A Study in Contrasts

In the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, there is the most amazing study in contrasts.
The LORD God is giving a discription of Himself through the prophet. So we have some fantastic word pictures:

"See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power
And His arm rules for Him....
With the breadth of His hand (He has) marked off the heavens...
Before Him, all the nations are as nothing...
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth...
The LORD is the everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth...
He will not grow tired or weary."

But in the midst of all this might and power, there is another description
of this awe-inspiring God - and it's so different:

"He tends His flock like a shepherd,
He gathers the lambs in His arms
And carries them close to His heart;
He gently leads those with young."


What a contrast! So gentle, so tender.

The LORD of the spinning constellations, and the dark depths of the oceans, to Whom the nations are a drop in a bucket, stoops to the weakest ones of His creation as a Shepherd and cradles those ones to His chest.

A picture comes to my mind:
A little child runs towards her Daddy on unsteady feet.. Oops! She trips and falls, flat on the ground, where she lies with sobs and tears. Her Daddy, this tall man in the prime of his years, with powerful arms and legs and rippling muscles, strides to his child. Bending down, he lifts her up  with big, gentle hands and folds her against his strong chest.  He rocks her tenderly, whispering comforting words to her until the sobs subside and she's calm once more.

What an awesome God we have!