I have at times past blogged each day of Lent. I’m not sure if this is achievable this year. But I want to start today in Isaiah, with the first of the so called ‘servant’ songs – about a mysterious figure who sometimes seems to be Israel, sometimes someone a bit like a prophet, and sometimes someone far more than just a prophet. In the New Testament lots of these passages are applied to Jesus who fills out this role perfectly.
These passages then are a great way to look afresh at Jesus. I want to go slowly, and not write much at a time. I want to take them in. To let Isaiah’s words sink into me afresh, showing me the beauty of Jesus. I need this, because my heart is heavy right now.
Heavy at a personal and family level – we’ve uprooted ourselves once more, we live at the opposite end of the country to where we were, once more in a house not our own and nothing feels quite like home. In the place where we were at home things aren’t quite the same at a number of levels, so there is no going back to the same place.
And yet almost guilty to admit that heaviness. I don’t live in a war zone. No one will bomb this house tonight. I don’t live in a country ruled by a brutal tyrant who cares nothing for justice and innocent lives. Yet I live in a world where that is true right now. And worse than this I have not felt of this before despite the fact that every single day for the last countless years that has been true. Somewhere in this world people have been living in fear for their lives each day every day. Somewhere in this world people have lived in fear of brutal rulers every single day.
All of us live in this world – and for the last two years that world has also been ravaged by a deadly pandemic, and all of us have lived different lives as a result. There is a tiredness that seeps into us all. Personally, as churches, and as nations. There is a heaviness and a weight that saps strength. In the midst of that we need to hear these words of God which describe the servant, and which ultimately describe Jesus.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, And he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, Or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.
Isaiah 42:1-4
So much could be said about these verses, and maybe I will explore more of this in coming days. But for now stop and obey the first word. “Here is” in the NIV translates the Hebrew word “Hen“, which older translations (and the ESV) translate as “behold”. Behold is a difficult word to translate – we don’t say “behold” very much these days in ordinary speech. But it essentially means “look!”, or “pay attention!”.
We need, in the midst of this world of tanks and bombs and missiles, to pay attention to Yahweh’s work. And to Yahweh’s way of working. Which isn’t with tanks and bombs. It comes with ‘his servant’. Don’t miss that. Matthew applies this to Jesus in his gospel. Jesus comes as the servant.
As a servant he comes not to do his own will, but the will of the one who sent him. As a servant he comes not to be served, but to serve. The very opposite of the dictator imposing his will on a country that gets in his way.
There is so much more in these verses to consider – and I want to look more at these. But for now pause. Pause to pray. Pause to invite God to speak in the words of Isaiah 42:1-4.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, And he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, Or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.
Isaiah 42:1-4
Maybe at the start of this Lent season listen to The Servant King by Graham Kendrick – the words are profound and help us focus on the one who came not to be served but to serve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B789G5QY9Q&t=38s
Lent like Advent is a time of preparation, of moving toward the fulfillment of the waiting and longing. We might mark it with pancakes yesterday for Shrove Tuesday. Those within certain faith communities may receive ash today. For many though its just another day with a nagging guilt that we should give something up for the next few weeks, that that might be more attainable than the long forgotten resolutions made at the start of the New Year. For others it passes by unnoticed. Unlike Advent we don’t start to decorate our homes, filling windows and fireplaces with lights, candles and decorations. Excitement and eager anticipation isn’t building up in the young at heart.
Lent, the season in which within the church year we remember Jesus’ time in the desert, we reflect on our own actions. Whereas in Advent we talk of gathering with friends and family, Lent can be a much more solitary season. Just because we don’t come together for the big gatherings in the same way we can find companions for Lent and this year I am going to be reading Ros Clarke’s book ‘Forty Women – Unseen women of the Bible from Eden to Easter’. My companions through this season of reflection, of almost a hibernation, will be the women Ros Clarke brings to my sitting room through this book.
Today there is no surprise, Eve is the first to show up. I was struck by Ros Clarke’s opening comments of how Eve is unlike any other woman as she has known life without sin or without the consequence of sin. I was struck by that because even living all that goodness she took the fruit and ate. How many times have I said ‘it will be easier when this or that is in place’, or ‘I wouldn’t get so angry if my children did what I asked the first time’ and so on. I always think I would not be so tempted when life was smooth sailing. Eve still ate the fruit. In meeting Eve today I realised I cannot keep justifying my actions on other people, circumstances or places. I should not be waiting for them to be without sin or trouble to change my heart and my actions. Eve seemingly had it all and she ate the fruit.
