Reflections
Upon Isaiah 40:29 – Part One
“He giveth power to the faint; and
to them that have no might,
he increaseth strength”(KJV)
Have
you ever felt exhausted? Have you ever collapsed and felt unable to move? Have
you suddenly lost consciousness? Have you ever lost the will to continue
pursuing your dreams and goals? Have you ever simply given up, accepted defeat
and decided to retreat to a meaningless and unchallenging space in life? I
recall being in graduate school with an ordained Methodist clergyperson who had
obtained the Master of Philosophy enroute to earning his doctoral degree in
Christian Ethics. Suddenly, he disappeared from school and his studies. A
search found him working at a gas station in Upstate New York. At that
juncture, he found the language exams insurmountable and his best efforts to
complete research, drafting, editing and finalizing his doctoral dissertation
proved woefully inadequate. After eight years of full-time study, he abandoned
the program and went into exile, professionally and personally.
He
left the trappings of institutional and formal religion with rites, rituals,
regulations and perennial celebrations. He fled the academy of ivy-covered
walls and centuries of traditions and customs. He left before receiving a
parchment diploma inscribed in Latin with Old English font that certified his
study, intelligence, academic rank and social standing. His exhaustion created
hopelessness and helplessness which led to his exile. His resulting
disillusionment yielded his acceptance of a job pumping gas, rotating tires,
replacing brakes and changing oil. Unable to fail at those rudimentary tasks,
he chose them as an answer to the previous questions.
Consider
the plight of a second formally educated, professional and published gentleman
and burgeoning scholar who found himself selling cars and insurance in the
middle of his career. Duplicitous, imbecilic, irrational and self-loathing lay
leaders in the congregation of his second pastorate conspired with equally
dishonest and contemptible clergy colleagues to dissolve his pastoral call and
terminate his employment. After an extensive job search in which he saved more
than four thousand emails between employers and himself, he took a job selling
cars. That job did not require any of his previous training and education. In
fact, a sales manager who was half his age relished the thought that this man
reported to him. The sales manager exhibited absolute glee in telling this man
that he did not care about any of his prior achievements. “What is their worth
if you ended up here reporting to me?” A clergy colleague who encountered this
man at a funeral barely concealed his laughter and sheer delight that this Ive
League educated man who thought so highly of himself was now selling cars.
One Thursday afternoon, as this man sat at his
desk in the car dealership, he experienced a silent panic attack. Between his
ears and with sealed lips, he began to shout, “I’m selling cars! I’m selling
cars! I can’t believe that I’m selling cars!” Those experiences and myriad
others verified that this man was living in a professional and personal exile.
Car sales require a minimum of seventy hours per week onsite. A successful sale
and delivery of a car added five or more hours per vehicle. The sheer physical
exhaustion on an off day relegated it being meaningless. There is not any
energy to do anything edifying. There is minimal energy to watch television
like a zombie and fall asleep intermittently.
The
sorrowful predicament of the disillusioned doctoral candidate and the
bewildered car salesperson mimicked Israel’s plight during her exile. Following
the Babylonian destruction of Israel’s history, religion and literature,
generally, and Solomon’s Temple, specifically, Israel’s captives took her
people into exile and scattered her tribes abroad. She risked the loss of her
culture, traditions and legacy. How would the exiles respond to this attempt to
annihilate their nation and heritage? Imagine the exhaustion of God’s people as
they scramble for housing, stability and normality in a foreign land. They had
traveled through the arid, rough and desert terrain of the Ancient Near East.
They were separated from everything they treasured and found familiar. How
could they dream? What reasons would they have to look forward to any
approaching dawn? Were they able to rest each night as a midnight pall of
despair and disillusionment surrounded their lives? Possibly, any thought of
the colossal loss they experienced could cause them to faint. Realizing the
extent of their decimation and inability to counter their Babylonian
oppressors, the Israelites were helpless, hopeless and powerless. Bewildered
that the God of their forebears would permit their conquest, they had no might
left to explain their predicament or progress beyond it.
How
could they respond? Ironically, the prophet, Isaiah, encourages them to seek
assistance, reassurance and comfort from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
who may have grossly disappointed them. Writing amid their exile, he offers
this verse. He addresses their emotional, mental, physical, psychological,
spiritual and existential states. They do not feel as if they have any power in
any of these dimensions of their lives. It is as if they have fainted and lost
consciousness and possibly the will to live. They have little to cherish or
hold valuable as they strive to endure each day in this damnable state of
exile. They lack any cognitive ability to imagine a future yet alone find
meaning in their daily living in a strange and unfamiliar place. Memories of
past sabbath dinners and holiday celebrations undoubtedly torment them rather
than comfort and sustain them.
