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"Grass withers, a flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isa. 40:8). This verse sets up a great contrast between olam ha-zeh and olam haba β between this present world and the heavenly realm. King David states, "Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you (ΧΦ°ΧΦΆΧΦ°ΧΦΌΦ΄Χ ΧΦ°ΧΦ·ΧΦ΄Χ Χ ΦΆΧΦ°ΧΦΌΦΆΧΦΈ). Surely all mankind stands as a mere vanity" (Psalm 39:5). Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God, the Eternal, the abiding, and true: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you" (Psalm 73:25). To the extent that we regard this world as our "home" we will find the transience of life to be tragic; but when we regard ourselves as strangers here, merely passing through, our transience becomes a passageway to the heavenly places...
The carnal mind instinctively is afraid of change, since it implies death and dissolution, and therefore it reasons from a continuous state of dread (whether conscious or not). Hence the "besetting sin" of the flesh is to "absolutize" the moment and to otherwise regard the finite as an end in itself. But God is our "Rock," a metaphor that implies that He is the immovable foundation and cornerstone of all reality. The LORD is our strong refuge in the stormy changes we all face in this world; the Divine Presence both grounds us and sustains our way. Therefore the LORD is called El Ne'eman (ΧΦ΅Χ Χ ΦΆΧΦ±ΧΦΈΧ), "the faithful God." His very Name means certainty, reliability, strength, truth, reality, presence, being, life, and so on...
Whenever I read the news I am reminded that we are living in a "withered and fading world" βnearing the prophesied "End of Days" (ΧΦ·ΧΦ²Χ¨Φ΄ΧΧͺ ΧΦ·ΧΦΌΦΈΧΦ΄ΧΧ). But baruch Hashem, our place (ΧΦΈΧ§ΧΦΉΧ) is grounded in truth that stands (i.e., ΧΦΈΧ§ΧΦΌΧ, lit. "is raised up") forever! Yeshua is our life; he is the Word of our God that is raised up forever! So press on faith. Believing is seeing, not the other way around. "Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah that leads to eternal life" (Jude 1:21).
Hebrew Lesson
Isaiah 40:8 Hebrew reading (click):
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