God of Comfort (Message)
-
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord[a];
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”9 You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,[c]
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Spirit[d] of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14 Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.18 With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. -
What Jesus is like
What Jesus asks
What he does
Introductions: Connections with Manchester, Wythenshawe Sports, lived in Rusholme. Have been a supporter of Message Trust & schools ministry.
Kept in touch with Mark and Rachel.
University Manchester, Graduated in 1977 and moved to Yorkshire (Wakefield). Attended St Andrew’s Church Wakefield. Car Accident at the age of 23. Spinal Injury.
Bible: Ps 31:5 Into you hands I commit my spirit (Luke 25:46). I am with you always (Matt 28:20). Isa 41:10. His Name is like Ointment Song of Songs 1:3.
Read Isaiah 40:1-15 & 28-31.
Have you sensed the otherness of God, his presence? For example, in worship? When we pray, read the Word or worship, we desire to meet with the Lord, and that longing is reciprocal (delights).
A. W. Tozer said "The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the church is famishing for want of [God’s] presence. To enter the Presence in spiritual experience [is] to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged."
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
Isaiah 40 begins with words of comfort. In this chapter. Isaiah gives three aspects of God's with-you-always presence: Comfort of his Presence, The power, The tenderness.
Comfort of his Presence
Comfort of his Power
Comfort of his Tenderness
Comfort of his Presence
In Isaiah 40v1, the prophet begins with the words ‘Comfort my people, prepare the way for the Lord’ (v1,2)
These are words of comfort to weary people - people going through hard times. The context for the people who this was first written to was a people in exile. It is still so relevant for us here today.
At my darkest moment, I heard words of comfort that I could depend on. It was words of the Lord from Isa 41:10 ‘I am with you.’ Those words kept me going until I got to the haven of intensive care at Whitehaven Hospital in the Lake District. Eventually flown by helicopter to SIU Wakefield – comforting presence.
These ‘with you always,’ comforting words meant everything to me. The little New Testament, a prize from Ahorey Presbyterian Church, survived my accident. In the weeks that followed, words of comfort dropped from those pages every day, like Hebrews 13v5 ‘I will never leave you.’ Ps 46:1 Ever present help, refuge & strength.” Ps 71:1 In you Lord I have taken refuge.
There is comfort in his presence.
My experience from the ravine of Honister Pass was that he was present, prompting verses and prayers in my mind. I wasn’t trying to think of memory verses! The name of Jesus was like ointment, a one-word prayer that kept me alive (Song of Songs 1:3). After the accident and eight months in hospital, during that time chaplains prayed & shared word & HC more of the Lord’s comforting presence. Then, in time, the Lord has been able to use those circumstances in his service. He called me to be a chaplain in the NHS and Hospice - bringing words of comfort to turn to Jesus. None of this would be true if his presence is not true. There is comfort in his presence.
Comfort of his Power
Secondly, the power of his presence. Isaiah 40:9 ‘You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God’ v10. The sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.’
Isa 40v12 Depicts God's power and his greatness. Gives us pictures. He measures the oceans in the hollow of his hand, he weighs the mountains and hills on scales. It is a picture of God almighty - beyond our understanding. Oceans are vast, waves are powerful, hurricane Melissa. [KB knocked out of W’chair by wave]. Mountains are colossal, and yet I can imagine God walking with the mountains in two carrier bags to put them on the scales to be weighed. Isa 40v28 ‘Do you not know the Lord is an everlasting God- he will not grow weary and increases the power of the weak….Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.’
I experienced the power of his presence. It was some time after my recovery from accident and discharge from hospital. I began to question his power. Call it a reaction to unanswered prayer for my healing, whatever. Isa 40:13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counsellor? That’s what I was doing: giving counsel to the Lord. Rooted in self-pity. I questioned whether God could be personal. So my prayers went like this, “You don't really know me you don't see the tears I cry….” The Lake of Tears was his answer.
Lake of Tears (pg 118 in draft) Lake of tears is a picture of his greatness, Like, he holds the oceans in his hand. He holds our tears in a container - a lake of tears. Ps 56:8. NET ‘You keep track of my misery. Put my tears in your leather container. Are they not recorded in your scroll?’ This leads us to his tenderness.
Comfort of his Tenderness
Notice what the mighty God does with his power. (v11) ‘He gathers his lambs and holds them close to his heart.’ That's what the Lord is like. Tender and compassionate. He invites you and I to call him father – Abba (Rom 8:15). Dad - it is a family matter. Not only is it personal (as a father to a child) but we find in his presence he is tender and lowly of heart (Matt 11:29).
NB. Isaiah 40:1, it is not necessary to repeat the word comfort for this command to make sense. By repeating comfort, comfort there is a tenderness conveyed rather like the way you would say ‘there-there’ to a child who is distressed or ‘it's OK it's OK’ to someone in tears. The prophet Isaiah voices the words of God and these are emotional words. This is God longing to connect with us being ‘with us’ and comforting us in our pain.
No matter how fragile or strong you feel, here at today, we can know his tender presence. You are not like a rugby ball knocked out of the runner's hand. You are held secure close to his heart. Isaiah 40:11 ‘He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.’ This is personal, the ever-present God not God from a distance. He holds you fast, close, it is an embrace not a straight jacket - that is how he is present with you now and ever shall be - close to his heart.
Story of Sandi from the book Lake of Tears pg 196
Conclusion
How can we experience God’s ever-presence?
God wants to hold you ‘close to his heart (Isaiah 40v11)’1. Matt 11:29 Come…..
2. Long for, yearn, (Ps 42:1) ache for God’s with-you-always presence in word and worship.
3. Be open to the supernatural of God's presence.
4. Rest in his peace that the world cannot give. Be patient, he is also in the waiting. (Holding Cross). Jn 14:27
Psalm 27:14 - "Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord." Waiting in this way is not passive but active. Trusting in His timing and finding strength in His presence even during quiet times and in hard times.
