[Read Isaiah 40:1-8]

Life sometimes just doesn’t seem fair. We wonder sometimes if the whole world has turned against us and, sometimes, we even wonder whose side God is on. It must have been that way for the people of Israel who were in exile. Uprooted from their homes and families they were brought to a strange land. Rumors of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem being destroyed had passed through their midst. They have been in exile so long that these are all second or third generation folks who only know the splendor David’s kingdom from stories.

Suffering comes from many sources. Sometimes it is the direct consequence of poor decisions that we ourselves have made. We allow our anger to get the best of us and we quit our job when we have no prospects for another one. We disregard all th…