I need to set my heart on God, on what is good, pure and noble so that the fruit I bear reflects the goodness of God and is not directed by what is in front of me. That is not to say there is not a time for righteous anger, justice needed, but what I referred to above is self centered actions. Eve’s story in Genesis does not stop when all is good. She eats the fruit and life spirals rapidly out of hand. Today though I just wanted to reflect on that first thought.
Father, there is good in the world, there is very good. Father as we ask for daily bread, give us eyes to see Your provision. Father as Eve and Adam left the garden You gave them more than fig leaves, You gave them clothing. May we know this Lent You give us more than we can do for ourselves. In Jesus name I pray.
After a number of years of reading for study and then reading to children and about parenting, life has come back around and I have books for myself on my bedside table. None though have given me a language that makes sense of my inner battles. None ever mirrored myself back to me, I was always looking on waiting for that person to show up and call me out, the person who would say that I wasn’t alone.
I had heard great reviews and comments about Sarah Clarkson’s book ‘This Beautiful Truth’ but those who know me well know I tend to avoid anything that gets lots of attention so I kept it on the wishlist but wasn’t rushing to get it. Thankfully someone else got it for me and I tentatively picked it up and read the forward by Michael Lloyd. He praised the quality of writing and my doubts were raised yet further. Could it really be that outstanding? I read on and how right he was. Sarah not only speaks of a beautiful truth but she writes beautifully.
There is no way I can do the book justice with my own words other than to commend that anyone who pastors others needs to not just read it for themselves but to have a stack ready to give others when we don’t have words or answers for people’s struggles and wrestling. To give it to people as an act of giving them God’s beautiful grace and to point them to the beauty of God in the depths of struggle. Sarah does not in any way belittle struggle and anguish. She doesn’t burden us with a heavy yoke, she comes alongside and lets the sunlight in. Not in an overwhelming sudden blinding glare, just gently and slowly she opens the curtains a little at a time. She reunites beauty with the source of all beauty, God. She speaks of how beauty can sit alongside our pain and brokenness and as we let them sit side by side by us we find God has come alongside us without the need to fill the silence with words, without advice, without theology, just Himself with all the time in the world for us.
Time and again I wept as I read and saw myself in her book. I realised for the first time I was not alone. That my inner struggle is not singular to me, it attempts to keep me from God’s grace and gospel though. For so long I thought my inner anguish and mental battle were solely unique to me and, in part because of the christian circles I have been part of, were my own doing and my own sin. In my eyes others I knew who battled with mental health had a reason, past experiences, events that had been triggers. I could trace nothing in my life and therefore my battle was sinful in a way it was not for others. That I was flawed to the point I could love the Bible, love the gospel, and believe it for others but had to also accept it was never something that I could fully know because of my thought life. So I knuckled down, worked hard, or gave up working altogether depending on the day and the level of effort required, longing for others to know for themselves what I could not part take in myself fully. God, I concluded, permitted me to share in His work on the understanding that eventually when my time was up I would need to stand aside.
Reading ‘This Beautiful Truth’ was an invitation to life. My mental gymnastics is not a sin that keeps me from God, it does not exclude me. It makes it hard, darn hard at times to believe deep down. This book doesn’t stop me planning funerals and working out how to handle the police showing up with the children all because Mark is 5 minutes later home than I was expecting. It doesn’t stop me fearing the worst when someone says they have a headache or whatever.
Sarah spoke into our longing for place, the pain of miscarriage. While Sarah battled to live away from home my story was one where I sought to do anything that made me look outwardly independent, capable, without fear. The very opposite of everything I was feeling on the inside but the longer I did it the more I heard echoed back that this was who I was, independent, capable and so I needed to strive ever harder to keep that appearance up because if anyone was to know this wasn’t who I was I wasn’t sure I was ready to handle their reactions. I had overheard enough conversations to know that wasn’t an option.
The book doesn’t take away the exhaustion some days hold as I try to keep in check the anguish and turmoil running riot through my head. What it does say to me is that I am not alone. It invites me to sit with the beauty and thank God for that beauty even while everything else is upside down. It invites me into the gospel in its fullness, that I won’t be asked to stand aside at the end. That God has all the time in the world I need to lift my head and notice the beauty He has placed before me and know that He is good.
