When the Going Gets Tough … Let Faith in YHVH Arise to Carry You Onward!

Isaiah 40–41

Isaiah 40:27–41:16,The Soncino Edition Pentateuch introduces its commentary to this Haftorah portion as follows:

The Sedrah [Parashah] opens with the call of Abraham and [YHVH] bidding, “Be thou a blessing” unto all the families of the earth. Such, likewise declares the great Prophet of Consolation, is the Divine charge to the Children of Abraham. Israel, suffering in Exile, might well despair of the fulfilment of the Divine promise, nay, even of God’s remembrance of that promise. The Prophet stills such questionings. In God, Israel has the source of inexhaustible strength. The everlasting God will not fail to carry through His great purposes for mankind through Israel His servant, the child of “Abraham, My friend.”

How firmly do you believe this? When the daily rigors and routine of life take their toll on you, your faith wanes, your upward look dims, the joy of your salvation diminishes, your first love for Yeshua lessens, and your hope in YHVH’s promises for your life is tarnished, what do you do? What is your reaction and response? Do you call to remembrance the ongoing faithfulness of YHVH to his promises and to his Word as Isaiah here encourages us to do?

Isaiah 40:27, My way is hid from YHVH. Is YHVH hiding from us, or have we walked away from him, and in reality he is there all along? Abraham might well have despaired when he left the cosmopolitan comforts of Ur and vacated to a sandbox piece of land on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. He might have despaired when the land YHVH promised him did not come immediately into his possession, when he even had to flee the land promised him because of famine, when he waited for about two decades to have a son through whom YHVH’s promises would be fulfilled, and upon the death of his wife he had to purchase, at a premium price, a burial plot in the very land that YHVH had promised to him decades before. Yet he overcame the despair to become the Father of the Faithful, and an example to us all. What can we learn from Abraham? (Read Heb 11:8–19.)

Isaiah 40:28, Have you not known? Abraham was in exile in a foreign land, and so was Israel during its captivity. We are spiritual exiles in a foreign land called spiritual Babylon awaiting our spiritual inheritance. While enduring the rigors and ignominy of exiled status, the fear can arise that one has been forgotten by YHVH. When this situation arises, what does Isaiah counsel us to do? We are called to remember the very character of YHVH, the Set-Apart One of Israel. That simple act opens up a reservoir of divine enablement and upliftment that will begin pouring into our lives. (Read verses 29–31.)

Isaiah 41:2ff, Who raised up the righteous one from the east.This is enigmatic and confusing language. Some commentators say this is referring to Abraham (e.g., ArtScroll Chumash, Adam Clarke in his commentary), some say it refers to Cyrus, the Persian king who liberated the Jews and allowed the to return to Israel (Ibn Ezra, Soncino Pentateuch), and some see it as a reference to both (Matthew Henry in his commentary). Regardless of whom Isaiah is referring to here, what is the bottom line message? (Read through verse 5 and then start again in verse 8 and continue to verse 16 for the answer.) What major attributes of YHVH are being emphasized here? Notice some of the key phrases in these verses that speak of YHVH’s sovereignty:

Who accomplished it?

I am YHVH … I will be the same.

The islands saw and feared.

Israel … whom I have chosen.

I have summoned you.

You are my servant, I have chosen you.

Now look at some key phrases that speak of YHVH’s tender mercy:

I have … not despised you.

Fear not for I am with you.

I have strengthened you … even helped you, even supported you with my righteous right hand.

I shall be your help … your Redeemer.

Now look at what YHVH promises to do to the enemies of his people who would prevent them from receiving YHVH’s promises:

All who are angry with you shall be shamed and humiliated, those who contend with you shall be like nothing and shall perish.

You shall seek them but not find them.

The men who struggle with you; they shall be like utter nothingness.

(Read Verses 15–16.)

This is what YHVH promises to those who walk with him and trust in him as Abraham did.

To whom is YHVH making these promises? As we have studied in the previous two Haftorah portions, there is only one nation to whom YHVH primarily is directing all of Isaiah’s prophesies. Who is that nation today? Who is the seed of Abraham today? (Read Gal 3:29 for starters! Then read Eph 2:11–19.) What call is YHVH sending forth to his people at this very moment? He is calling them to come out of exile to Babylon (Read Rev 18:4). Is your life presently being shaken and turned upside down? Is YHVH separating the wheat from the chaff in your spiritual life? Are you passing through the fires of refinement and being given a new direction and purpose in life, a fresh start and a new beginning? Are the old religious paradigms fading away and new ones arising where YHVH is demanding of you a higher, more righteous, more obedient, and a more intimate walk with him? Can you trust YHVH’s leading? Is he strong enough to vanquish your enemies, meet your needs and bring you into your promised inheritance? For you, that is a yes or no question. If you answer yes, then trust and obey him as you go forward as Israelites—as the seed of Abraham.

 

4 thoughts on “When the Going Gets Tough … Let Faith in YHVH Arise to Carry You Onward!

  1. When things become difficult and Elohim’s Words hard to understand, I can only repeat what Peter said to Yeshua after He asked the twelve “Don’t you want to leave too?”
    “Lord, to whom would we go? YOU have the word of eternal life.” (John 6:67, 68 )
    Shalom, Sonja

  2. Shallom to All

    When we are feeling like we are dying in this world of pains & sorrows & the death is excruciatingly slow, it is the flesh often not wanting to let go that holds from understanding how to trust more completely.
    It is hard to leave and be in a better place when we hold onto two things at once.
    Confusions are the dwelling place of testing a divided heart as to Whom we will trust to follow.
    May we always get to the place of walking towards His care or falling into it even in our lack understanding & desperation.

    Shavua Tov
    Stay healthy even as the lock down is lifted. Be alert

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