Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.\u00a02 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term,\u00a0that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord\u2019s hand double for all her sins. The issue of suffering and hardship<\/strong> is one of the toughest questions professing Christians face. \u00a0We almost become immune to news of the tragedies and injustices, poverty and hardship that so many experience \u2013 until they touch us. \u00a0In those times of suffering and grief we so often ask \u2018Why?\u2019 and long for genuine comfort and hope.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the great chapters of the Bible, Isaiah 40, offers us a framework to live by.<\/strong> Some two and a half milennia ago, Israel, once a great nation of the ancient world, had been brought low by the conquering armies of Babylon. It is quite impossible to imagine the shattering effect those events would have had on the faith of those people. Their temple was in ruins, their economy was in tatters and their homes were destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n Now they were in exile. **The temptation to reject their God would have been enormous. ** But the faith of ancient Israel survived through the voice of the prophets such as Isaiah. Consider the opening words of Isaiah 40: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. And the tenderness of his language continues: He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom\u2026 (40:11).<\/span><\/p>\n Isaiah\u2019s strategy was to paint a picture of the awesome majesty of God<\/strong> \u2013 \u2018Consider your God,\u2019 he said; he then asked a question; and finally he challenges and comforts us.<\/span><\/p>\n Which brings us to Isaiah\u2019s memorable conclusion.<\/strong> Because this God is so great, he has power enough to sustain us in our distress: He gives power to the faint, and gives strength to the powerless (40:29). And what is it that we most need in difficult times \u2013 fleetness of foot, the wings of an eagle? No: the persistent endurance and determination of a long-distance walker \u2013 walk and not faint (40:31).<\/span><\/p>\n 1. \u00a0What does the word \u2018God\u2019 mean to you?<\/span><\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Can God always be trusted in the tough times of life?<\/span><\/p>\n 3. \u00a0How big is your God? \u00a0Have you ever said to him, \u2018I love you Lord\u2019?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 John G. Mason, Reason for Hope<\/em> \u2013 40 Days of Bible Readings and Reflections \u2013 2016.\u00a0All Rights Reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read: Isaiah 40 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.\u00a02 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term,\u00a0that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord\u2019s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out:\u00a0\u201cIn the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-lenten-series"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n3 A voice cries out:\u00a0\u201cIn the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.\u00a04 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;\u00a0the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.\u00a05 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,\u00a0for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.\u201d\u00a06 A voice says, \u201cCry out!\u201d And I said, \u201cWhat shall I cry?\u201d\u00a0All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.\u00a07 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;\u00a0surely the people are grass.\u00a08 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.\u00a09 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings;\u00a0lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,\u00a0lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, \u201cHere is your God!\u201d\u00a010 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;\u00a0his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.\u00a011 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,\u00a0and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.\u00a012 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand\u00a0and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,\u00a0and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?\u00a013 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?\u00a014 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice?\u00a0Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?\u00a015 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales;\u00a0see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.\u00a016 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.\u00a017 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.\u00a018 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?\u00a019 An idol? \u2014A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,\u00a0and casts for it silver chains.\u00a020 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood \u2014wood that will not rot\u2014then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.\u00a021 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?\u00a0Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?\u00a022 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;\u00a0who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;\u00a023 who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.\u00a024 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,\u00a0when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.\u00a025 To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.\u00a026 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?\u00a0He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name;\u00a0because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.\u00a027 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,\u00a0\u201cMy way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God\u201d?\u00a028 Have you not known? Have you not heard?\u00a0The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.\u00a0He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.\u00a029 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.\u00a030 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;\u00a031 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,\u00a0they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,\u00a0they shall walk and not faint.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\nHOPE’S COMFORT<\/h2>\n
\nNowhere does the Bible exult in the greatness of God so triumphantly as in this chapter: To whom then will you liken God? we read in 40:18; and, more personally, in 40:25, To whom then will you compare me? He puts his questions to scientists (40:12), to the wise (40:13\u201314), to leaders (40:15\u201317); to idol worshippers (40:18\u201319), asking, to whom or to what they would liken God. There is no-one or nothing as great and as awesome as God. \u2018How can you say,\u2019 Isaiah asks, \u2018God has forgotten you?\u2019 (40:27ff) Isaiah wanted his readers then and you and me today to know that God will not abandon anyone on whom he has set his love. Yes, he let his ancient people suffer for a while, but he never let them go. He even let Jesus die on a cross, but at the right time he raised him from death. We can have every confidence in God\u2019s commitment to our good. He\u2019s big enough, awesome enough, and loving enough, to carry out our rescue.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"day-6-hopes-comfort-anglican-connection-2016-lenten-series\"](\"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/day-6-hopes-comfort-anglican-connection-2016-lenten-series-285x300.jpg\")
No matter how heart-breaking our situation,<\/strong> no matter how perplexing, we can be assured that life is not out of God\u2019s control. Tragedies and disasters don\u2019t mean that God\u2019s hands have slipped from the helm or that he is asleep. They are events allowed by a sovereign God who is in control, and who often uses such events as a wake up call for us.<\/span><\/p>\nConsider:<\/h2>\n
Pray:<\/h2>\n
\n