Why God Comforts Us - Part 2

We move on in Isaiah 40 to find more interesting aspects of God’s character that comfort us. 

Isaiah 40:25-26 (ESV) To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

For the second time in the chapter, God speaks of His creative power over all things. Remember earlier in the chapter, He spoke thus:

Isaiah 40:21 (ESV) Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

After mocking the idol makers Isaiah reminds the people of God that their God is THE CREATOR of all things. He doesn’t create statues and minarets, He created all that has ever been. He established boundaries and names the stars. He makes sure everything is in its proper place. 

That means YOU are His creation, and YOU are named by Him and YOU are where He wants you. This brings tremendous comfort to my life when I feel I’m where I don’t want to be. 

Now it also means that those your are surrounded by are where He wants them to be. No one is missing from your life. And that is by the design of the creator who keeps tracks of the balls of gas we call stars. How much more will he track you?

Yet, just like Israel there are times when we feel forgotten by God. times when we feel that He isn’t aware of what’s going on. That is what Isaiah calls out in this chapter. 

Isaiah 40:27 (ESV) Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Israel is so easy to associate with because they had the same thoughts as us. God doesn’t realize what’s going on (my way is hidden). And God has taken away my opportunities. 

But such thinking is small minded and that is why the grand vision of God that runs front to back in Isaiah matters so much. 

And so begins one of the greatest expressions of God’s grandeur in all the Bible!

Isaiah 40:28 (ESV) Have 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.

God never tires. He is not asleep on the watch when it comes to those who are struggling. 

Isaiah 40:29-31 (ESV) He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they 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.

God gives power! Think of that. Who else would you want to give you power but the all-powerful God of creation who never runs out of power. Youths will eventually tire, and young men exhaust themselves but God’s people who trust God’s timing and purpose through the hard times you don’t understand will be strengthened. 

The word “comfort” is a two part word. “Com” - which means with. And “Fort” which means strength. The great God strengthens those who stay with Him. Or as Jesus put it. 

John 15:5 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.