In this section of Isaiah 41 I’ve struggled a bit more. I had one blog post almost written before I realised it was my rant at news making headlines in the Christian world. And Isaiah wasn’t written to fuel my rants. My struggle is a bit odd in fact, as these verses are fundamentally reassurance. Read them and see.
“All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. 14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. 16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:11-16
These verses open with the reassurance that God will deal with their enemies. God’s people don’t need to worry about opposition. God will one day remove it. In the long run they will be nothing at all. God will deal with it.
The heart of this passage’s reassurance is in v13-14. They are worth reading again:
13 For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. 14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
The passage is framed by the God who is speaking. Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who is our Redeemer, who is the Holy One of Israel. So much is packed into these titles. So much of Israel’s story. The burning bush where God revealed his name to Moses in fire. The rescue out of Egypt where Yahweh redeemed his people from slavery.
The Holy One who revealed his character to Israel at Sinai out of the fire. The God who spoke to the people, the God who provided a way that he might live with his people and be theirs – and yet remain the Holy One, the one who is pure where we are sinful, the one who is infinite where we are all too limited.
It is this powerful, exalted God who speaks to us. And he speaks us as we might speak to a stumbling child trying to walk. As we might speak to an older child struggling with how to do the right thing in a crowd of people walking the other way. He comes to speak as we might speak to a friend who has come to the end of their resources. He comes as might long to hear another speak to us when there is nothing left to give.
And I think that might be why this is so hard to hear sometimes. Because I don’t want to ask for help. I don’t want to be wrong. I want to get it right. So much of my adult life has been about not getting it wrong – and not knowing what to do when I do get it wrong. I vividly remember the shock of university Maths. I had sailed through A levels with barely a blip. I loved Maths. I was going to do further study. And then I encountered university Maths. Year 1 was OK, we had tutorials and I could get something. Year 2 though I was lost. And I had no ability to go and say “I’m stuck – I need help”.
And yet this is exactly what we need from God. We need to be humble enough to realise that we need Him. So that we can hear these words – let him take us by the hand so that we can hear him say:
Do not be afraid: I will help you.
This is what we need – the help of Yahweh – for with his help there is a way not to be afraid of what people can do. There is a way not to be afraid of whatever the storm is right now. Because he has hold of us. He doesn’t ask us to take hold of his hand. No, he is holding our hand right now. He has got us. He doesn’t let go. And he says “I will help you”.
And then he simultaneously reassures and insults us:
Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O men Israel. For I will help you.
NB: the ‘little’ is not necessarily implied by the Hebrew which can just be used for men or people in general (but sometimes is linked to the idea of few in number/importance).
Note first the repetition: do not be afraid. It is a repeated refrain in the Bible – and, while it does not come 365 times (note to preachers: please do not repeat that urban myth), it does come a lot. It comes because we need to hear it. If we are serious about heeding the call of God on our lives we will have plenty of reasons to fear. Plenty of obstacles. Plenty of times when people feel like enemies and plenty of times when we don’t know what is going on.
There will be plenty of times when we feel utterly insignificant and so we are addressed here as worms. Which at first sight feels insulting, and perhaps makes us remember contexts where we felt belittled by others insisting that we should think of ourselves as ‘worms’. We first need to hear that the association is not ‘worms’ with ‘dirt’, but ‘worms’ with ‘powerlessness’ – a useful cross reference is the innocent sufferer of Psalm 22 who describes himself as a worm in v6 – not because he is dirty and sinful, but because he is crushed and powerless. We need though to hear the intent of Yahweh as he speaks through this book of Isaiah to us.
He is not making us into something small. He is talking to us when we feel like nothing we do can make any difference in the situation – and sometimes we need to have that feeling to actually be willing to ask for help. But sometimes that feeling stops us asking for help. Sometimes we feel we can’t ask because the answers are so obvious that there must be something wrong with us for asking. At uni I felt that there was no-where to go, that I would just be further belittled – that I should be able to work this out by myself.
So God calling us worms is actually good news. The creator of the universe is telling me, tenderly, but bluntly, that I cannot do it. I have as much ability to live this life of service to God and follow his call on my life as a worm if I do not take the help offered from the outstretched arm of the creator. (I’m irresistibly reminded here of the Awesome Cutlery song “Father You are King of Heaven”, with its immortal line: like an earthworm to do press ups, like a potato trying to swim – have a listen here: https://www.awesomecutlery.com/tracks/father-you-are-king-of-heaven/)
And our creator is the one who longs to hear us. The one who longs to help us. Who, Isaiah has already said back in chapter 30, waits to be gracious to us. He is here. He will help. He is holding us fast. So we can reach out and ask for help to the one who gives generously to all without finding fault (James 1).
