Here is your God!

Isaiah 40 : 1 - 11

...the Sovereign Lord comes with power....he gathers the lambs in his arms, he carries them close to his heart

It is always important to ask ourselves what our image of God is. As we faithfully journey on, we will see new and beautiful facets of who he is....even though we never come to a 'perfect' knowledge this side of heaven. I have been reading "The Wisdom of Tenderness" by Brennan Manning. In this book, he says, and I agree, that in order to love others well, we need to have accepted the tenderness of God for ourselves. From time to time, it is good to ask ourselves how well we have accepted God's mighty and yet tender love into our own lives.

Chapters 40 to 55 of the book of Isaiah carries "Comfort" for God's people. After their years of exile, the voice of the prophet proclaims God's coming...when the glory of the Lord will be revealed. God intervenes in human history to redeem his creatures. Th ancient Hebrew people had suffered under the power of the Babylonians. But their power, like that of all humankind fades like the grass and flowers of the field. God's word, his plan and promise to redeem will stand forever.

We have here a marvelous image of our God who is powerful - to tear down human strongholds and rebuild on his holy mountain; yet one who is gentle and tender in his care of the weak.

We humans tend to focus on one aspect or the other. We rightly claim the power of our God but sometimes mistakenly expect him to see things as we do - we would rather that he demonstrate his strong arm of justice here and now. But just over 2000 years ago, he came in way that was totally unexpected. His own people did not recognize him. He came to show us that God's power and might need not always manifest in strong-armed ways. There are times when God comes in gentle ways, to tend his 'flock', to gather the 'lambs' in his arms, to carry them close to his heart and gently lead 'those that have young'. There are times in our lives when we feel vulnerable, when we feel like 'lambs', like 'those that have young'; like the needy ones. This Advent we await a God who is powerful yet tender in his care.