Comfort for God’s People

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God.” –Isaiah 40:1

Please find a quiet place, a place where you meet God daily, still your mind and soul before Him, and, ask the Holy Spirit to be your teacher and guide. Please read all of Isaiah, Chapter 40. Between verse 1 and verse 31 which reads “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” we find a veritable treasure of God speaking to us today from the ancient prophet Isaiah and the inspired Word of God. With inimitable poetry and deep thoughts Isaiah comforted.

A brief devotional cannot teach the significant truths of this chapter by the prophet Isaiah. But here is the situation: Isaiah is divided into two major divisions. Chapters 1-39 were historically set in the 8th century BC and chapters 40-66 were set two centuries later in the 6th century BC. Scholars still argue over whether the prophecy of Isaiah was written by “two Isaiah’s” two centuries apart, or whether one Isaiah who wrote in the inspiration of the Spirit could forthsee (fortell) what would be happening two hundred years later when the nation of Israel would be living as exiles in Babylon (the setting for chapters 40-66). He even forsaw one “crying in the wilderness,” a prediction of the ministry of John the Baptist before Christ began his public ministry (v. 3)!

I awoke this morning with Isaiah 40:1 going through my mind. I prepared for my devotional, and after praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit, I was blessed first by reading this amazing “comfort” chapter in the beautiful, majestic King James Version. My old dog-eared Bible has so many verses in this chapter underlined with notes in the margins. Then I read it from the New Century Version, and third from the New International Version (with comments in The Disciples’ Study Bible). Time precludes my telling the blessing this quiet and absorbing reading has been. And as I finished, my dear friend and pastor of senior adults/music at FBC McCaysville, Rev. Harry Gilbert, called to encourage me and to pray with me by telephone.
Talk about “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people!” How ministers and Christian friends are finding me at the point of my need and following God’s command to comfort! To God be the glory! And now, Lord, as I go out today, help me to comfort others in Jesus’ name. Amen.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Tuesday, January 26, 2010