And when we do we find that we are equipped for whatever task he has for us:
15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. 16 You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
I’m wondering as I read this if this some of the background to Jesus saying that faith as small as a mustard seed will move mountains. Faith that is willing to accept the hand held out to help will indeed move the mountains that are such an obstacle now. It may be that the promise takes a while to be fulfilled. That for a long time we live with the mountains that God doesn’t move. But in God’s time the obstacles will suddenly vanish. We will be able to move forward.
And we will rejoice in Yahweh, we will glory in the Holy One of Israel – actually more literally it is and “boast in the Holy One of Israel” – we will see how great our God actually is, and we will celebrate that greatness and goodness as we rejoice in him. And as we rejoice in him and celebrate him, we will see that he is looking down on us with delight and joy in his eyes – our singing joins with the song of the one who is singing with joy over us (Zephaniah 3:16-17).
It is a beautiful picture, and a wonderful hope. And the question I leave myself with, and that I particularly leave to anyone with any kind of leadership responsibility is do I believe this, and do you believe it?
Does the way I live my life and relate to others reflect the fact that I believe it is only with God’s help that I can do this?
Does the way you lead your church or organisation or small group or small business reflect the fact that it is only with God’s help you can do it?
When things go wrong do you believe, and do I believe that we need to come up with an explanation and a reason that will make us look a little bit less fallen and a little bit less messy. Or will you, and will I accept that we get it wrong, take responsibility for the sin, and for the errors, repent of the wrong and hold out our hands to God and place our hand once more in his outstretched arm.
Fundamentally we need to not be the toddler who says “I do it”. We need to get to the point of holding out our arms to let God pick us up and take us on in his way and at his time. To let God put us down in the best place, not where I scream to be put down, and to walk with his hand holding ours towards the day when his help will enable us to move the mountain.
If Awesome Cutlery wasn’t quite your scene why try not this wonderful hymn to remind yourself of this reality. He will hold me fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OOphIgGkjM
Some times it is just about holding space. In the flow of my day, the back and forth of conversation with God as I tend to those in our home I think of those I know ministering, of those preparing God’s word, of those rejigging this Sunday because of positive tests, of those looking out on the year ahead weary already. For each of you I pray that God may reveal Himself to you, that as you lift your head for inspiration or lay your head down without knowing what to do next may our Father meet you there and may you know His rest and His ways.
Praying to the One we know to be faithful and true.
There has been plenty of discussion out there around one rule for us, one rule for them. There is real pain behind the stories of those who did as they were asked, made raw once more by revelations of leaders actions. As I have been reading Amos these mornings I am reminded once more that it is not for me to judge or bring about punishment. I need have no fear of leaders and the walls they build around them. God is sovereign over all.
We are called to love one another, to build each other up, to spur each other on, to pray for one another. My prayer today for those who pastor is that we take the time to ensure we are not creating communities with one rule for us and one for others. That we do not hide behind positions of leadership and authority or even God’s word. Our call to pastor is to serve, whether we know more theology or doctrine than others is not our power permission but our humbling and service. Let us not be found to get frustrated with leaders of countries when we are no different in own communities. As we often say with our children when they question the way adults in power can behave we are able to draw it back to actions played out within our own family within that week, and why we spend so much time on their character. It may not be being played out on the national or world stage but that does not make it alright.
Maybe this is something you are already doing, but maybe this could be a new way of loving your body. Whether you have a church directory or some other list go through that list praying not for them in an ‘out there way’ but asking God to show you how this year you can serve that person, that family. Not what do they need to know, not what areas would be great to see them serve but how can you serve them. It may mean you have to put down another project or program but maybe that is what your community needs more than programs and events. I know I need to do this for our family.
