just be a slight
variation, a nuance, but every bloom has its own character. They’re something like children, or fingerprints,
they’re the same, but different, unique.
Isaiah said people are like the grass and flowers. His meaning is tied to our mortality. We are born for a season, blossom with the
unfolding of our personality, develop blossoms of character (some more
character than others), and, in due course, we begin to wither.
No sooner does Isaiah’s grass and flower metaphor for God’s people end, that
a voice tells him to shout over the withering that God is coming for his
lambs. The metaphor changes from flowers
and grass to sheep who long for a shepherd.
Sheep are certainly as vulnerable as the flowers of the field, needing a
protective hand against predators and the harsh forces of the elements. At the beginning of this chapter Isaiah is
told to comfort God’s people with the assurance that the Word of
God, which never wilts and withers, is that promise which is the cycle of buds
and blossoms. In all the withering of we
grasses and flowers, there is the promise of rebirth in a new season.
In this promise there are two certainties:
1.
It happens constantly in what God has
already created in the earth and heavens…all things cycle; it is the way of all
creation in God’s will.
2.
We find in our withering years the
promise is our only choice if there is to be hope against insanity.
The plain way of saying this is, we are created by God, and for
fellowship with God, and we are His.
When people reject that they also reject eternity and are alone. And, in the final analysis, to be alone, when
you are created for fellowship, is to exist without hope; all that exists for
the unbeliever is this fleeting season of threescore and ten years. We find ourselves summer flowers and grass,
with no understanding or knowledge of another season to come. We are sheep without a shepherd, so we grieve
without hope; we die in madness.
The apostle Paul showed us the hope that secures our sanity in this life
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1
Corinthians 15:19
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen
to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who
have no hope. For since we believe that
Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus
returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 1
Thessalonians 4:13-14
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
Title image, Pixabay.com and W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Isaiah 40 see: Finding Truth and When Mercy Outweighs Justice
No comments:
Post a Comment