Hope: Life in E Minor and His Promise that Gives Us Strength to Soar

Isaiah 40:27-31 is a familiar verse to many of us, but perhaps less familiar is its larger context inside a pivotal chapter in the book of Isaiah and its connection to our Christmas celebrations. As a child, my loving parents hauled me to performances of Handel's Messiah. The first movement captured my attention with the opening Symphony in E Minor. It is melancholy, but the strings generate energetic hope before the end. I adored the second movement, lifted straight from Isaiah 40:1, "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended . . ." With these first two movements, Handel captures the emotions of a long and painful toiling, a waiting through difficulty and judgment, followed by a message of calm. The entirety of Handel's masterpiece tells the story of Jesus entering a gasping world with divine resources for comfort, reconciliation, and strength. Messiah captures a pivotal point in history when promises will be fulfilled and pathways of redemption secured. Handel astutely turned to Isaiah 40 for the text of several movements, as this chapter likewise signals a pivot in the prophetic book and God's rescue story.

Commentators divide the book of Isaiah between chapters 39 and 40, between God's judgment because of the people's idolatry and God's promise of restoration because of his faithfulness. As we approach this pivot, Isaiah 36 describes the fear-inducing siege prepared by the Assyrians, who cry a horrifying taunt song of how they will overwhelm Jerusalem because no god can "[deliver] his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria" (v. 18). Isaiah 37 shows us King Hezekiah entering the temple and crying out: "O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. . . O LORD our God, save us" (vv. 16, 20). Imagine the scene. There is war in Israel. The enemy has amassed a destructive force at Jerusalem's wall and tells the people they are standing alone and vulnerable. Will they be overwhelmed by the threat before them? Not this day. The king goes before the LORD, reversing the nation's idolatrous past and choosing instead to trust God and acknowledge him as the Creator, as the LORD of all the kingdoms of the earth. Everywhere around him, Hezekiah hears the mournful tones of E minor, but he is going to the temple of God to arouse hope.

In Isaiah 40, we read more about the character of God, the character that King Hezekiah reflected upon in order to cultivate hope.

• He comforts (Isaiah 40:1).
• He makes uneven ground level (Isaiah 40:4).
• His word stands forever (Isaiah 40:8).
• He comes with might (Isaiah 40:10).
• He is gentle with his lambs (Isaiah 40:11).
• He has created with perfect knowledge (Isaiah 40:12-14).
• He alone is God (Isaiah 40:18-26).

And for the one who will turn to the LORD, who will remain anchored to Him, who waits in stubborn hope, there is a promise from God. The promise is strength. The promise is perseverance. The promise is a wind beneath your wings to provide the grace to soar. On this day, Hezekiah refuses to give into fear and despair but leads the people in patient hope. On this day, he fights the good fight of faith.

And for the one who will turn to the LORD, who will remain anchored to Him, who waits in stubborn hope, there is a promise from God. The promise is strength. The promise is perseverance. The promise is a wind beneath your wings to provide the grace to soar.

Hezekiah's choice is a picture for us of deliverance through hope in God, ultimately won for us in Jesus Christ. Our lives are very much like Handel's Messiah. There are parts that feel mournful, repetitive, or chaotic. There are parts that are soothing and tender or energetic and bursting with joy. But Jesus' arrival into our world that we remember and celebrate this Christmas season says we can enter His presence and cultivate hope.

Dr. Mary Flickner serves as the Assistant Professor of Developing a Christian Mind at Dallas Baptist University.