God used Isaiah to encourage the people of Israel to return to him before it was too late. For the first 39 chapters the message is "condemnation and judgment" but beginning with chapter 40 the message changes to one of "comfort and hope". Reading Isa 49:8-12 in The Message, I was struck by the words, "compassionate one".
That feels familiar to me. For the first 30+ years of my journey a lot of it felt like condemnation and judgment. But God is the compassionate one, he always has been. Religion obscures what we see, making God seem to be something he is not.
This passage is the one Jesus read from when he began his ministry, he entered the synagogue and they handed him the scroll of Isaiah and he made it clear that the passage was about him. His purpose - to proclaim good news to the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed - us.
God is the compassionate one. Hundreds of years before the exile and the punishment, he's already delivering a message of redemption. When it comes to compassion, mine is erratic at best, but God's is complete.
The other day we were driving on the highway when we came to an on-ramp and this car was coming along side with the intention of merging into traffic. The person was talking on their cell phone and not paying much attention to their need to slow down or speed up in order to slot into the traffic. I couldn't move over because there was a truck passing me, and I didn't want to adjust my speed. When the driver finally realized I was right there and it was too late to speed up to get in front of me so he had to slam on his brakes.
My wife's reaction was what I should have expected, "tell me she said, how is it that you can stop to help someone who's broken down on the road or out of gas but you couldn't slow down for that guy"?
What is that about Lord? There are times when I feel whole and undivided and junk like that doesn't happen but then there are other times when I feel divided and do stupid things like that.
I think it's about competition. It's like when you're standing in a line and someone distractedly step in front of you. Do you just let it happen or not? In the Isa 49 passage, God says through Isaiah, it's OK, you don't have to worry, you don't have to compete, I'll be there for you:
'It's all right. It's safe now.'
There will be food stands along all the roads,
picnics on all the hills—
Nobody hungry, nobody thirsty,
shade from the sun, shelter from the wind,
For the Compassionate One guides them,
takes them to the best springs.
I'll make all my mountains into roads,
turn them into a superhighway.
We don't need to compete, the Compassionate One has our backs - "it's all right, it's safe now".
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