There is a message that God has put in my heart to share with disciples and disciplers through this article and I believe it going to help us in our assignment on earth and the need to depend on God for strength while going through life. It has been titled: What Following God Can Make Happen in the Life of Any Man. What following God can really make happen in the life of a man, a woman or a people. Like somebody would say, what is in it for me? What would my life gain by following God? I want us to open our Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 40. We'll be reading the entire chapter by the grace of God. We trust that God’s grace would be available even as we consider His word in the name of Jesus.
The Bible begins with a statement that is worthy of our meditation. It says:
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
This alone can impart us differently, depending on our situations. But it begins with that statement: “comfort, yes, comfort my people.” For others, it may be opposite of comfort, it may be discomfort, but for the people of God, comfort! It now says in verse 2: speak comfort to Jerusalem. You know, if everything is rosy for you, you may not need to be spoken comfort into. You don't need to be comforted if you are at rest. If all is well, you don't need comfort. It is because there is a situation that is less than stellar that is less than desirable. It is happening to you and God is speaking comfort into your life. I'm sure we remember something in the epistle of apostle Paul when he was talking about the God of all comforts who comfort us in all our tribulations, do we remember?
So, you don't need comfort so to say, if everything is rosy. So, when things are not rosy, you need comfort. When you are wishing for a better experience, you need to be comforted, something that is not pleasant has happened to somebody, the person should be comforted. It says: comfort, yes, comfort my people. As long as a people has identified as mine, because what qualifies them for the comfort is that they are my people, comfort! It says: “speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended and her iniquity is pardoned.” Perhaps, her iniquity has brought her into a state of warfare. So maybe this could be a prophetic utterance to somebody and God could be saying to you the battles you're fighting, is not yours, it is the Lord's; and imagine God is now saying to you: your battle, your warfare is ended, that thing you struggle over, you struggle about is ended. Whatever iniquity that has been found in you hitherto is pardoned. The Lord has decided to show mercy on you as His people.
Now, I want to continue from verse 3. It says:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
That is to show you that in that unpleasant and ungovernable situation/space, God is requesting for access into it, God wants to come in. Because it's important we understand that ordinarily, without God coming to that place, the situation will not be pleasant. It says: “prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” And this is what will happen afterwards. It says:
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Now if we meditate again on verse 3 and 5, we will see what God intended. It says: “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” So, until the presence of God comes into that place, the valleys will not be exalted, the mountains will not be brought low, crooked places will not be made straights, rock places will not be smooth. The glory of the Lord will not be seen. And then will be like God, where are you? We are in this desert. We need to see your glory. But it says: “prepare the way of the LORD…” as if to say God does not pass in any kind of way. God does not just come down in the midst of a people, as if there is a channel through which God enters a generation, a people or a family. And so, there is a responsibility to somebody and it says: the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
There is a man, there is a person that takes on the responsibility of crying forth. And if you are crying forth, you must also be responsible enough to prepare the way, that's the responsibility, prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert, a highway for our God. I don't know who among us is willing to take on this task, this particular task. As much as we are saying there's so much troubles going on around us, as much as we are saying we want to see the glory of God. There is a pre qualification, a precondition, the way of the Lord must be prepared. The way must be made in the situation for our God.
Now let's go on in verse 6. It says:
The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he said, “What shall I cry?”“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.Whether they are Chinese, American, Nigeria, British, the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
Irrespective of the race, irrespective of the gender, irrespective of the position, it says: the people are grass; and as grass, they can wither or be withered. And can you see the cost of the situation? It says: because the breadth of the LORD blows upon it. As long as they are such in a place where the breath of God can blow over them, their situation can be controlled by God. Do you still remember that place in the Bible that the Bible says, talking about the heart of kings, that the Lord can turn it wherever? So, when the Bible says all people are grass, and then again, he says, the grass withers. So, all people, no matter their height or depths, they can be subjected to futility or to any condition by God. Bible says, For the breath of God blows upon it.
