*Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-17 (NKJV)* 1 "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" says your God. 2 "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins." 3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 The voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." 9 O Zion, You who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless. *Devotion* The Scriptures were written by many different men and in various times. They address vastly different situations. Nevertheless, the teachings of God's holy Word always speaks to our time and situation. Romans 15:4 says, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Although Isaiah has already prophesied that Assyria's present offensive will fail, (ch. 37) he warns that Babylon is soon to rise and take Israel into exile. (ch. 39) And now, before any of that happens, Isaiah speaks the kindest words in chapters 40-66 saying that God will bring back the captives from Babylon. God is using Isaiah to bring comfort and hope to people who would live a hundred years in the future. Though skeptics will ridicule Isaiah's predictive prophecy, beginning at verse 12, Isaiah asks questions they cannot answer about our omnipotent and omniscient God. We learn from Isaiah that God's control of the nations is considered by Him as "a very little thing" and "as a drop in a bucket." If the Lord of all history controls nations, He can surely direct your life according to His plan. We can learn from Isaiah's comforting words, "that her iniquity is pardoned." Through Jesus Christ, our Lord God has come to "feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm." We dare not trust in the withering grass, but in "the word of our God [which] stands forever." We can and do trust in the living and enduring Word of God, "in hope of eternal life which God, Who cannot lie, promised before time began." (Titus 1:2)
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