Uniform Lesson for September 18, 2016
Scripture passage and lesson focus: Isaiah 40:21-31
Isaiah 40 marks the beginning of a new voice addressing God’s people, who are now in a new situation. Instead of making pronouncements of God’s judgment for their sin and apostasy as Isaiah of Jerusalem had done in the 8th century B.C., this Isaiah speaks words of comfort and encouragement to a people whose exile in Babylon is about to end. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty has been paid” (Isaiah 40:2).
This Isaiah affirms that despite their fickleness, God’s people will again experience God’s kindness and love. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms” (Isaiah 40:11a). Unlike the man-made idols of other nations, the protection and love of Israel’s unseen God are not dependent on the obedient faithfulness of the people. This Isaiah assures the people that their transcendent and incomparably powerful God is their source of strength.
Isaiah 40:21-24 — God is in control
In this passage Isaiah addresses rhetorical questions to a discouraged and defeated people. What has happened to your trust in God? Have you forgotten what you have always believed? Haven’t you been listening to your own ageless wisdom? Rather than summoning the people to accept a new truth, this Isaiah calls the people back to their original identity as God’s people.
And who is their God? To answer this question Isaiah uses the anthropomorphic and metaphorical language of poetry. He applies human categories of thinking and acting to Israel’s transcendent creator. Their God is the One who dwells beyond Earth’s horizon and looks on Earth’s inhabitants as if they were merely small insects. God has stretched the heavens over the land like a giant curtain or like a huge tent in which the people live.
Israel’s God completely outranks those who imagine themselves to be in control of history. Princes and rulers who are under the illusion that they govern earthly affairs are really nothing compared to God. Isaiah is confident that Israel’s God is in control of history. Human leaders are subject to God’s rule.
Comparing the reign of secular rulers to planting a crop, Isaiah reminds the people that the actions of human rulers will not last long. Like newly planted seeds that have only begun to sprout when strong winds and storms reduce them to stubble, the plans and projects of human rulers quickly pass into oblivion. Isaiah implies that God’s reign will endure.
Isaiah 40:25-26 — The heavens demonstrate God’s power
If you want to know what God is like, study the heavens, Isaiah says. Who created every thing human beings can observe in the sky?
He reminds his hearers that God is the Holy One who created the stars and all things that are visible in the heavens. Moreover, God names all the stars of heaven thereby demonstrating God’s power over them. Everything we can see in the heavens is dependent on God’s power.
Isaiah 40:27-31 — God empowers the people
Here Isaiah repeats the rhetorical questions with which this passage began. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” But he also asks new existential questions that call for an answer from Israel. He asks, “Why do you say that God does not care and is ignoring your pleas for justice?”
You should know that “the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth,” Isaiah declares. God has boundless power and wisdom that is beyond our human capability to comprehend.
To a people who felt powerless and exhausted, Isaiah gives assurance that God is the supplier of strength. God will make the people so strong that it will be as if they had the wings of an eagle or the speed of a runner who never gets tired. To be sure, the people had to “wait for the Lord.” That is, they had to live in hopeful expectation that God would be faithful even when it seemed that God had forgotten them.
For discussion
Do you think that like ancient Israel we live in a nation that no longer believes in God? What evidence would you cite to support your opinion? Do you think the discoveries astronomers and physicists are making about the universe(s) in which we live strengthen or weaken your faith in God? Can you describe a time when your faith in God gave you the strength to endure challenging circumstances? O
