Wednesday: Merciful Creator
Isa: 40:12-31
How does Isaiah 40 develop the themes of God’s mercy and power?
Throughout this chapter,a God’s mercy and power are interwoven (see below) and even blended together, because they are both necessary in order for God to save His people. He wants to save them, because He is merciful; He is able to save them, because He is powerful.
| Mercy (Isa: 40:1-5): comfort, coming of the Lord to deliver. |
| Power (Isa: 40:3-8): glory, permanence versus human weakness. |
| Mercy (Isa: 40:9-11): good news of deliverance, Shepherd of His people. |
| Power (Isa: 40:12-26): incomparable Creator. |
| Mercy (Isa: 40:27-31): as Creator, gives power to the faint. |
Image © Steve Creitz at Goodsalt.com
Having introduced God’s might in terms of His glory and permanence (Isa: 40:3-8), Isaiah elaborates on His power and superior wisdom, which make earth and earthlings appear puny (Isa: 40:12-17). Here Isaiah’s style, with rhetorical questions and vivid analogies referring to the earth and its parts, sounds like God’s answer to Job (Job 38:1-41:34).
What is the answer to Isaiah’s rhetorical question: “To whom then will you liken God” ( Isaiah 40.18-19, Isaiah 40:20).
To this notion Isaiah responds. Already it looks foolish to use an idol as a likeness of God, but just to be sure people get the point, he elaborates on God’s uniqueness and brings in the unanswerable argument that He is the holy Creator (Isa: 40:21-26).
How does verse 27 reveal the attitude of the people addressed by Isaiah’s message? In what ways are we guilty of having the same attitude?
The purpose of God’s message is to comfort people who need it! Like Job, their suffering had made them confused and discouraged concerning His character.
| Look through the verses for today. They talk not only of God’s mercy and His power but also of the fact that He is the Creator. Why is this truth so important to understand? How does the Sabbath, each week, help reinforce this crucial point? |
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I have been rereading the development of Einsteins ideas on relativity. The interesting thing is that the more He studied about the large things of the universe, the more he realised how they were connected to the small building blocks of nature. At one end of the scale he was discovering the laws that governed galactic motion while at the other he was learning how electrons behaved.
Isaiah 40 contrasts the big powerful ideas of God with the God who cares for the small and weak. Yesterday we looked at permanence of God against the transience of humanity. Other symbols of contrast are also mentioned - mountains and dust and so on.
The symbolism that resonates with me is the shepherd metaphor.
In my youth I would go with my grandfather around the sheep in the driving rain during the lambing season. We had a couple of hundred sheep on our farm and every day my grandfather would walk though the sheep. He knew them well. Sometimes we would find an orphaned lamb shivering and curled up out in the cold wet paddock. My grandfather would pick up the little lamb and holding it close to him would carry it home. There is front of an open fire it would be warmed up and fed and become part of the family until it was old enough to fend for itself in the paddock with the rest of the flock.
That is my picture of God, the creator of the Universe and the caregiver for lambs.
God is a Spirit and anyone who worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. John 4:24
Merciful Creator
Ps 40:15-17. Ps 100:5.
Do we, humans recognized the God-head for what they are? Who do we liken God to? Anytime we place anything in front of God, whether person, or animal, or situations, or things, surely become our gods.
Isiah 40:27. Many do evil and think God is not beholding our ways. Many times he asked us to trust him but if we have to wait on his time we become impatient and do not wait on him.
Is our lives filled with disappointments? Did I expected the Lord to step in to prevent the covid19 from occurring? But what did he said in Matthew 24:2-51. Should his words go to naught?
Do we behold his mercy and power in and on our own lives and our family lives?
