Proper 7 (OT)

Isaiah 40:21-31

²¹ Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

²³ who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name,

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power

not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. 

Is God really hidden? There is what is referred to as the "hidden God" or the "hiddenness of God." God is truly mysterious. None of us can fully comprehend God and all that he has done. We have been trying for years to better understand creation. Theologians have been trying for years to look behind the curtain and see God.

But God has revealed himself to us. God has given us or shown us what is necessary for our salvation. He has revealed to us enough for us to have a relationship with him, or belong to him. God  speaks through the Holy Scriptures to teach us of his creation and his power and might. God speaks to each of us, so that we can ask "Have you not heard?"

Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God and his plan for each of you. Christ Jesus is the Lord who sits enthroned over all creation. God has sent our Lord Jesus into the flesh to die for the forgiveness of your sins. He has sent his son to die for your sins. He has done all these things from the beginning to claim you as his very own.

Isaiah continues to ask the question even in chapter 40, Have you still not heard or understood? Even at the end of Luke on the road to Emmaus, who has not heard ("Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?").