Isaiah 40:21-end (NRSV)

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard?
   Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²It 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 like a tent to live in;
²³who brings princes to naught,
   and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
   scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
   and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵To whom then will you compare me,
   or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:
   Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
   calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
   mighty in power,
   not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’?
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

This passage brings back wonderful memories of us at St Alpheges in Pietermaritzburg – and the song book Let’s Sing Scripture. Part of the secret of the Methodist revival in the 18^th century and the charismatic renewal of the 1970s was to put to good music, good theology! We used to sing verse 31 with great gusto and enjoy the reminder that as we wait upon the Lord, we renew our strength “… they shall mount up with wings like eagles … …”

Of course the people of Judah needed reminding of the blessings that were theirs. Their sin had landed them in trouble and they had been defeated and taken off into exile in Babylon. They, like us, often forget God’s love in times of difficulty. And so the Prophet begins his hymn: “Have you not known … heard …” because the people were behaving as though they had forgotten the love and blessing of their God.

Of great significance is verse 27b: ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? This gives expression to the people’s feelings of rejection by God and the idea that they have been forgotten by God. Who are they that God cares for them? Barrie Webb writes that they thought the following: “Isn’t the truth rather that we are too small to be of more than passing interest to Him, and that if He really cared about us, surely he has long since ceased t do so?” (page 165)

We often fall into the same trap: “Who are we that God is mindful of us?” Nothing could be further from the truth. And so the prophet returns to his “… have you not heard …” mantra again to remind them that the creator and sustainer of all that is, does in fact care more deeply than they (and we) can ever imagine. He never tires of loving us and his ways are unsearchable. Webb continues: “… the fact is that no one and nothing is too small to be important to him or worthy of his attention and care.”

Our minds are too small to be able to comprehend both the power and the love of God, yet, as G Ernest Wright explains: “… all that exists is in complete dependence upon him …” So, how can one possibly believe that such a God would ever disregard anyone who turns to him. Here is the hub. We need to turn to God to receive his blessing in our lives. We return therefore to the idea of repentance. It was the people’s turning away from God that had landed them in exile in Babylon – it was not God’s doing. Despite the outcry of the early Isaiah giving them warning after warning, coupled with Jeremiah and others, the people thought that they knew better. And they reaped what they had sown. So, it does not make sense in human terms, for God still to want them back to bless them, but he did and does. But we need to change direction and return to God if this blessing is to be a reality in our lives

It is a simple but wonderful truth – God never tires of forgiving all those who turn to Him. And what is more, his forgiveness is complete. The Psalmist writes of our sins being removed from us as far as the East is from the West. God’s ‘… understanding is unsearchable …’

I am reminded of the Catholic nun who believed she met with our Lord when she prayed. The matter was reported to her Bishop who, quite rightly, decided to check it all out. He instructed her to ask “Jesus” what his (the Bishop’s) sins were that he confessed at his last confession. In Catholic tradition, with the sanctity of the confessional, only Jesus and the Priest who had heard the confession would know! A short while later the Bishop was summoned to the convent because the mystic nun had received a reply. He was nervous, thinking that he was summoned personally so as to save him embarrassment. When he arrived he asked the Nun: “Sister, what did Jesus say were the sins that I confessed at my last confession?” To which the nun replied: “Jesus told me that he has forgotten!”

“As far as the East is from the West …”

But we struggle to live as those forgiven – or at least I do. I am sure that when I sometimes confess, Jesus replies: “David, I do not know what you are talking about!”

We get to live by faith with all the joy and peace when we wait upon the Lord. Jesus needed to get away to pray and be with His Father and so do we. When we wait upon the Lord, we renew our strength. What a lovely image. And it keeps getting better: “… they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

When we used to sing this as undergraduates it used to end with important words: “Teach me Lord, teach me Lord, to wait.”

Wait upon the Lord, Brother and be blessed.

As ever,

David