Lord, it happened again today. That quickening in my spirit as I came to Your Word. Today I get to read one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible! Oh, I guess I could read it every day, if I chose. But today it’s the next chapter in my daily reading.

Isaiah 40.

At last.

The first half of Isaiah can get pretty heavy. So much so that I stopped reading it for a while. Endless curses pronounced on faithless Israel. Yes, with a sprinkling of hope. But even some of my favorite verses in the first part of Isaiah are hopeful if I only read half the verse: 

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength…”

The rest of the verse tells the whole story:
“but you would have none of it.”

Ugh!

Anyway, I’d finished the part of Isaiah that details some of Hezekiah’s reign. I like him so much. I mean he was a really, really good king. He turned the people back to You, Lord. He trusted You, and You gave miraculous victories. He honored and loved You. And all was well.

Until…

That subtle pride seeped in after You granted him healing from an incurable illness, giving him fifteen more years of life. He was thankful, so thankful. But he let down his God-guard and in a moment of weakness, showed all his wealth to foreigners. He bragged, Lord. And that goof would bring about Judah’s exile. Eventually.

That part of Hezekiah’s story always scares me. He’s been faithful all his life and then he slips up, and it has devastating consequences. Oh, Lord, keep me faithful until the end, by Your power and grace. I know it’s not my own.

And another thing that Hezekiah does at the end of his life makes me wince because I could so easily do the same: “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,’ for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.”

The traitor! The lowdown scum! He doesn’t care that his sin will bring horror for generations to come. For his kids and grandkids and so much more. He only cares about himself. His comfort.

Oh, Hezekiah.

Oh, me.

Please Lord, purify my heart again and again so I won’t end up letting pride steal away the wisdom You’ve grown in me by Your Spirit. Protect and guard me against myself.

And so I come to Chapter 40, and I breathe a sigh of relief and joy swells as I read those first two words: “Comfort, comfort…”

You’re going to make it right. You’re going to prepare a way for us, as Isaiah prophecies in verse 3. 

And Your Word endures: “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.” (v. 8) Oh, how that little verse spoke hope and joy to my troubled teenage soul. 

Hang on, Lizzie. What God says is true.

I love the action verbs in verse 11 that describe what the Lord does for His people: He protects, he gathers, he carries, he gently leads.

And then in those last mighty verses in the chapter: if we trust Him, he renews our strength so that we can soar and run and walk faithfully after Him.

How does all this happen? It happens when we know. When we know.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth? God is enthroned above the circle of the earth… (v. 21)

God is enthroned and earth is merely his footstool. And He’s got it all under control. He knows that we’re like withering grass and fading flowers. But because we trust in Him, we get to remain forever. His Word keeps us. Jesus, the Word of God, keeps us.

He keeps us when our strength fails and we stumble and are weak. He keeps us not by our own strength, but by His. 

As we trust in Him.

When I read those gorgeous verses at the end of the chapter, I see Eric Liddell running at the end of Chariots of Fire with the Word of God being narrated along with Vangelis amazing soundtrack. He trusts in the Lord, He obeys God, and he wins. 

Israel is going to win. That’s what You say in Chapter 40. And I will win. I’ll make it faithfully home to eternity with You as I rely on You to give me the strength for each day. Some days I’ll be so high on You and Your Word that I’ll sore like an eagle. Some days I’ll run the race with endurance as Your Spirit fills up my lungs. And some days, most days, maybe, I’ll just walk, step by step, faithfully putting one foot in front of the other, not growing weary because You are the God who renews my strength.

You renew my physical strength to keep doing the work You’ve given me. But You also renew my emotional and spiritual strength as I work.

How is it possible? Just little ole me? I can ask that again and again and again.

And Isaiah simply whispers: Do you not know?