Isaiah 40 (part 2)
God is loving, steadfast, and merciful. We must acknowledge that God is also awesome (not the cool kind of awesome, although He's cool too lol). And this part of the chapter talks mostly about His awesomeness. Although this chapter has a lot to do with awesomeness and power and stuff, it's funny how verse 11 talks about His gentleness. That is an interesting and important thing to note as will be seen in later verses. And then we go onto the awesomeness... Verse 12 describes God's ginormous character. Verse 13-14 describe His mind. No one can possibly counsel Him in any way (especially none of His creation). He is the founder of justice. Verse 15 describes His powerful reign and sovereignty (and the insignificance of any seemingly powerful nation). Verse 16 describes His holiness and is one of those verses that basically says it's not the sacrifice itself that God wants/needs. Verse 17 basically equals verse 15. Verses 18-20 describe the foolishness in comparing the Creator with something his creation created. (Now that really is dumb yet we do it all the time...) Verse 21 is pretty interesting. I was reading through it and thinking it was kind of insignificant. But it's starting to sound like this verse is saying that these characteristics have been laid out and revealed since the beginning of creation. There seems to be a link to this verse and Romans 1:18-23 (COOL). Verses 22-23 are more about His hugeness and infinite difference in power between Him and people. Verse 24 talks about the fragility of man and is very akin to verse 7 of this chapter. Verse 26 describes God's knowledge over all His creation. This verse is more focused on the trillions of celestial bodies in the universe. To a God who is infinite, surely numbering these guys and calling them by name is a breeze. But to me... a trillion is a big number... Lol how do you even think of a million names? Verse 27 is questioning those who might have the notion of hiding something from God who is omnipresent. Verses 28-31... Famous verses. As powerful as El Shaddai is, it's extremely comforting to know that He doesn't use this power to completely obliterate everything with His left pinky toe. We must remember verse 11. God is like a shepherd who gathers lambs in his arms. This very same God is one who "gives power to the faint." This very same God gives His everlasting strength to a people who will eventually become weary and exhausted to the point where they are able to run/walk without wearing out. Truly only one who is everlasting and steadfast can do this. Verse 25 wraps it up pretty nicely.