I will never forget the knock on the door, and opening it to an older man with a beautiful bunch of daffodils and him handing them to me saying that he and his wife were praying and if there was anything they could do just to ask. It took me a moment to register who this man was, Dr James Houston ( a founder of Regent College, Vancouver). Then I realised that just an hour earlier I had had a phone call from his wonderful wife Rita, who I had not meet before then. The spouses of the Regent faculty took it upon themselves to call the students, working their way through the directory each week, to be able to pray for us in tangible ways. That morning before the phone call I had been at the hospital and was awaiting biopsy results; thankfully a week later I got the all clear; but in that moment on that day in a country away from all that was familiar, that call, those prayers and those flowers spoke louder to me than any theology or doctrine lecture on what it means to be part of God’s people and reflected God’s character in a way that has lasted beyond the hours of lectures, reading and writing those 3 years contained. So maybe the same will be true in our churches. I am not saying stop preaching, we need the Bible opened up, but maybe just maybe there is another way as we serve in action that will reflect the character of God than getting others to serve our plans and programs as we move toward them in prayer and service. Let us not think we know what our communities need without talking to them and hearing them, without coming before God and letting God answer.
Lets step away from the plan, the desk, and ask God to show us what the good works He is doing and wants us to join in with.
The momentum of Advent, 12 days of Christmas and Epiphany are behind us and its all too easy to want to simply hibernate. Activity feels beyond us, bleary eyes stare back at us in the mirror. Isn’t new year about new starts but nothing feels new, all feels jaded and as if we are walking knee high in mud. Good intentions haven’t been followed through. Wounds, issues, struggles we tried to lay down over the festive season were waiting for us after we closed the door to the decorations. Did Christ’s coming really change anything?
Christ’s coming has changed everything but in the moment it can be hard to believe. What I have come to realise though is that sometimes prayer is simply moving through each day. Its not about words, its not about seeing answer after answer. Its simply living by faith in a cloudy haze of fog, knowing that there is more, knowing that Christ is coming again, knowing He doesn’t stay in that manager as a baby waiting for next Christmas’ nativity services.
My prayer over this month for those pastoring and shepherding others is to keep putting that foot in front of the other even if it is simply to wear a well worn path between the kettle and your chair, to rest, to sleep, to read, to sleep some more and know you are not alone. To call someone else and spur one another on not in frantic activity but in noticing the colours of the sky, of the lenghting of days, of the buds coming. Christ is at work in us, He knows we are weary, He knows His strength is sufficient and He knows what He is doing and needs to be done. It’s not down to us.
It seems appropriate for the first blog of the new year to be about fear – especially in such turbulent times. Isaiah 41 continues like this:
5 The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; 6 they help each other and say to their companions, “Be strong!” 7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, “It is good.” The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.
Isaiah 41:5-7
This describes the state of the nations as they observe the new threat of the rising Persian empire (see previous verses). They fear and tremble, and join together to meet the new threat. They encourage each other. They say “Be strong!”. 41:7 describes the industry of their joint effort to combat their new threat – and it all sound so positive.
Until the very end – “the other nails down the idol so it will not topple”. Here the NIV makes explicit what other translations only hint at. The ESV has:
The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
Isaiah 41:7 (ESV)
The word translated by NIV as ‘idol’ is translated ‘soldering’ by the ESV, because it is related to the verb for ‘join’ – and it is used only twice elsewhere in the Old Testament where it means joints of a breastplate in armour (1 Kings 22:34, and the parallel passage in Chronicles). The description does sound like idol construction, especially as it speaks of the joining together so that they are not moved (we’ve already come across that in Isaiah 40, and will do even more strikingly in Isaiah 44), which I assume is why the NIV has made ‘idol’ explicit. The lack of specific mention of any word for idol does intrigue me here though – as I assume the same kind of craftsmanship was required for military equipment and amour, and it would seem entirely possible that the response of the nations was also to increase their military might.
The trust is either therefore directly in idols, or in military might (another form of idolatry) – but either way we have here an all too realistic of a how a crisis brings people together (which looks good) to trust in something that will ultimately fail them. I cannot help but think of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. People came together, especially early on. Governments parroted the mantra “we are following the science” as if science was a mystic force that would somehow save us.
I’m not saying that governments should ignore science – that would be utterly foolish. But to talk of “following” or “trusting” science is to put science in a place it should never be expected to fulfill. Science can show us how to model what is happening, and it can show us what will happen when certain measures are put in place, and it can help us develop and assess treatments. But science cannot tell us whether it is better to lock down for longer to reduce cases but create impacts in terms of mental health and loss of income for others or to remain more open and increase the risk to people with health problems already. Science can create a vaccine that reduces serious illness and doesn’t seem to create significant harm – but it cannot distribute that vaccine fairly across the globe. Science can inform government policy – but more than science is needed to determine what that policy should be. Science is a wonderful tool to use – but it is not a master that we follow – and when we make it our master, we make it into an idol.
