Isaiah 49:13-16a * July 29, 2007 * Pentecost 9 * Missionary Rob Wendland

Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, Lord, that we may know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints. Amen. The text for our consideration today is Isaiah 49:13-16a.

I ducked low to enter the doorway of the small hut and waited for my eyes to adjust to the gloom. There were no windows in this hut because it was a place built for one purpose – as a place to die. After a few moments I could see her, one of my members, lying on a mat on the floor, her face twisted in agony, cancer in her belly. After I had finished my work at our church in Muhapokwa the elders had told me that we should visit this lady and give her her final communion. I led a devotion, shared the Word with her, encouraged her in Christ, gave her communion, lifted her to the Lord in prayer. When I visited the congregation a month later, she had already been laid to rest, the elders of the congregation conducting the funeral.

In Africa, it seems, we’re a lot closer to death, much more aware of the process, how close it can be for anyone of us. But obviously, it happens here too and when it does, even after a long illness, it is no less a shock. By the bedside of a 90 year old lady with only hours to live, this time in a hospital room in Milwaukee, WI, with a mist over her eyes her sister reminisced, “It seems just like yesterday & we were little girls playing out in the fields.” 90 years…and it was ‘just yesterday.’

Times like these and other difficult times of life force us to think. If 90 years is like yesterday and then we’re gone, what really is the purpose of life, can there really be more than this, does God really have a plan, can He really make good come from this? And at those times Satan will come to test us, & he’ll come with even harder questions and accusations – “God does not love you. God has forgotten you. You are abandoned. You are on your own. And this is the evidence.”

In the Word of God before us today, we hear that exact accusation against God…and we also hear His exquisitely beautiful response. In that response God lifts our eyes and hearts to see that our home isn’t here but with Him. “Are you Feeling Homesick?” Isaiah 49:13-16a:

Shout for joy, O heavens;

rejoice, O earth;

burst into song, O mountains!

For the Lord comforts his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

Isaiah was looking into the future and prophesying a future for that future. The northern kingdom of Israel had just been destroyed, wiped off the face of the earth, by Assyria. The southern kingdom of Judah had survived only by miraculous intervention of God – in one night the angel of the Lord took the lives of 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp as they slept outside of Jerusalem’s walls. A fantastic victory, but led by the Spirit Isaiah knew that, now the crisis was over, most in Judah would abandon the Lord who had saved them & would go back to their idol-worshipping ways. Many would fall from faith in the coming Messiah. So, to preserve His people & His Promise, the Lord would raise up another nation, another super power – Babylon. And this time Jerusalem, Zion, would fall. It would be sacked and burned, many of its inhabitants carried away to the shores of the Tigris & Euphrates rivers. There God’s people would live as slaves. And in their new, bitter life they would have time to think about all they had lost…and remember the promises of God. To these devastated people, these words are written.

So let’s examine them…but let’s start, not with verse 13 because it is part of the previous section of verses and really records the response to God’s faithfulness. We’ll get to verse 13 but we’ve got a journey to make together before we get there. Let’s use verses 14-16 to do it. V. 14:

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

The accusation. If you’re following along in your Bible you’ll notice that, actually, two names for God are mentioned here. In other words the accusation is, “The God of free and faithful love has forsaken me, the God of awesome might has forgotten me.” God no longer loves me and His sovereign power has failed for me. Sometimes it feels as if we are rock solid, we’ve got everything in focus, eyes on Christ…but at others, the questions come. Maybe on their heels even the accusation, “God, you must have left me; you couldn’t be letting me go through this if you really loved me!” It might be at a big tragedy like I mentioned before – the death of a loved one, a child; an accident which maims, loss of property or wealth. But sometimes we are challenged, not by the big tragedies of life, but by the little ones. Those are the ones that get to us every day of our lives – they come and the come to erode faith over time. Frustrations, setbacks – bad traffic, things not going as planned, stress, working hard at something and not even receiving a thanks, poor results over hard work. For us in Africa – witchcraft. Witchcraft weaves its way into every aspect of a person’s life in Malawi. So much of our adult information class is taken up with talking about witchcraft, where its power comes from (the devil), and using God’s Word to armor the person up. When they join the Lutheran Church of Central Africa all members confess faith in Christ and renounce witchcraft. Then, one day, when you invite all the confirmed members of the congregation up for the Lord’s Supper you notice a young mother coming forward with a child on her hip. When the child gets closer you notice the chitumwa – charm. In essence this mother is saying, “I believe witchcraft has more power to save than Jesus; the devil protects better than Christ. And you think, “How can you do that after all the work we’ve done?!” For a foreign missionary – adjusting to a foreign land, foreign place, foreign culture, foreign way of thinking. You see, whether we’re there or here there are so many little things that can get to us and can lead us to question, “Why keep trying? God, why are things working out like this?”

