In the message Sunday, we considered weighing present suffering against future glory. One way to do this is to meditate on God Himself since He is the great prize of glory. I suggested Isaiah 40-48 that a great place to start. In this article, we’ll take a brief look at one divine attribute showcased in the opening passage of that section: God’s self-sufficiency.
One theologian, Bruce Ware, has defined self-sufficiency this way: “God possesses within Himself intrinsically and eternally every excellent quality in infinite measure.” Man can glorify God and bring Him joy (Isa 43:7; Eph 1:11-12), but we must be careful not to think of God as needing anything from us. This is contrary to our impulse to make much of ourselves. However, God’s self-sufficiency is a precious truth and one that should cause us to long for glory.
Isaiah 40:1 reveals that what follows—a depiction of God’s self-sufficiency—is intended to comfort God’s people in exile.
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand…
Verses 10-11 foretell the care of God in gathering His people to Himself. In the context of that ministry, the text then begins to show what kind of God this is. The God who will save you is a self-sufficient God.
The depiction of this divine attribute begins in verse 12. Consider: how much water can you hold in the hollow of your hand? Barely enough to wet your tongue. Almost none. The waters measures in the hollow of God’s hand are THE waters. All the water in existence. He’s saying, who is like God who can measure all the water there is the hollow of His hand. Here and in the next few verses it may seem that the point is God’s immensity. Certainly, that concept is present, but He’s building toward the truth that the creation offers nothing the God needs.
…and marked off the heavens with a span…
What’s a span? The distance from one’s thumb to their little finger when the hand is spread wide. Who has marked off the heavens with a span like God? Nobody. The heavens, space, seemingly infinite to us, is nothing to God.
…enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
Here again, he takes things that are immense to us and shows them to be tiny to God.
13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
These questions imply that just as the all the waters and mountains are as nothing to God so also the counsel of man is nothing to God. He needs no one to give Him understanding.
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket…
Think about that. What do you do with a drop from a bucket? Nothing. It’s so small and unnecessary that it stays in the bucket. You leave it there. This is where it becomes clear that the point is not the immensity of God, but that the creation offers nothing needful to God. The nations – all of them – all the inhabitants of the earth are so minuscule to God that you wouldn’t even measure them.
…and are accounted as the dust on the scales…
The nations are like the dust on the scales. Imagine you’re buying meat at the deli, and the worker piling the slices on the scale to calculate the price. How would the worker respond if you said, “excuse me, there’s a speck of dust on the scale. Would you mind getting that off? I don’t want to pay for that?” No deli scale is going pick up a speck of dust. That’s the point. The NATIONS are a speck of dust on the scale to God.
To be clear, the nations are a speck of dust to God, but not in terms of how much He cares about them. The point of this chapter is that God cares greatly for His people. Rather, the nations are less than nothing in terms of what they have to offer Him. He needs nothing. They need everything.
…behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
Lebanon was known for its grand supply of mighty cedars. However, if God required a sacrifice equal to what He deserves all the forests of Lebanon would not have enough wood.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
The text then goes on to contrast Yahweh with an idol who needs a man to create him. The idol has needs; Yahweh doesn’t. The next ten or so verses continue this kind of language showing the greatness of Yahweh. In verse 28, we finally get to the main point:
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He has no needs. He existed long before there was any creation to offer any benefit to him; in all that eternity, He survived just fine. No one needs to fill Him up.
Verse 29 reveals what all this means for His people:
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
He doesn’t faint; He is the help of those who do. He is an endless supply of strength. He is the source of all things. He strengthens the faint. It is man who needs God and not the other way around.
The bottom line is that God has no needs. He possesses within Himself intrinsically and eternally every excellent quality in infinite measure. There is nothing that can be added to Him. God has no itch that man must scratch for Him. He is completely self-sufficient.
Indeed, what a comfort now that the God to whom we look for all things has no need for anything, but is the very source of all good things. And what a wonder to consider that He is the God with whom we will spend all eternity.
Again, I encourage you to work through the rest of Isaiah 40-48, thinking deeply about the glory of the God with whom we have to do. Put all that in the scale opposite present sufferings.
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