The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
Isaiah 50:4
We often ask "why?" The big question. We want to know.
"Why do bad things happen to good people?" "Why am I suffering?" "Why am I going through this?"
People often say that God does things for a reason. The New Testament tells us that the Spirit gives gifts, like speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, etc. Why do we have these gifts?
In Isaiah, we’re told a why. Here, God gives the prophet the "tongue of a teacher." But not to teach. Isaiah knows why God has given him this gift, to "know how to sustain the weary with a word."
This chapter of Isaiah is understood to date from the exilic period, after Israel and Judah have been sundered, Jerusalem taken, and the majority of its citizens shipped off to Babylon. The weary are not tired workers. They are a people defeated, seized, and removed from their life. People with no hope for themselves or their future as a people. Weary not in body, but in spirit.
Isaiah speaks not to merely strengthen them for the day; Isaiah speaks to give them hope for the future. He foreshadows Christ’s giving hope and comfort for a future beyond the here and now, beyond even the grave.
But Isaiah shows both sides of the coin. Besides using his tongue, he uses his ears. He acts not only as a teacher, but as a student. He listens, every day, for the word of God. And every day, God wakens his ear "to listen as those who are taught."
Why do you have your gift?
Greg Davis
