Isaiah 40

is an amazing chapter that paints a portrait of God like no other. He is incomparable. One of the significant themes of the book of Isaiah is the importance of trusting the Lord.

In the middle of this type of exhortation, the recipients of the messages are told that they will be destroyed as a nation and taken away to another country. This would cause considerable questioning on the part of God’s people about the trustworthiness of God.

This chapter sets forth to point out why they should be motivated to trust God in spite of the impending suffering:

v. 1 - 11 The people are comforted because God will deliver them.

v. 12 - 31 The people can trust God because he’s not like anyone else.

The dominant idea here is that of the undeserved grace of God. This is what will motivate the people to trust God, just as was intimated in chapter 12. When God delivers his people without any deserving on their part, they will at last be willing to cast themselves on him without reservation

Oswalt, J. N. (2003). Isaiah (p. 444). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Historical Application:

Hope. It is into a setting just like ours that Isaiah speaks by inspiration. He speaks to people who have lost hope. The impossible has happened. They were sure their nation could not fall, that their temple could not be destroyed, and that their God would not let them down. Yet all that happened. Whatever the future might hold, it would always be one of regret. Yes, God may have acted in the past, for other people, but this situation is beyond him. It is beyond his compassion (“he has forgotten me”), and it is beyond his power (“my way is hidden from him”).

Oswalt, J. N. (2003). Isaiah (p. 454). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

What does it mean to “wait”?

To “wait” on God is not simply to mark time; rather, it is to live in confident expectation of his action on our behalf. It is to refuse to run ahead of him in trying to solve our problems for ourselves. Thus, just as Isaiah called on the people of his own day to trust God to solve their problems, he calls on the exiles in the age to come to do the same thing. If they are worn out and weary, hardly daring to believe that there is any future for them, the God of all strength can give them exactly what they need at the right time, whether to “soar,” “run,” or “walk.”

Oswalt, J. N. (2003). Isaiah (p. 448). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

This hope is an active dependence on God that patiently awaits his timing with confident expectation. This trust in God will replace any false leaning on a person’s own strength. Placing hope in God implies that a spiritual bond exists that allows people to admit their own helplessness and to commit their welfare completely into the hands of his strong power. This act of trust will enable God to replace human weakness with the powerful metaphorical soaring wings of an eagle (cf. ; ). Their weary legs will be transformed into strong legs that run fast; the fainting person will be able to walk for miles. Trust is never easy, but it is the key to unlocking God’s power. Trust enables people to walk the path (40:31) that God has chosen for their lives (whether it be pleasant or unpleasant) without growing weary or wanting to quit.

Smith, G. (2009). (Vol. 15B, p. 122). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.