Isaiah 25:1-8
Four Characteristics of God's Blessings

O LORD, you are my God;
     I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
     plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
For you have made the city a heap,
      the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
     it will never be rebuilt.

Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
     cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
For you have been a refuge to the poor,
     a refuge to the needy in their distress,
     a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
     the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
     the song of the ruthless was stilled.

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
     a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
     of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
     the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
     he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
     and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
     for the LORD has spoken.

New Revised Standard Version

God is the source of every blessing in life, whether we recognize it, or whether we praise God for it. That is the nature of God's love for us. In this passage, Isaiah reveals to us four key truths about how God blesses us, so that we can understand just how magnificently our God cares for us.

God's blessings are carefully planned and crafted. Isaiah tells us God formed the plans for our blessings ages ago, and God has been carrying out those plans ever since. Do you remember a time when, on a particularly difficult day, something caught your eye to make you smile? What all must God have done to make that event for you?

One of the most vivid incidents for me was a disposable adhesive bandage I found beside a prayer rail one time when I was dealing with a deep hurt in my life. I know that bandage was a physical sign for me of God's promise to heal that hurt. But why would a bandage be beside a prayer rail? Well, it had been part of a youth activity more than a week earlier, used for a completely different purpose. In fact, the leader had grabbed up a box of adhesive bandages when he couldn't find a roll of masking tape. I don't know who used up the masking tape, and I don't know how that bandage escaped the vigilant eyes of the cleaning crew for nine days, but I am in awe at the sequence of events that God caused to happen so that bandage would be where I needed it when I needed that message from God.

God blessings come solely from God's strength and goodness, and not at all from our own. Isaiah tells us that God cares for the weak, the needy, the oppressed. Isaiah's people soon would be conquered and humiliated, left with nothing except hope in God--and that would be all they needed!

In the same way, Isaiah tells us that God's strength and goodness are beyond comparison. When God acts, even the strongest and richest people have to confess that God is greater than all their possessions. When God acts, even those that are the most arrogant and defiant of God's ways will be fearful of God's power and love.

God's blessings exceed our hopes and expectations. God loves to surprise us and delight us in loving ways. The feast that Isaiah describes is the most extravagant that earthly rulers could arrange, with the finest cuts of meat, most elegantly prepared, and the most exquisite drinks, carefully made. Sometimes God surprises us in ways as simple as clouds and cooling breezes on a hot, cloudless day. Other times, God surprises by destroying that which we believed was impenetrable and certain, even death. God knows what way is best.

God's blessings are personal. At the end of this passage is a touching image of God wiping the tears from believer's faces. This is individual, intimate attention, just like a mother who lifts her child to her lap to care for a skinned knee. John gives us the same promise in Revelation 7:17, where God, seated on the throne as the King of Heaven, brings us up on the dias, sits us beside Him on the throne, and draws His finger across our cheek so He can wipe away our tears.

This is the truth, Isaiah says, because God has spoken it. The word of God, completely true and holy, more powerful than any earthly power, makes it so.