Isaiah is such an amazing chapter of the Bible. It’s full of nasty and dark and depressing things, but the most incredible rays of undimmable light shine through.
Isaiah lived and prophesied in hard times … Israel was declining and its enemies were gaining strength. The government (in the person of the king) was not true to the Jewish faith, and the people were falling away. Sounds something like today, at least for the church in North America.
Isaiah 40:7-8:
The grass withers and the flowers fail,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fail,
but the Word of the Lord stands forever.
The people are grass – the nations are grass – the great of the world are grass – I am grass. Here today and gone tomorrow. But God (don’t a lot of really good things start with “but God?”) and His Word will stand forever.
Everything I do and everything I am is temporal and temporary … except what I do for Him.