Living in a global pandemic should be, at the very least, showing us that we are not as strong and in control as we think we are. But the temptation, like the nations watching the rise of Persia is to try to come together and make the idols we trust in as strong as we can, so that they will not topple.
Even as God’s people we are tempted to trust in idols that give security, in our ability to control and cope with life. I’ve been struck recently by one of the many situations of abuse that have occurred in the evangelical world recently where an abuser was discovered by some, but those who discovered the abuse chose to cover up that abuse and send the abuser away to a different country where the abuse continued. It struck me that the people who colluded in that cover up were trusting in their ability to control and likely fearing the consequences of discovery for the valuable work they were doing.
It makes me search my heart to see where I can end up lacking a trust that God is big enough to take care of the consequences when we let the truth be known – it is so easy to want to preserve equilibrium and comfort rather than face the difficulty. The next section of chapter 41 goes on to show us how God’s people are to be different.
8 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, 9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:8-10
Here Israel is directly addressed as Yahweh’s servant, Yahweh’s chosen one, descendants of Abraham – Yahweh’s friend. We’ll see in these chapters a number of different ways the idea of Yahweh’s servant is used, but for now we note that it is first of all used of Israel, and is linked to the idea of Israel being God’s chosen one. This in turn is linked to the idea of Israel being descended from Abraham, the first person chosen by God to be a blessing to the nations.
God’s call and choice of Israel is to do with his call and choice of her to play their part in his mission to the whole world. In these chapters in Isaiah we will also see Israel described as a ‘blind’ and ‘deaf’ servant (Isaiah 42:18-19) and we will also see a figure who often seems much more of an individual described as Yahweh’s servant (Isaiah 42:1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:13-52:12).
In the New Testament we see Jesus described in language that echoes these descriptions. He is both the individual servant, and the one who embodies national Israel. Jesus lives out Israel’s mission – and calls gentiles to become a part of that mission, and a part of that people. Therefore when we as Christians read these Old Testament descriptions of Israel it is right that we see ourselves in them – because as those who trust in Christ we are made part of a renewed, restored Israel, no longer defined by outward circumcision, but by inward circumcision of the heart, the Spirit living in us. We haven’t replaced Israel in God’s favour – rather we are grafted in to the new thing God is doing in his people through Jesus (see Romans 9-11 to see how Paul wrestles this one through).
All who trust in Jesus are made part of God’s chosen people to play their part in his mission to bring blessing to the whole world. As such we can read these words in Isaiah and apply them to ourselves today. We can hear God reassuring us, as he says to us “Do not be afraid”. Note the contrast to the nations in 41:5. The nations see the crisis and tremble. But we are not to be afraid.
This is a reoccurring theme in the Bible – coming repeatedly as God speaks to different individuals. {Plea to any preachers reading this: I’ve checked and it doesn’t come 365 times – or even 366 times, so please don’t repeat that urban myth.} It is natural in a crisis to fear. There is so much to fear right now. In many parts of the world Covid and other natural disasters have exposed just how fragile and precarious life is. Even in the wealthy west we can see the cracks of our society all too clearly as the gaps in health provision and vast inequalities of wealth are brought to light.
And in our individual lives, in our family circumstances, in our local settings, and in our church communities there are all sorts of reasons to fear. We may fear illness or financial trouble. We may fear that God will let us down. We may fear that if we do what is right trouble will come. We may fear that being God’s servant will be more than we can cope with.
But we are told not to fear – and given reasons. In the midst of a crisis we are to know that God is with us and that he is our God. The God we have read about in Isaiah 40, the everlasting creator who does not grow tired and weary is with us, and he is our God. He is for us. He will strengthen us. He will help us, and he will uphold us by his righteous right hand – by the right hand of his righteousness. His right hand, because that was the hand used in battle and for work – and his righteousness because he always does what is right and because he is always seeking to put what is wrong right.
That won’t always make a crisis easier – but it does mean that in the midst of the crisis we will be enabled to play our part in living out the mission of being God’s servant. God’s people will always be given all that they need to show God to a world in crisis. Quite possibly that means we will suffer in the midst of all sorts of trouble – after all the servant was called to suffer too – but in the midst of that suffering God is with us, and this God is our God, and perhaps most crucially this God is holding on to us (whether we can sense that reality in the moment or not). Therefore we do not need to be afraid.
That is unpacked in more detail in the chapters that follow. But for now, at the start of 2022, perhaps that is the reassurance we need. God is holding you. He has got you. He knows the situations you face and he is with you. You may not be able to see his hand right now – but it is there, and he is with you.
