Here Is Your God!

Zion is told to rise and proclaim the good news without fear: 'Here is your God.' The Lord GOD is coming with might and reward, yet His strength is not harsh abstraction, because He gathers lambs, carries them close to His heart, and gently leads the nursing ewes like a shepherd wholly attentive to His flock.

G⁹o up on a high mountain, ¹⁰Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, ¹¹He tends His flock like a shepherd;

A series of questions then magnifies God's unmatched greatness: He measures oceans, heavens, dust, mountains, and hills effortlessly, while no one directs His Spirit or tutors His wisdom. Against such majesty the nations shrink to a drop in a bucket, dust on a scale, and less than nothing before Him, while even Lebanon could not furnish adequate fuel or sacrifice for His worth.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, ¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, ¹⁴Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, ¹⁵Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; ¹⁶Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, ¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him;

The prophet then exposes the absurdity of idolatry by asking what likeness could possibly compare to God, while artisans labor to fashion lifeless substitutes from gold, silver, or durable wood. By contrast, the true God sits enthroned above the earth, stretches out the heavens like a tent, reduces princes to nothing, and calls out the stars by number and name, so that none escape His sustaining power.

¹⁸To whom will you liken God? ¹⁹To an idol that a craftsman casts ²⁰One lacking such an offering ²¹Do you not know? ²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; ²³He brings the princes to nothing ²⁴No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, ²⁵“To whom will you liken Me, ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high:

Finally the chapter answers Jacob's complaint that his way is hidden from God by reminding him that the LORD is the everlasting Creator whose understanding cannot be searched out and whose strength never fails. Because He gives power to the faint, even vigorous youths collapse when left to themselves, but those who wait on the LORD are renewed so deeply that they soar, run, and walk without being destroyed by weariness.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, ²⁸Do you not know? ²⁹He gives power to the faint ³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary, ³¹But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;