Our Daily Bread Today- Isaiah 40 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Isaiah 40:1-31
Comfort for God's People
1"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. 2"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her in full for all her sins."
3Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the LORD through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. 4Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots. 5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!"
6A voice said, "Shout!" I asked, "What should I shout?" "Shout that people are like the grass that dies away. Their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of flowers in a field. 7The grass withers, and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people. 8The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
9Messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops! Shout louder to Jerusalem—do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, "Your God is coming!" 10Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
12Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed out the mountains and the hills? 13Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to be his teacher or counselor? 14Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction about what is good or what is best? 15No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison with him. They are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands as though they had no weight at all. 16All Lebanon's forests do not contain sufficient fuel to consume a sacrifice large enough to honor him. All Lebanon's sacrificial animals would not make an offering worthy of our God. 17The nations of the world are as nothing to him. In his eyes they are less than nothing—mere emptiness and froth.
18To whom, then, can we compare God? What image might we find to resemble him? 19Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? 20Or is a poor person's wooden idol better? Can God be compared to an idol that must be placed on a stand so it won't fall down?
21Have you never heard or understood? Are you deaf to the words of God—the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. The people below must seem to him like grasshoppers! He is the one who spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. 24They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and their work withers. The wind carries them off like straw.
25"To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
26Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away.
27O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? 28Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. 30Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. 31But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Journalin’~
I was sitting in Target parking lot pulled up by the door awaiting my kids who were to come out any minute now….I stopped to listen to a song, one of the kids’ CD’s was playing. The guy said, freedom is only another perspective away. He sang on that if we put on another lens we may be able to see…He sang about a child’s view in comparison to a parents and then he asked why they are different. The beginning was what caught my ear, he was saying, so what you’re going through is really bad, huh? How bad is it in comparison to the world’s problems? He was not being sarcastic, he was being passionate.
To me this passage is like that.
It takes us up for a better view of God, Our Father. Why do you think it ends, that “they” would mount UP as eagles? Because eagles soar up high, way higher than other birds, they can see from up high too, they can fly high and focus in on prey down below.
The passage was written for us to see from a different view, Freedom is only another perspective away.
Oh Lord God, let us fly up high, so we can see, so we can see You in Your glory, love You as You are, Desire Your will. Receiving Your love, seeing other’s pains and reaching out to heal them all, as Jesus did, and left us here to do also. Holy Spirit thank you for the power of Jesus he left behind for us to live, move, walk and have our beings here on earth- Today.
Thank you for your strength today.
Thank you for A God- View today!

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.