God rules them through His breath. Do you see that? No matter how a man says, I am God, I am no man, nothing can happen to me, we rule here, Bible says the breath of God blows upon it. That makes the person at the mercy of God. So, if the person continues to do evil, the person should not assume it is God, he is a man who has just been left on his own.
So, let's continue from verse 9. It says:
O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
See your God, find your God, seek your God.
Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
I'm sure you can see it, almost like a difference between a people or a governance over the earth that is different from God. Already, God began in verse 10 by showing you something that differentiate God from every other one. It says: The Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him, behold his reward is with him and his work before Him, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. He doesn't hurt anyone; he doesn't harm anyone. He doesn't oppress, He preserves His people. So, when you are finding a situation that is opposite of what we are seeing here, you must know what is at work.
Verse 12-14 says:
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?
Who is the coach of God, who is God’s mentor? Who taught God knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding? There is an important for us to note from verse 15 and I want to quickly show us. It says:
Behold [as in, se it, discover it, it may not be opened to all, but you must see it. It is a reality]. The nations are as a drop in a bucket. Can we see it that it didn’t say the nations are the bucket, it says they are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as small dusts in the scale?
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.18 To whom then will you liken God?
It looks as if we have been trying to compare God with anything since, we began the chapter. It says: to whom then will you liking God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? Like, you put God in one side, and then you look at another thing and say, let's see if that other thing can compare with God. It says:
“The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.21 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?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth…”
Now for those who are asking: is the earth flat, is the earth spherical, is the earth like a table or the earth like a ball? They have not read this place. It says: It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, He does not sit under it, He is not subjected to it. He rules it. He sits above the circle of the earth as if the circle of the earth also shows the governance of the earth, He sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants, the inhabitants of the earth: Australians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Brazilians, Europeans, Russians, the Chinese, they 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.24 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,
It looks as if God has something in His hands that He uses to maintain balance on the earth. He blows at them, it looks as if when God blows, there is nothing that can stand it. Everything before the blow, withers. It looks as if at the blow of God, anything can be extinguished on this earth. When all the nations and all the people on the earth are like a drop of a bucket, they are as nothing. So, we are asking the question: What can following God make happen in my life? And so, to understand whom you are following, we began from verse one. He began by saying speak comfort to those who follow me. Comfort them. Tell them their battles are ended. Did He there will not be opposition? Those who want to oppose them would be blown off.
Now let us continue in that particular verse 24 that we are in. it says:
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
Not because they happen not to miss, but because they don't have any choice, they cannot be missing. See this question that is thrown at us now, this is where we must begin our consideration. Verse 27. It says: Why do you say, O Jacob, O Nigerians, or whoever we are. It says:
Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel:
“My way [my struggles, my wahala, my situation] is hidden from the Lord?
God does not see what I'm going through. God cannot be seeing what I'm going through and I will still be going through it. God does not know my challenges; all these things are covered from Him. What is that thing that covered it? God does not see my way. He doesn't see my heart desires. He doesn't see my heart; He doesn't know the burdens of my heart; He doesn't know the things that makes me cry. God does not see my way; they are hidden from Him. It says: And my just claim is passed over by my God”? My Just claim, my inheritance, my future, my expectation. The Bible says: surely there is an expectation.
There is something that will happen and the expectation of the righteous shall not be caught off. Who is it that we make sure that expectation is not caught off? Is it not God? So, God is asking the question the same way he asked Jacob and Israel. He says why then did you speak? Why then did you think in your mind my way is hidden? The way the herdsmen are terrorizing, God does not know. The way the bandits are moving, God is not aware. The way the government is busy fixing the problem, God is not aware; the way the United Nations is running up and down to fix the situation, God is not aware. Do we understand?
