The 3 "R-s"

This past Wednesday in our weekly Prayer Gathering, we read Isaiah 40 and then practiced “The 3 Rs”—rejoice, repent, request. That is, God spoke to us by his Word, and we responded with prayers of faith. The Lord is up to all kinds of amazing things in Isaiah 40!  Let me draw out just a couple of ways this profound word was applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts in this time of prayer: A life lived for self and not by faith in God is vain—it’s “grass”: All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (40:6-8). So don’t waste your life chasing godless dreams or listening to voices that make much of you and marginalize the King.  A life of true satisfaction and enduring significance is a life lived in humble dependence on God’s Word. God is awesome beyond imagination!  Compared to him, we are but dust, drips, and grasshoppers. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust (40:15). All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness (40:17). It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers (40:22). The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable (40:28). To which our hearts call out in praise to the all-glorious, majestic Lord! And yet, it’s possible to respond to a vision of divine majesty with fear or even despair. God knows we can be tempted toward this grave mistake, so he’s quick to fill out the message and convey the whole story: God is great and good, majestic and merciful. In fact: He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (40:11). What’s more: He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength (40:29). If you are weary or downcast, lift up your eyes to the Lord—and open your ears to his hope-giving Word!