No Place for God?

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
for all her sins.”

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!”

6 A voice said, “Shout!”
I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.
Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your God is coming!”
10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Some time ago a chaplain at a public university heard one of the administrators saying, “No offense, but I think anyone who believes in God has a mental health problem. God has no place in a scientific institution such as a university.”

That administrator is not alone. An article in a church magazine reported that a group of students who were studying theology at a German university were convinced that “neither God nor the church were of much relevance today.” Even though they were baptized members of Lutheran and Reformed churches, they felt that God had become irrelevant.

Some of the people I know have come to the same conclusion: If there is a God, he is far away and no longer matters.

About 2,700 years ago God’s people in Jerusalem and Judah felt the same way. Many of their people had been taken into exile, and it seemed that the Lord had abandoned them. But God told his ­prophet Isaiah to remind them that he was with them every step of the way. Regardless of what anyone might think, God is here, and he is at work in our world still today. Some 700 years after Isaiah spoke, God proved his presence through the birth of his Son, the Lord Jesus. He “moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message). Don’t think for a moment that God has become irrele­vant. Our God is here!

Father in heaven, thank you for showing your presence through the coming of our Lord Jesus. Open our hearts to receive him as our Savior. Amen.