So is the accusation valid? Is it true? How did our wonderful God respond?

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”

Luther translated this, “Is it possible for a woman to forget her little child, does a woman ever forget the baby she has nursed? And even if she may forget, I never will.” Words just can’t describe this. God compares His love for His people to the warm, unconditional, solid love that a mother has for her children. Look, here I am, a man, telling you, so many of whom are women, about the love you have for your kids. You tell me. Moms, is it possible for you to tear your children out of your heart, to forget them, to abandon them and be completely unconcerned about how they are? Now that you’re thinking about the love that you have for your children you’re just starting to get a taste of how much God loves His children – you and me. Because he goes on. Even if love itself should get turned on its head and every mother in the world should somehow abandon their own children and babies; God will never abandon us; His own, dearly, dearly loved. Amazing! It is a love that is so deep and wide and faithful and free that we can’t comprehend it. That is His love for you and me.

As if we needed further proof, God continues:

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

The practice at the time Isaiah spoke was to tattoo a name or symbol of a loved one on the hands so they were never forgotten. God is saying that when He looks at his hands He thinks of His people – His thoughts are always for His people & His heart is always concerned for our welfare. Not only that – hands are the part of your body that carry out action. All of God’s purposes and plans, His rule and control of the history of the world have been for us – to bring Christ into the world, to save that world, and to bring His people of all time safely home. What an image – we are engraved on God’s hands – especially when put next to the “engraving” that those very hands received when the Savior was nailed to the cross; hands nailed to wood, hell shouldered at the same time – those nail holes a powerful reminder of just how much He loves you and me and just how far He would go to save us, His people. Can He ever forget you? Could He ever abandon you? The answer is a resounding, “No way! Never! It is not possible!”

And now v. 13.

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Not only us but all the earth rejoices in God’s mercy – we fall on our knees and praise God. Overwhelmed by His love we give Him thanks and say, “Lord, my whole life is yours. Use me as your witness.” We stand in awe as we see that God has caused His saving Name to be heard to the ends of the earth. Millions are being saved. WELS World Missions is a small example of His saving work.

The problem is not that God forgets, the problem is that sometimes we forget that our home is not here. God has given us so many blessings in this life but sometimes we can take those blessings for granted and become too comfortable in this life. We forget that everything here is temporary because of sin and, because it is, God in His love has prepared a permanent home for us, a real home that will never perish or spoil or fade but will last an eternity of perfection; us wrapped in the loving arms of our Savior God. How much needless sadness we put ourselves though when our heart is set less on Him and more on things in this ruined world.

I figure that, in my life so far, I have flown about 351,000 miles. That’s enough to get to the moon and be half way back. That means that I have obviously spent a lot of time in airports. Did you ever notice something about an airport – everyone is in transit – the airport is not the final destination. Making our home in this world, getting attached to what it has to offer, is like unpacking our suitcases at the airport. Sure we can enjoy the journey but we’re not home yet.

Sometimes people ask, “How can you be a missionary – leave friends & family and go to a foreign place?” Let me answer like this. The saying is ‘Home is where the heart is.’ So where is your home? Wauwatosa, where you live now, your hometown, …or heaven. If heaven, because of Christ, then we’re only in transit here. If heaven, we are only strangers here. If heaven, we can cross continents, oceans, seas, leave love ones behind for a time – because when we get home the troubles of the journey will be forgotten. If it is heaven, we can put the frustrations of this life in context – they’re soon gone. And if it is heaven we have hope even on the darkest, most shocking of days – even those loved ones we have lost to this life, in Christ, we will see again. In fact, His loving hands have led them home. Oh yes, our hearts will ache & we will miss them dearly as we remain and battle on here, but our Loving Lord has promised to bear even those heavy burdens with & for us. So we can say with the Apostle Paul:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

‘Missionary’ – the title applies not only to those who cross oceans & continents but also for you in your neighborhood and congregation. When you know God’s love for you in Jesus you become homesick…but not for anything here, but to be home with the Lord. And you want to take as many people as possible with you. Members at St. John’s; for all of your work – thank you. For all of your support – thank you. For all your patience – thank-you. Your faithful service is so appreciated. Our church needs you for without healthy home congregations and mission work we can have no foreign missions either. I pray that you all are able to leave this service reenergized and refocused – now continue to serve as a missionary where the Lord has placed you. Time is short & we are all in transit. Soon our final flight number will be called and our journey will be over. And then we’ll hear from the Lord Himself, “My dear child how I love you! I bought you with my own blood and I have never forgotten you.” And then we’ll see with our own eyes those powerful & loving hands which have led us safely home. Amen.