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Isaiah 40 - 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;
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Comfort My People!
Remember we are looking at the EVERLASTING FATHER in Isaiah. God has spoken to His disobedient children bringing scoldings and chastisment upon his little ones for their deliberate and continued disobedience. Now God extends His grace to those same disobedient children. For those who hear and repent He speaks peace and comfort. He restores them. If you grew up in a stern, even totalitarian family you may have difficulty hearing the comforting words of your Heavenly Father. His words are clouded by the echo of severe spankings, threatenings, condemnations, ridicule and criticisms. It is hard not to attribute to God our Heavenly Father the same attibutes we saw, heard, and felt with our earthly fathers. Yet, God is concerned that we make a deliberate and clear distinction between God our Heavenly Father, and our earthly fathers. Hebrews makes it abundantly clear that our earthly fathers punished us, chastised us, or disciplined us according to their whims and fancies. It might not have been the best thing for us but they did the best they could. Many of them were just following what they had experienced for ungodly fathers before them. BUT GOD does not do so. He chastises for our good, for our benefit, for our restoration, so that He may bless us. Thus, in Isaiah chapters 40 and following God leads out with "COMFORT MY PEOPLE. SPEAK COMFORTABLY TO THEM." Many years ago now, when I came home from Brazil broken, frail, and tormented by the sudden and tragic death of our 12 year old daughter, I could not see any good coming from her violent death. I was feeling chastised by God without reason. I could only see His harshness and not His tender side. It took a compassionate Christian counselor to challenge me to go to the Scriptures and deliberately look for God's mercy and grace instead of focusing only on His demands and judgments. It took him up on that and began and search for God's grace, mercy and goodness. This study of Isaiah is a result of the search for God's goodness. Join me as we mine for the gold of God's goodness and mercy through Isaiah's "Comfort passages."
Hebrews 12:5-8 NIV
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