from one grasshopper to another

An oft-quoted verse:  

"Even youths grow tired and weary, 

   and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint."

This is a fantastic verse, and I love to feel refreshed by it, but I've realized it is much more powerful in context. (Isaiah 40) Recently I read this chapter, and I was floored.  

Isaiah 40 starts off with bad times coming for the nation of Israel. The Israelites are going to be oppressed (again), because of their king's foolish mistake.

The king flaunted what he had.
All of it. Every single golden coin was shown with flourish to a powerful potential enemy.
A powerful potential enemy who would like some extra gold. 

...major oops. 

God promises that He will redeem and comfort the Israelites, and that He will be glorified. 

Then, God starts to remind the reader of who He is by asking a few thought-provoking rhetorical questions:

 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, or with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens? 

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 

 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instructs the LORD as his counselor? 

 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way? 

Who was it that taught Him knowledge, or showed Him the path of understanding?

  Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; 

they are regarded as dust on the scales; 

He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. 

 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, 

 nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 

Before him all the nations are as nothing; 

   they are regarded by him as worthless 

   and less than nothing.

 With whom, then, will you compare God? 

   To what image will you liken Him? 

As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, 

   and a goldsmith overlays it with gold 

   and fashions silver chains for it. 

A person too poor to present such an offering 

   selects wood that will not rot; 

they look for a skilled worker 

   to set up an idol that will not topple.

Do you not know? 

Have you not heard? 

Has it not been told you from the beginning? 

Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, 

and its people are like grasshoppers. 

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, 

   and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 

He brings princes to naught 

   and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 

No sooner are they planted, 

   no sooner are they sown, 

   no sooner do they take root in the ground, 

than He blows on them and they wither, 

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

 “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: 

Who created all these? 

He who brings out the starry host one by one 

and calls forth each of them by name. 

Because of his great power and mighty strength, 

 not one of them is missing."

If you don't feel like a speck after reading this, then check out the picture below. 

Have you seen it? Chances are, you have. It's been around since 1990, when the Voyager took a panoramic picture of our solar system and sent it back to Earth. 

It hurts my brain when I try to wrap my mind around just how insignificant it makes humans. (those little white lines are pointing to us)

Carl Sagan had this to say about the picture [I don't agree with much of what he says, but here he has a point]:

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam." 

We're but a mote of dust in the grand scheme of things. And yet, for all of our insignificance, God cares for every person who ever lived with a tender, unfathomable love. Earlier in Isaiah 40, it reads:  


"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."

He holds us close to His heart. He is gentle, tender and caring. 

Then comes the kicker for me. The end part of this passage that has been set up perfectly and almost screams, "Hey Makenzie! I think you need to see this!!": 

"Why do you complain, Jacob? 

   Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
   my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do you not know?
 Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint."

I do complain like the nation of Israel did. I whine about not knowing exactly where I fit in, thinking that my way is hidden...I get bogged down in the details of day-to-day living. 

I love Isaiah 40 because it lets me step back and get a peek at the infinitesimal person I am and the huge, infinite God I serve and belong to.  

It's a total wake-up call. 

A wake-up call to remember.