Lately, many people are commenting on the deterioration of our country and the world around us. All looks hopeless, which was our topic last month, so let’s continue with that line of thought.

America continues to decline as more and more of our politicians deny God, and numerous others have set Him on the back burner to ignore. Two of our last three presidents have had no genuine belief in God as they have made decisions contrary to God's teaching. Is this the fault of the politicians? Not really, because they are the result of elections by voters that have turned their backs on God. Is it any wonder our politicians are godless? Another way we see America’s decline is the lack of respect for law and authority as police are under attack and crime has increased in many of our cities.

The world scene is also deteriorating as Russia, at the time of this writing, has begun invading Ukraine – also a result of our country’s lack of resolve from our government leaders. And there’s more disturbing news as we’ve witnessed China’s and Russia’s alliance. It appears the world is closing in on our country, but the bad news doesn't end there. A few hundred miles to our north, we see Canada looking more and more socialistic as their leaders refuse to permit freedom of speech and religion.

If you're a student of the Bible, you'll recognize the Old Testament scene of Israel's disobedience to God. After leading them out of Egypt to their Promised Land, God promised them health, wealth, and prosperity if they simply obeyed Him, but the nation continually turned their backs on God and suffered deeply for their sins. Time after time, God let another country overtake Israel when they sinned, but He miraculously led them to freedom upon their repentance. Eventually, God said, "Enough," and raised Assyria and Babylon, two evil nations who conquered His chosen people and led them into captivity. When we see God’s punishment upon disobedient and defiant Israel, we ask ourselves, “How long will God tolerate America’s sins?”

Around the time Babylon conquered Israel, God raised up several prophets to demonstrate His guidance in their great time of upheaval. These prophets delivered terrible news for the sins of their nation, but they also brought good news of the future of repentant Israel. While we must remember that those prophecies were for God’s chosen people from which He eventually brought Jesus into the world, those same prophecies give today’s Church great hope for our future. The prophecies are of great encouragement for us as we see our nation and the world deteriorate.

Let's go to the prophet, Isaiah, and read the good news God gave him for the Israelite people. Let’s let God’s Word from Isaiah, chapter 40, encourage and embolden the Church today as we witness the crumbling of freedom around us.  

¹ Comfort, comfort my people,

says your God.

² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and proclaim to her

that her hard service has been completed,

that her sin has been paid for,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

³ A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare

the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

a highway for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level,

the rugged places a plain.

⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,

and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the Lord blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God endures forever.”

⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,

go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem,

lift up your voice with a shout,

lift it up, do not be afraid;

say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,

and he rules with a mighty arm.

See, his reward is with him,

and his recompense accompanies him.

¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them close to his heart;

he gently leads those that have young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on the scales

and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,

or instruct the Lord as his counselor?

¹⁴ Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,

and who taught him the right way?

Who was it that taught him knowledge,

or showed him the path of understanding?

¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales;

he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,

nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;

they are regarded by him as worthless

and less than nothing.

¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?

To what image will you liken him?

¹⁹ As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and fashions silver chains for it.

²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering

selects wood that will not rot;

they look for a skilled worker

to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²³ He brings princes to naught

and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

²⁴ No sooner are they planted,

no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take root in the ground,

than he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?

Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord;

my cause is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

³¹ but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

^[1]

- Isaiah 40 (NIV)

Love you & God Bless,

Kenny

^[1] The New International Version (Is 40:1–41:1). (2011). Zondervan.