I'm thinking of all the energy sources we humans consider powerful. Imagining the power that could be produced by all the oil, coal and natural gas in the depths of the earth. Imagining the total electric power which could be generated by the hydroelectric plants, sun, wind, nuclear fission reactions. Add to this power the unmeasurable energy of millions of giant suns blazing with atomic energy. I'm not a scientist and so I'm probably missing other sources of energy. But imagine all of these power sources burning and lighting up the planet all at the same time. And this all still pales in comparison with the power of the One who created it all. All of these energy sources come from nature's treasure house. And all of these were created by the One who "spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast" (Ps. 33:8-9). The power of our God is immeasurable and all of this power is ours! When we offer Him the humble instrument of our life He can supply the power for victory over sin, the power to be sons and daughters of God (John 1:12 KJV)
A benevolent dictator is sometimes considered the ideal but because of human nature since the fall it is unlikely to last and mankind has developed systems which have a balance of power with the ultimate goal of supporting and protecting the individual as well as the group. These ideas have become so entrenched that it affects people's understanding of the true nature of the Character of the LORD and His Everlasting Covenant. Many have difficulty accepting that the LORD can be just and the justifier of mankind, that God's grace and law can exist in harmony, but the Good News is that the LORD is Creator, Ruler and Saviour at the same time.
Good morning
Oh how I needed that picture of God this morning!!!!!
After imagining God's greatness that is unimaginable, I just sigh. The one out of many name I call Him is "MY ALL"
Merciful Creator.....if not for God's mercy's, there will be no us. Would have long been destroyed and forgotten. Punishing us with one hand and embracing us with the other hand. What a loving, caring, kind-hearted, gentle, patient, merciful, gracious etc Shepherd He is to us.
The picture I always have of me and God is me/us lying in the hollow of His hands safe and sound with nothing to worry nor fear.
God is all and more that we can imagine we need in this life and in the next.
To all that is pictured and described of God in Isaiah, all I can say is Yes! and Amen!
My picture of God is , a loving all powerful parent who shows us the way to go but when I stupidly go my own way comes after me not I anger but in love gently redirects me,if I allow Him. What is beyond our limited comprehension is that our God is Creator and Redeemer . Words fail but we can trust Him at all times.
These verses point out to me that God is omniscient and omnipresent, maintaining the existence of all that is with/through/by His power alone. After reading Isaiah 40:21-31KJV, the question comes to mind: what is left for man to do, what can come from man that is important to God?
Isa.40:25KJV - ”To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One. Everything is His work and maintained by His Will. The Spirit of the Lord directs Wisdom, Judgement and Knowledge, and time is measure by the acts of His Will – Isa.40:28-31KJV “….The everlasting God, the LORD, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. v.31 … But those who wait on the LORD shall mount up with wings as eagles; …”
If everything exists and is governed by God’s interdependent Laws and administration of His Will, what is left for man, the creature, to do? The wise thing to do is to submit his will to the Will of God to receive the life-sustaining Care designed for him by His Creator.
The Father has endowed man with a very powerful and therefor consequential tool to influence his own destiny; the freedom to use his will to CHOOSE! From the Beginning, this is the one realm God left untouched by His Will and is still left to be used by man in this world’s state of time and space. 'Choice' is the only realm for man to exercise his free will. He decides with his heart and mind whatever he wills to do; ultimately, accept or reject the sovereignty of his Maker.
For the humble soul, the awareness of total integration/dependency is welcomed, comforting. The humble soul is empowered by the submission of its will to the Creator’s will. But the proud, the by ‘self-will’governed soul, responds with rejection and seeks a way around this all-governing authority. For this soul to remain alive and thrive, it needs to continously stay in control of everything in its sphere of influence to assure survival of 'self'. This living soul does not welcome nor can appreciate mercy and grace.
When the Holy Spirit of God calls man, man is well capable to hear the voice that calls him to come back into the fold and be shepherded by his Creator’s Will and Way; always, the Father hopes that His children will choose life!
God’s Grace and Mercy undergirds the humble soul's free-willed choice and enables it to receive the gifts of ‘believe/wisdom and faith’ to so with love God with all its heart, mind and soul as it followes the living Way of Truth and Light.
In this present world, the answer to the question: “To whom then will you liken God?” is most often: "ME!". All who are finally lost will have sadly made that delusional choice, self in the place of God.
Every form of false worship is the result of the individual denying God what He alone is worthy of, which is our entire devotion, absolute trust, and perfect obedience.