Isaiah 40

³ A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴ “Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
⁶ 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.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
When the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.

⁹ Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
¹¹ Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?
¹⁴ With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
¹⁶ Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,
Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
¹⁹ As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter.

²¹ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² 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 out like a tent to dwell in.
²³ He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
²⁴ Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
²⁵ “To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
³⁰ Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
³¹ Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

The end of chapter 39 records an interesting story. (It’s also in 2 Kings 20.) King Hezekiah receives royal messengers from Babylon and shows them all of his kingdom and treasures. The prophet Isaiah comes to talk with Hezekiah. He asks the king who these people are and what they have been doing. Hezekiah answers him; Isaiah then prophesies that soon all that the Babylonians saw will belong to them, even the king’s descendants. Chapter 40 then jumps to the Babylonian captivity; it is a message for the people of hope, comfort, and encouragement. 

I don’t know about all of you but there are times when I have felt like a captive: a captive to circumstance, poverty, heritage, emotion, physical conditions, consequence, and my own sin. Some of these things are out of my control; some are not.

I cannot control the weather. I remember sitting in dark hallways waiting on tornadoes. I remember stocking up on food and water when Katrina was coming. Many of my fellow Texans were or are trapped by floodwater; gratefully, I wasn’t one of them. I can’t control this but I trust in the One who can and does.

I can, to some extent, control my emotions. I can choose to approach life from a spirit-led perspective. Some days my emotions (grief, loneliness, joy) are so big they seem to hold me captive and permeate everything around me. I have to keep my eyes on Jesus and meditate on the truth that He is my hope. 

Sin is the thing that holds us captive all too often because we refuse to deal with it. Part of the reason this chapter resonates with me so well is because I walked a 15 year journey of captivity to sin. No on saw it; no one knew. I was in leadership positions in ministry. I was going on mission trips (one for six months). I looked on the outside like a stand-up Christian. I wasn’t; I was enslaved to sin. It was a long road to healing and freedom. Isaiah 40 showed me the hope of a savior along the way. 

Now I am not in captivity but I still find encouragement on my weary days from Isaiah 40. Hope is a powerful thing; hope of a savior more so. Today 2 particular parts of this chapter are speaking to me: verses 3-5 and verses 27-31.

The first part talks about making the way of the Lord smooth and level. Many things have to happen in order to level a mountain or smooth a rugged road. I helped fill in a gravel road one time. It was hard work and was never really smooth. We covered the holes and tried to even up the rock sizes. There wasn’t much more we could do. But God can do so much more. He can fell mountains and raise up valleys. He can smooth deserts and lay straight paths through jungles. All of this requires the terrain to sacrifice something of itself. The same way God can make the path to our hearts straight and smooth but we must sacrifice ourselves. He has to fill in holes, straighten curves, wear down rough spots, and maybe even blow up a mountain. You didn’t know God was a demo expert, did you? He is. He is an expert at demolishing the strongholds that we have built up in our hearts. He is amazing at opening doors and opportunities for His gospel to permeate people who were once stiff-necked. He is awesome at filling up lonely, hungry, desperate people with His love, mercy, and grace. God makes His way smooth. Now I am joining Him is making His way smooth in my life. I’m praying the way will be straight as I continue on this journey.

The last part speaks of a God who knows me and my journey intimately. He is the Everlasting Creator but he knows me. He knows me. I can’t get over this and I pray I never will. He sees all my sin, all my longing, all my innermost thoughts. I love the phrase from verse 28, “His understanding is inscrutable.” I decided to look it up in other versions. The Voice says, “His wisdom is beyond understanding.” The Message says, “He knows everything, inside and out.” The NKJV says, “His understanding is unsearchable.” The NIV says, “his understanding no one can fathom.” The NLT says, “No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” How wonderful that we serve a God who knows more than we can comprehend. 

Rabbit Trail: In Disney’s Pocahontas there is a line that has stuck with me mostly because of the word play. It says, “I learned things I never knew I never knew.” I am constantly learning new things, some of which I didn’t realize existed. I never knew I had a gap in my knowledge in that area, but I did. It’s a great feeling to fill a gap you never realized you had. But does this have spiritual application?

God has no gaps. There is never a thing He doesn’t know. He knows everything! My feeble, human brain can’t actually understand that. I don’t understand what it is to know everything because I am totally aware that I am deficient in certain areas. God never was, isn’t now, and never will be deficient in any area. HE KNOWS! 

The best part is that He doesn’t stop at knowing; He does something about it, too. He strengthens us to endure the days ahead. He lifts us up. He renews us. All we have to do is rely on His infinite wisdom and overwhelming love for us. That is where I find my hope. My hope is firmly planted in the truth of God’s wisdom and loving care of His children. He knows when I can’t, and He will guide me through it. So on this preparation journey, I have no need to fear. God knows. When the money seems insurmountable, He knows and provides it. When I feel like no one understands, He knows and comforts me. When I need a day off, He knows and strengthens me. 

Do you know that He knows?