Isaiah 41 is a much less well known passage than its predecessor, but it contains just as much rich theology. Since the days of long ago and far away when I was a student at university reading these chapters (Isaiah 40-55) for the first time and sensing the vastness of this God as I read, these are the chapters I go back to when I want to most clearly see God as God reveals himself.
In order for us to see God as God reveals himself one key thing that we need to be able to do is to allow ourselves to be surprised by the text, and not assume that the passage needs to fit into our initial understandings. To help us do this I want to share a quote that I came across whilst reading through someone’s PhD thesis – one of the side benefits of my current job is the joy of reading a whole variety of different manuscripts. The quote is from Walter Brueggemann’s commentary on 1 & 2 Samuel and it sums up what I want to do in reading and encouraging others to read these chapters.
the task of interpretation will be to make this working of Yahweh dramatically available, without siphoning off the inscrutable and odd action of Yahweh into more cogent or “reasonable” forms. That is, the casting of the narrative does not invite us to an explanation of the action but to an awed silence before the one who is inexplicable, inscrutable, and finally irresistible.
W. Brueggemann – 1&2 Samuel
Read it, and read it again. Notice his key points. Interpretation of the biblical text – in his case Samuel, in ours Isaiah, is about showing how the text describes Yahweh – without trying to tame that action into ‘reasonable‘ forms. In other words we all have ideas about God that we think are rational and sensible – but when we come to this text we need to listen first and foremost to the text – not how we think the text should speak to us.
Then in the second sentence notice the caution. Commentary on the text, and equally, I think, preaching on the text, is not first and foremost about explaining. It is first and foremost about encounter. Encounter with the God who speaks the text and reveals himself in the text to us. This God demands an awed silence from us – for he is: inexplicable – he cannot finally be explained or comprehended by us, inscrutable – we cannot search him out, and irresistible – ultimately this God is utterly compelling and we find in him all that we need and desire.
And so with that in mind we open Isaiah’s scroll to chapter 41 and we are called to pay attention.
“Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
Isaiah 41:!
The islands – the distant places from Israel’s perspective, are to be silent, and the nations of the world are to renew their strength so that they can come and meet God at the place of judgement. This is a trial scene, and the nations are in the dock. But slightly surprisingly they are not called to give account immediately. First they are called to listen – to be silent. And then God speaks.
“Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. 3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. 4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he.”
Isaiah 41:2-4
Yahweh’s speech begins with a question that feels slightly puzzling to us. Mostly because v1-3 have a lot of ‘he’ and ‘him’. “He” is Yahweh (and the clue there is at the end of v4, which we will come onto at the end) – but “him” is not clear from the immediate text.
This ‘him’ is one who has been stirred up from the east, and called in righteousness to Yahweh’s service. This ‘him’ has had nations handed over to him, and Yahweh has subdued kings before him. It isn’t until 44:28-45:1 that we learn the identity of this figure – Cyrus, the Persian emperor who defeated Babylon, and who issued the edict that returned Israel to the land. There is a lot more we need to learn about Yahweh, and his servant, and his people before we are ready to think more about the identity of this figure who carries our God’s service.
But for now, in this speech of Yahweh we are not to focus on this figure, but on the action of Yahweh. It is Yahweh who is providing victory for this figure, without danger to himself. Yahweh does this by a path his feet have not traveled before. Previously in Israel’s story God has rescued his people out of slavery to a ruthless dictator by doing battle with the dictator.
But for the new Exodus Isaiah speaks about, it will not be like that. This time God is calling a pagan King to bring freedom to his people. God has used the nations to bring judgement on God’s people, but this time the nations will bring God’s work of salvation to his people. This is a strange new work. We have a God who chooses to do a new thing.
I’m reminded of a conversation between Lucy and Aslan in Prince Caspian that Lucy wistfully wishes that Aslan would appear like last time:
“Oh dear, oh dear,” said Lucy. “And I was so pleased at finding you again. And I thought you’d let me stay. And I thought you’d come roaring in and frighten all the enemies away—like last time. And now everything is going to be horrid.” “It is hard for you, little one,” said Aslan. “But things never happen the same way twice. It has been hard for us all in Narnia before now.”
Lucy & Aslan – Prince Caspian
As I type this in the closing hours of 2021 I imagine for many of us at least the idea that things might be different in 2022 carries some hope. And yet, how often do I want things to be like they were? There is obviously a good sense of looking back – but there is also a negative way in which looking back can be a way of constraining what we want God to do.
