I don’t think I can recall a single month of my life that has been filled with so many emotional roller coasters.   Cancer, suffering, death, heart surgeries, impossible medical odds, uncertainty – in the lives of family and friends.  It seems so trite to say “God’s in control” (and certainly, if you say it off-handedly enough to the right suffering person, it can be like salt in the wounds).  Yet, as followers of Christ, sometimes the ONLY thing that anchors us in such spiritual, emotional, and physical turbulence is the unshakeable knowledge that there is a God, and He is firmly in control.

For the next several days, I’d like to just sit and meditate on Isaiah 40.  It has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture.  The poetry of it is immensely beautiful, but the reality behind it even more stunning.  God is promising restoration to a nation that has backslidden.  But the promises threaded throughout this passage are timeless and relevant to people of suffering of all times, regardless of whether you are backslidden or not.

“Comfort, comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
   that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
   double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
   and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out.”
   And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
   and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
   Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
   but the word of our God endures forever.”

You who bring good news to Zion,
   go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
   lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
   say to the towns of Judah,
   “Here is your God!”
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
   and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
   and his recompense accompanies him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
   He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
   he gently leads those that have young…”

County Shannon Ireland – rich pasture land in Western Ireland. Sheep and cows are seen regularly on these hills