By Pastor Jeff Jacobs
Unity Lutheran Parish –
St. Paul, Saetersdal and
St. Matthew’s, Granger
No, that’s not a quote from Scripture, but Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18. And at mid-August, I’m sure many of us feel summer is flying too quickly – again!
The prophet Isaiah had his own spin on transience: “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it” (Is. 40:7). He wasn’t speaking about summer, but the passage of human life, particularly through the troubled times in which he lived.
In the early 6th century B.C., the kingdom of Judah was a small principality between the empires of Egypt and Babylon. Repeatedly warned to seek God’s ways of justice and peace, Judah’s rulers went their own corrupt ways, and when the kingdom fell to Babylon in 586, the surviving people wondered if they were abandoned forever.
“All people are grass,” Isaiah wrote, “their constancy is like the flower of the field” (Is. 40:6b). Whatever “seasons” we find ourselves in, whether the springtime of youth, the summery vigor of middle years, or the advancing autumn of age, we experience similar uncertainties, trials and disappointments. And as a nation, to quote Shakespeare again, we enter a “winter of our discontent” (Richard III, Act 1) with a volatile political climate.
Yet Isaiah also went on to proclaim, “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever” (Is. 40:8). When all seems fleeting, unsure or even hopeless, God’s promises remain. Though the remnant people of Israel endured a long exile, God restored them in time and brought them home.
In our challenging times, may we likewise turn to God in hope, seek God’s will in our hearts, and listen to the word of the Lord in trust, that what comes of our actions does not wither and fade, but stands as a testament to faith, peace and righteousness.