Monday, November 6, 2006 · no responses · comments closed

If you’ve read my last two posts (here and here) on Isaiah 40, you may well have wondered why I totally ignored verses 9, 10, and 11. After telling us that we are all like grass before the Lord, Isaiah says,

Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

Why didn’t I mention these very positive verses earlier? Because, truthfully, as I read through Isaiah 40 for the first time last week, I didn’t know how to fit this section in with what stood out to me. Credit it to the legalism in my background, but I saw Isaiah’s descriptions and declarations of God’s power and might as rather scary, and this picture of God as shepherd didn’t really fit, so I ignored it for the time.

Now, having worked my way through and uncovered the blessing of God’s power as He offers His strength to me — that is, I don’t have to be afraid of the God who can measure the seas in his hand — I know better what to make of God as shepherd.

Get this: Isaiah tells his hearers, “You were created to share the good news, and this is the good news: Behold your God!” Again, Isaiah couples statements of God’s power with portraits of His love and compassion toward His people. So, as we “behold” God, we see that He “comes with might” and He rules — He comes in authority. But also, as we behold, we see a shepherd who gathers the lambs in His arms, carrying them close to His chest, and gently leads the flock.

Now we understand why Isaiah begins with “Comfort, comfort my people!” He’s ready to give us a series of pictures — of snapshots, if you will — of God: God the powerful, God the mighty, God the shepherd, God the caring. These pictures, taken as a set, give us a portrait of God that allows for both His power and His love in a way that brings comfort and encouragement. Behold your God!