At the beginning of his book, “The Story of Mankind”, Hendrik Willem van Loon offers this illustration:
High up in the North in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by.
I thought of that story as I pondered our second passage from Isaiah for this morning. There the prophet promises that, “…The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10). Even if the process of erosion does not take as long as what van Loon describes, the idea is profound. Longer that it takes for mountains and hills to disappear, that’s how long God promises to love and have compassion for us. And that’s a very long time.
There’s another interesting point here, though. The removal of mountains and hills represents a great deal of change, and change is something that we experience on a regular basis. And though any change can be disconcerting and scary, it does not in any way effect the way that God loves and care for us. We may no longer recognize the neighborhood, but we are safe at home, nonetheless. In a world of change and uncertainty God remains steadfast and faithful for eternity…and longer.
Prayer: Gracious God, help us to embrace your love for us and to share it with one another. Amen.
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