Isaiah 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee
Most of us have seen the picture and heard the stories coming out of Asheville, North Carolina and much of the East Coast after the horrible hurricane season of the fall of 2024. We think to ourselves, “This is an act of God,” or we look at the devastating photos and think, “This is of Biblical proportions.” Why do we say such things? It is because the storms are so massive that they are like the Flood of Noah, the flood that God sent and from which Noah and his family were spared. Now we know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust so not every calamity is the judgment of God, but all of us face difficult times. We all need some sort of foundation of hope in such times to answer the question why.
Sometimes we can’t answer that question, but someone has said that purpose is the result of having something to believe, someone to love, and something to do. The validity of that statement is probably verified just in your own experience and heart. Purpose is something to believe, someone to love, and something to do. If you are lacking any of those three, you suffer for it.
In Isaiah 54 God’s people were suffering severe judgment. In verse 1 they are called “barren.” In the last verse they are called the “servants of the LORD.” In between you have judgment, a flood, and God calling Himself Israel’s Redeemer. Verse 9 says, “For this [God’s judgment] is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.” The entirety of this will yet be fulfilled in the future, but God is talking to people whom He judged and whom He loved. You find here that your relationship to God is the foundation of purpose and hope in storms. “Why is this happening?” you might ask yourself. Is every calamity the judgment of God? No, but your relationship to God is the foundation of purpose and hope when you face storms.
Sometimes storms are created. Verse 9 says, “As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth.” “I have sworn,” God says. Why does He say that? It is because the Flood was created by God intentionally. Likewise, the judgment of God’s people here through the conquering armies of other nations was not because God hated them, but because He loved for them and was trying to bring them back to Himself. God says in verse 16, “I have created the waster to destroy.” He was the one who did this.
Pagans in ancient times and even people in the jungles today have a god to explain everything that happens, a god of rain, a god of thunder, a god of whatever. Then we have the Enlightenment where people became more intelligent, although not any happier. Now, of course, we have the weather channel so we have taken God right out of His creation. We have divorced God from His creation. Are there physics involved in the weather? Of course there are. Can we predict the weather? Of course we can, but to think that God is in no way connected to His creation is not only wrong, it is hopeless indeed. So, sometimes storms are created.
Oftentimes storms are cataclysmic or catastrophic. Verse 10 says, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” So, this judgment of Israel was catastrophic as was the Flood. The mountains and the hills were flooded and overwhelmed by the waves when Noah, his family, and the animals were spared God’s judgment. The point is that oftentimes when storms come, all points of reference disappear, but what emerges is God’s kindness and mercy.
God says in verse 10, “Neither shall the covenant of my peace by removed.” When you see a rainbow, it is a reminder of God’s mercy, His judgment also, but primarily His mercy. Someone says, “We know now what causes rainbows, the prism and water and such. God didn’t put that in the sky. It was science.” That is a simple way to look at it. God created a universe in which rainbows do appear, but He has made the determination that when those happen, it is a reminder of His mercy. So, sometimes storms in our lives are created and sometimes they are catastrophic.
Ultimately, storms are cleansing. Verse 11 says, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.” After there is a horrible storm, there is a cleansing quality to the air. It is clear and clean. The earth has had a good cry and now the sun is out again. There is a reset. Isaiah 54:1 calls God’s people barren. In verse 5 God is called Redeemer, the husband, the maker, the Holy One of Israel, and God of the whole earth. He is Israel’s God and your God if you have trusted Jesus. Because of that, in the last verse Israel is called God’s servant. The bottom line of verse 11 is that God was polishing and cleansing them. In verse 13 they were taught. Verse 14 speaks of peace to their children. Verse 14 says they would be established and secure, that they should not fear.
This is your heritage. Verse 17 says, “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and the righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” The only righteousness that is not inferior, not condemned by God because it is inferior to His own, is His own righteousness and that is the righteousness God’s own people have when they put their faith in the salvation that God has sent. So, your relationship to God is the foundation of purpose and hope in times of storms, some of which are created, some of which may be catastrophic, but all of which are designed for cleansing.