Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
—Isaiah 40:1
God’s people in Isaiah’s day were a lot like us—distressed and depressed about their nation.
Their sins had caught up with them, and they were about to pay a high price for it. Isaiah had warned them that trouble was coming: all their possessions would be destroyed, and they would be deported to Babylon.
We worry about the destiny of our country.
But don’t write God out of the story. Despite the seemingly disastrous fate facing their nation, God dispatched Isaiah with the charge, “Comfort, comfort my people.”
In Isaiah 40, the prophet goes to work, reminding Judah—and us—that God is more powerful and active than we think. Isaiah proposes four things for his hearers to consider. (Stay tuned for them in our next four posts.)
God has not relinquished his sovereignty.