Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-2
Isaiah
A little vengeance can feel nice and most of us are all too happy to stand up and say, “I told you so.” If you read Isaiah, he sounds a lot like the sibling who keeps saying, “you’re going to get it when Mom and Dad come home.” The problem with a sibling like that is they are usually right, irritating for sure, but right. At least they were right in my house. I knew it was true, but I didn’t care to be updated and once in trouble, well, what’s a little more trouble? I knew there was going to be a reconning but it wasn’t here yet, so…
If you are upset at someone it can be shamefully gleeful to note their coming judgement. If you love someone, however, it is painful pleading. It’s difficult to be the one who recognizes the error and calls it out, especially when there is so little one can otherwise do about it. It’s a tough spot to be riding the bus heading for a crash and no way to get a hand on the wheel. It must be even worse to see people willfully continue driving toward a crash. These situations call for a higher power. “You’re going to get it” is really not so much a warning as an appeal to turn from some misguided activity.
Isaiah lived during a difficult time. He was a special man, but he had only so much power to influence his fellow Israelites. Assyria was expanding and Israel grew weaker almost by the day. Isaiah saw it all happening before his very eyes but was not in the driver’s seat. He was powerless to prevent further decay. There are a great many things impressive about Isaiah. Besides his own faithfulness to God, and his gift of prophecy, Isaiah is also impressive for willingness to continue riding the bus with Israel. Of course it all comes crashing down, but unlike so many would, he demonstrates his strength to refrain from saying “I told you so” when it does. Rather than bask in a little of the rotten glory of being right (see Jonah) he exhibits genuine sorrow at the ongoing state of affairs. It is a special pain to see what we love destroy itself. In our world, and in that sense he is much less singular, too many people know a version of that pain.
Isaiah is not bitter, he is tender. He is, at his heart, a healer and not a gloater. By the grace of God, Isaiah injects into the struggles some of the most encouraging and moving passages in scripture; “Comfort, comfort my people…” Isaiah saw all too many of his troubling prophecies come to fruition. For his trouble, though, and to encourage the people, God also provided through Isaiah a glorious glimpse of the future redemption. It is that very redemption Isaiah pursued which we have been blessed to see because we live on the other side of Bethlehem from Isaiah. What God through Isaiah encouraged Israel to pursue was a faithful hope; a conviction not yet seen. On this side of Bethlehem we no longer need to hope for redemption, God has come, the world has seen it, we know it (Rom 8:24).
We still carry hope for the kingdom of God to come fully. We still carry hope for a world filled with people and countries which bite at one another. We still carry hope for those we love who act in self-destructive ways. We still carry hope that God will use prophets and the Holy Spirit to call a world which fails to look into the manger… There is still a place for faithful hope in looking for that day when all shall know Christ and we see clearly. Until that day, there is still a Savior, there is still a voice calling for repentance, and there is still Isaiah calling “comfort, comfort…”
Prayer: Heavenly Redeemer, we praise Your for the comfort You provide in the midst of struggle. We praise you for what we know and the hope we have. Help us both know even more and hope even more faithfully. Help us lovingly call the people next to us back to you. In the name of our Redeemer we ask, AMEN
Activity: If you’ve ever told someone they “were going to get it” what were you hoping for when you said it? Who would you like to say it to now? Are there self-destructive behaviors you need to repent of?
Wilmot First Presbyterian Church 
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