Like the Israelites in Isaiah’s day, and like Lucy in Prince Caspian, we need to know that things do not happen the same way twice. We have a God who, as my Rector in my teenage years used to cryptically quote from RS Thomas, a God who is “a fast God, always before us, and leaving as we arrive”. I never really got that idea in those days, but with the passage of time it seems an appropriate image.
In many ways this feels a disturbing vision of God to come to a new year with. A God who is ready to do something new. To work in a different way. The quote from Brueggemann reminds me that I need to sit with this picture of God. The reassurance I need is found in pressing on in this text.
Look again at v4:
4 Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he.”
Isaiah 41:4
The key questions for 2022 are not those beginning with: “What? How? Why?” Those questions press on us from all sides very often. The key question is “Who?” Who is at work in the midst of this situation, in the midst of these pressures and demands, in the midst of this uncertain fog and gloom?
The answer of v4 for the Israelites is: “Yahweh”. Yahweh is the one who is at work. He has been at work from the very beginning. He called forth the generations. He is still at work today. As Christians we know this Yahweh as the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is at work, and he has carried it through. And from beginning to end it is Yahweh at work.
The second half of v4 is something of a paraphrase in the NIV. Literally it could be translated:
I [am] Yahweh – first – and with the last – I [am] he.
I’ve put the square brackets to indicate that in English we need the verb “to be” – but in Hebrew they often didn’t. This refrain – “I am he” occurs frequently in this part of Isaiah. It echoes Yahweh’s revelation of his own name to Moses in Exodus (“I am who I am/I will be who I will be). Like that revelation to Moses, “I am he” affirms Yahweh’s constant presence, yet also reminds us that Yahweh is free to express that presence as he chooses – in his time, according to his wisdom and purposes.
“I am he” is also echoed in the gospels. When Jesus walks on water and makes to pass the disciples by he says “I am he” (the Greek used is the same as the ancient Greek translation for Isaiah 41:4). Likewise when the guard come to arrest him before his crucifixion he says “I am he” – which can just be a way of saying “here I am” – but given that the guards fall backwards to the ground seems also to be a way of alluding to Isaiah.
Jesus choice of words is a claim to be divine. Jesus is saying that is the Yahweh of Isaiah. He is the Yahweh who revealed himself to Moses. He is the God who is who he says he is, who is with us as he chooses to be with us, and who come to us and calls us into this new year, one step at a time. He calls us to step out with him. To trust that he is who is says he is. That while he cannot be explained, he cannot be contained and he cannot be fully understood, he can be trusted. He will carry through his purposes.
We may well want him to do all sorts of things this year. We may well have our ideas of how that should work. But he is the God who may this time be calling us out of slumber to walk with him before anyone else sees the traces of what he is doing. The question is: will we pay attention to the God who walks by a path his feet have not trodden before?
As we follow this God our assurance is found not in understanding, not in comprehension and certainly not in control. Instead our assurance is found in the reality that this God is ultimately irresistible. He gives us himself – he declares “I am he”. He is who he says he is. The soaring poetry of Isaiah points us to this reality. And so I want to keep on digging into these chapters, and sit with the directions they point us in – and the God they point us back to. The God who is all we need at the start of a new year.
As the clock draws close to midnight in the first places around the world churches will open their doors, their live stream to celebrate the Christ Mass, to celebrate the One who comes fully divine and fully human. Who comes to bring a peace. Not man made peace but lasting peace. As our eldest just said to me this morning that the thing he is finding hardest right now is trying to hold a growing understanding of the world while also holding onto Jesus being King but not coming in fullness yet to put right the myriad of injustices and heartbreak his eyes and mind are beginning to grasp. He, like so many of us, is growing in awareness of the now and not yet of Christmas. That yes we celebrate the coming of Christ but there is still a not yet to His coming. Our Christmas celebrations are a lived out faith, hope in the unseen. Hope in the One to come. Advent is not just these 4 weeks to Christmas Day but all of our days.
Praying that as we all continue our journey of Advent that gets peppered with moments of celebration. Christmas, Epiphany, Easter Sunday and Pentecost and others. Let’s not be quick to brush away Advent. Let’s come alongside each other in the now and not yet and remember there is a fullness of Christmas and Easter Sunday and Pentecost to come all rolled into one glorious eternity of living fully in Christ all as He means for us to live.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 