UNLIMITED

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. Isaiah 40:28

There I am, sitting in the shopping mall food court, my body tense and my stomach knotted over looming work deadlines. As I unwrap my burger and take a bite, people rush around me, fretting over their own tasks. How limited we all are, I think to myself, limited in time, energy, and capacity.

I consider writing a new to-do list and prioritizing the urgent tasks, but as I pull out a pen another thought enters my mind: a thought of One who is infinite and unlimited, who effortlessly accomplishes all that He desires.

This God, Isaiah says, can measure the oceans in the hollow of His hand and collect the dust of the earth in a basket (Isaiah 40:12). He names the stars of the heavens and directs their path (v. 26), knows the rulers of the world and oversees their careers (v. 23), considers islands mere specks of dust and the nations like drops in the sea (v. 15). “To whom will you compare me?” He asks (v. 25). “The Lord is the everlasting God,” Isaiah replies. “He will not grow tired or weary” (v. 28).

Stress and strain are never good for us, but on this day they deliver a powerful lesson. The unlimited God is not like me. He accomplishes everything He wishes. I finish my burger, and then pause once more. And silently worship.

Read: Isaiah 40:21-28 (NIV)

21 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?^a

Has it not been told^b you from the beginning?^c

Have you not understood^d since the earth was founded?^e

22 He sits enthroned^f above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.^g

He stretches out the heavens^h like a canopy,ⁱ

and spreads them out like a tent^j to live in.^k

23 He brings princes^l to naught

and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.^m

24 No sooner are they planted,

no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take rootⁿ in the ground,

than he blows^o on them and they wither,^p

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.^q

25 “To whom will you compare me?^r

Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.^s

26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:^t

Who created^u all these?

He who brings out the starry host^v one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,^w

not one of them is missing.^x

27 Why do you complain, Jacob?

Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord;

my cause is disregarded by my God”?^y

28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?^z

The Lord is the everlasting^a God,

the Creator^b of the ends of the earth.^c

He will not grow tired or weary,^d

and his understanding no one can fathom.^e

INSIGHT

1. How will you draw on God’s unlimited strength today? (vv. 29–31). 
2. In the midst of your tasks and deadlines, how will you pause to worship the infinite One?

Isaiah contains the fullest revelation of Christ in the Old Testament. So much so, that this book is sometimes referred to as the “gospel according to Isaiah.” In Isaiah 40, the author paints a majestic picture of God as the powerful Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and earth. Compared to Him, we’re “like grasshoppers” (v. 22). Yet even though He can bring “the rulers of this world to nothing” (v. 23), like the starry host, He calls those who love and follow Him by name (v. 26; see 43:1). This holy, eternal “high and exalted One . . . [lives] with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the . . . heart of the contrite” (57:15).

PRAYER

Loving God, You’re the unlimited One who’ll accomplish all You’ve promised. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!

Read: Isaiah 40:21-28 (NIV)  | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 3-4; Galatians 6