Isaiah 40:12-20 – God is all-knowing and all-powerful

In Isaiah 40:12-31, we see a description of the greatness of God. He had promised that a remnant of Judah would be delivered from their Babylonian exile and return to their homeland. The purpose of these verses then is clearly to inspire confidence in this God. Here Isaiah painted a portrait of the great God. As we interact with this presentation of God, we can see why this God alone deserves our total trust and allegiance. Know that He alone deserves our worship and service. In our reflection today, we will explore verses 12-20.  

Two attributes of God are revealed in verses 12-20. Firstly, God is all-knowing. Verse 12 tells us that He alone holds the water of the whole earth with the palm of His hand, and measures the length and breadth of the earth. Besides, He alone knows how much dust there is on earth and how heavy every mountain truly is. Verses 13-14 say that He knows everything about everyone, so He needs no one’s guide or counsel. Secondly, verses 15-17 tell us that He is all-powerful. All the nations in comparison with Him are collectively only a drop of water in a bucket and a small and insignificant speck of dust on the weighing scale. Verse 16 says that so great is He that there is no sacrifice enough to offer to Him. Even if all the woods and animals in the forests of Lebanon were to be presented as one big burnt-offering to Him, they collectively would still be too insignificant a sacrifice for such a great God.

So great is this God that verses 18-20 tell us not to compare Him with a man-made idol. It would be a great insult and a gross injustice to attempt to fashion Him into the likeness of an idol made with destructible materials. How could anyone ever make a perfect idol that would never stumble? It is guaranteed that everyone who trusts in man-made idols would be destroyed.  

 

The thought here is that we worship and serve a great God. Because He is all-knowing, He understands all that we are going through in this life. Because He is all-powerful, He can take us through the toughest circumstance of life. We may not know what our tomorrow will hold but we know that He holds our tomorrow in His hand. What a  deep assurance to know that our unknown tomorrow is safe in the hands of the all-knowing and all-powerful God. He is our help and our salvation. So learn to rejoice in all circumstances and to give thanks to Him in everything!