To Be Afflicted and Not Comforted (Isaiah 54)

"O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted..."

I love these words from Isaiah 54.
 
I love them because of where they sit in the midst of a chapter that word after word not only lifts the lowered head, but acknowledges that it is indeed lowered, and knows there was reason.

I love God's heart- the nearness and the dearness of Him- as his response is not just to make a promise, but to acknowledge that life's current reality seems to defy that promise (v.1-3).

I love that he doesn't just say don't be afraid or ashamed, but acknowledges that I have felt both (v. 4-6).

I love that he doesn't just talk about eternal kindness and mercy, but acknowledges that I felt lost...forsaken... unable to find him (v.7-8).

I love that though it should be enough- all the testimony in the Bible, all the testimony in my life- he knows I still need to hear him say that he's not going to change his mind and I'm not able to screw up or fail my way out of this, because to his own heart it is a covenant (v. 9-10).

I love that he speaks so well to the heart that has fallen somewhere between disheveled and destroyed.. to the person left standing in the middle of it all, grief-stricken and tired, asking how and why and what. I love that he knows I am not comforted. And that instead of igniting a righteous indignation in him, he says such a thing as "O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted..".

I love that what follows is to speak of the beauty of what he will build, and that he will use the most precious things. I love that it is by his own hand (v. 11-12). 

I love that he doesn't just promise peace and safety, but acknowledges there will be reason to need that promise fulfilled. (v.13-15).

I love that he acknowledges there are things created to destroy and they'll be intended for my own destruction, and puts power and authority in perspective as he says that whatever man may be creating, He created man. (v.16-17)

Discouragement is not from the Lord. Neither is fear. We are never forsaken, and he is our comforter. But he speaks right to it all anyway, because he knows us. He remembers our frame, that we are dust. And he loves us...