Why do we think God is not seeing these things? Why do we think God does not have a plan for us? He says: are my just claim something that is rightfully mine, something that I desire? He has passed over me, so, I am skipped, God does not have plan for me, God says my thoughts towards you they are thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Why, God is asking. Maybe some of us can say we can answer God. God is asking: why? Why are we asking God, why am I not married? God Why am I not getting job? I've gone for interviews and still haven’t gotten job. Lord, why am I going through these situations that I am going through? You can't be aware and I am still going through it. The way I am going through all these challenges and you aren’t aware, definitely, there is no future for me in you. Okay, please; is it possible for a woman, a man who thinks there is no future for Him in God to still follow God? If such a person follows God, is it not hypocrisy?
It is eye service, it is religion. The person's heart is drawn away from God, but the person is in the presence of God but in the heart of the person, the person thinks God is hidden, or things are hidden from God. Lest you think like that, the Bible began by saying in verse 22, it is He who sits above the circle of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers. If the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers, the question is: what about the situations? Please, have you ever seen to ants fight before? Have we ever been afraid when we see them fight? Now, the things they are fighting for, are those things bigger than you? Usually, how big are those things they fight for? They can be fighting over one tiny thing. Those things are tiny to you, but they are big to them.
You are just a man, a woman, how much more God? The things that make Nigerians fight themselves are tiny before God. Even we as a people we are so small in the eyes of God. How can you then say these things are hidden from Him, what is it then that blocked Him? Imagine you want to see two cockroaches fighting, maybe on this pulpit, two cockroaches are fighting, what is it that would block them from my eyes? That thing must be very big. Now the things that could block them, would they be put there by the cockroaches or by me? So, it is only God that can block Himself from seeing you.
Did you remember what God said to Moses? God said to Moses, no one can see God and live. I know what I would do for you because you are so eager to see me. You can't see me and live, you will die. But this is what I will do: I will hide you; I will put you in the rock. Then when I have passed, I will open the blockage, then you will see me go. Now is it Moses that will block himself from seeing God? Can I block myself from seeing something that is bigger than myself? It is not possible. It is that bigger objects or the bigger person that can block. Do we understand that? So, it is God. You know, when the Bible says the eyes of God are not shortened that He cannot see, it is God that must make sure that he doesn’t see you. You can't stop God from seeing you. No human can stop God from seeing him. God sees everything clearly. It is only God that can block Himself from seeing us.
So let us forget this idea that God is not aware of what is going on. God is aware. God is not only aware He is the one that has the prerogative whether He wants to intervene or not. Bible says in that verse 10. It says: behold, the LORD God shall come. When the Bible says shall come, it means He was not there before. The Bible says he shall come so in case we have not seen him come into the situation, it doesn't mean He cannot call, number one, it doesn't mean He has come and the matter is still worsening, we are just yet to see Him come. The Lord shall come with a strong arm and His arm shall rule for Him. He wants engage us. When the Lord wants to establish justice on the earth, he will not engage us, He will do it all by Himself.
So, let us not be hopeless, the LORD will come. Now, if the Lord will come, so, what does it show us? Now, there is something that we must therefore do. If He who will come will come and not tarry, what is therefore expected of us? We are waiting for somebody what do we do? We prepare and then we wait. He will come! That's why the Scripture began in verse three with prepare the way of the Lord, if you believe God that is coming into the situation prepare the way, make the job easy for God. Let the people know that the Lord has not come. Don’t think you are in that situation and the Lord is smiling at it, no. When the Lord arises, all His enemies shall be scattered before Him.
Some people will say “God, why have you not come? We have been in this situation for the last ten to fifteen years, why haven’t you come?” And the Bible says a thousand years is like a day, and a day a thousand years. So, the last time God came was maybe few seconds ago, and you are like twenty-five years. So, don’t be hopeless, no matter is bigger than God because you must understand why I am talking like this. It says: comfort, yes, comfort my people. What do I do? If God says I should comfort His people, should I do otherwise? God said He would come; all I will say is don’t worry; God is coming. But you must understand the God that you are being comforted around, or comforted with, the one who comfort you.
Now, let's imagine this, and by the way, it is just a li
