Isaiah 40:25-31
Chapter 40
Lift up your eyes and see: Who created all this? He has ordered them as a starry host and called them each by name. So mighty is his power, so great his strength, that not one of them is missing.
God’s Controversy With the People
How can you say, O Jacob, how can you complain, O Israel, that your destiny is hidden from me, that your rights are ignored by the Lord?
Have you not known, have you not heard that the Lord is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not grow tired or weary, his knowledge is without limit.
He gives strength to the enfeebled, he gives vigor to the wearied.
Youth may grow tired and faint, young men will stumble and fall,
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle’s wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire.
Commentaries
God’s Controversy With the Idols – God’s Controversy With the People.
In the ancient Middle East, a nation’s power was believed to come from the strength of its gods. Therefore, many Israelites held captive in Babylon doubted God’s power when they compared him to Marduk and other Mesopotamian idols. In an apologetic and ironic tone, the prophet emphasizes the creative power of the one God and the depth of his spirit (cf. Job 38). People need to realize that, despite its grandeur, Babylon and its idols are not eternal realities. Only God, who knows the thousands of stars by name, is everlasting (cf. Job 38:31-33) and has the power to renew our strength.