Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"? Isaiah40:27
As noted before, this verse is really the reason-for-being for this chapter.
This is the heart-cry of the exiles in Babylon.
Their experience of being defeated by a relentless enemy, losing all they held dear and being dragged off into a foreign land amounted to their own Job-like crisis of faith.
This heart-cry complaint is what elicits the fabulous God-picture we find in this chapter: The promise of comfort, a message in the wilderness, a Sovereign Shepherd, a big God: greater than idols and astrology, a God who humbles the proud. All these wonderful truths are a response to the heartache expressed in this verse.
There is a well known saying: "If you feel far from God, you need to realise that it may be you who has moved and not God."
Isaiah captures this thought in the complaint he puts in Israel's mouth: God is not the subject of the sentences. It is not "God has hidden Himself" and "God has disregarded us." In this the theology of the complaint is correct. It is the circumstances that cause us to lose sight of God. In this language use there is honesty and confession. It allows for the possibility that it is Israel that has moved and not God.
It is also a huge comfort to find this verse in Scripture. Isaiah is not angry that they have asked the question. He isn't saying: "Why have you dared to ask such an impertinent question." The rest of the chapter basically answers the question by saying: "if you look harder at God than at your circumstances, you will see that the question is irrelevant."
So now, the question that underlies the whole chapter has been asked and Isaiah will answer it with a crescendo "Do you not know?"
(I can't wait for tomorrow's EmmDev!)
---
--------------------------
Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
