God’s Greatness Is above Earthly Powers

“Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  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 out like a tent to dwell in.  He brings the princes to nothing, He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth.  When He will also blow on them, and they will wither.  And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.”  -Isaiah 40:21-24 (NKJV).

This poem from the prophet Isaiah was written to encourage the people in Babylonian captivity.  Beginning with chapter 40 through the end of Isaiah, the prophet fore sees this period in Israel’s history and wants to remind them that God is in control, not earthly powers.  “”Have you not known?  Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”  These rhetorical questions, asked in the expectancy of receiving a positive answer, “Yes!” are a reminder that, as we would say in the mountains where I was born and reared, “Have you not been brought up to know?”  The prophet indeed knows that they have been taught about the majesty, power and goodness of God from the time when Adam and Eve inhabited the Garden of Eden—“from the foundation of the earth?”  In any age, and certainly as the people faced exile and captivity again in a foreign land, they should remember who is in charge of this world.

You, perhaps, as I, have friends who send you numerous e-mails and comments on our current conditions in politics, in the economy, in the world situation in general.  We live in a troubled and troublous time.   If we ignore conditions in which we live, we would be like the proverbial bird that puts his head in the sand oblivious to the situation around him.  Certainly we are concerned about our present conditions, and the insecurities they bring to bear on our welfare.  And well we should be.  To ignore the conditions and separate ourselves from troubling situations would be foolish on our part. But at the same time we are to remember, as Isaiah reminds us here, that God is the ultimate ruler; He is the ultimate judge.  Compared to the tenure and temporary power of earthly kingdoms and their rulers, God is always in power.  His omnipotence never fails.  And in whatever condition we find ourselves, we cling to the truth that God is in charge.  This does not mean that we will not suffer because of circumstances.  It does mean that God is with those who believe and we can trust securely in Him.

And therein lies the hope to which believers must cling.  God the Creator, the Sustainer is ultimately in charge.  Hearing and knowing this mighty truth is our consolation.  In comparison to God’s omnipotence, the rulers of the earth whose terms are temporary are “as grasshoppers.”  When we are tempted to think that God is remote and not concerned about the affairs of the world, we are to recall that He knows the name of every star, the very hairs of our head are numbered, He knows us by name!  How awesome is this knowledge?  And this same powerful God who creates, names and numbers the stars can touch and heal our anxieties and give us peace in knowing Him.  As Paul would write centuries after Isaiah,  “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11).  Kingdoms come and kingdoms go, but our God is forever!  Praise be to God!