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By: Anneke de Jong
You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.
“For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord your Redeemer.
“To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and Americans literally spent billions of dollars expressing their love for one another. Flowers, chocolates, cards. Not to mention the words spoken and acts of love freely given. It’s a day focused on love. Yet all these expressions of human love pale in comparison to the love of God that we find in the pages of the Bible.
The ancient words of Isaiah 54:10 give us a beautiful picture of God’s love. A love that is stronger, steadier and more reliable than even the constant presence of the mountains and hills, and will last far beyond them. The entire message of the Bible – of God’s covenant love and mercy towards an unloving and unfaithful people - is summed up in these majestic lines:
“Though the mountains be shaken
And the hills be removed
Yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
Nor my covenant of peace be removed.”
Says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10 comes at a pivotal moment in the storyline of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah has been calling out God’s judgement against his people for their sin and disobedience. They have broken their covenant with God and they are facing certain destruction and exile by the Babylonians. But God assures his people that he will still be a covenant-keeping God, even if they are not a covenant-keeping people. Before their punishment is even carried out, God commits to rescuing them. In time, he will soften the heart of Cyrus of Persia, who will allow God’s people to return to their land. (See Ezra 1.)
The words of Isaiah are for us too. We are just like the people of Israel. Every one of us is dead in our sin and disobedience, facing certain exile and destruction. In need of God’s unfailing love and mercy. God’s love and covenant of peace did not end with the exiles’ return to Jerusalem. Hundreds of years later, out of those who returned, came Jesus Christ, the One who would rescue God’s covenant people once and for all. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Through this great demonstration of His love, our compassionate and merciful God has made us alive in Christ. A new covenant of peace has been made. A covenant that, as always, He will keep and one that Christ will keep for us.
Take some time today to contemplate the unfailing love of God. Commit the words of Isaiah 54:10 to memory, letting their promises sink in deep. Even when our lives are shaken and everything secure has been removed, God’s unfailing love will not be shaken and his covenant of peace will not be removed. His love never fails.
God is love and He loves you.