It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in…. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:22–26—NKJV)

There are only a few moments in the average man’s lifetime that inspire awe. These moments may be a fleeting recognition of the brevity of life when a loved one dies, or when a child is born, bringing life priorities into perspective. Ordinarily, felt pressures and cares of every day life occupy most of our waking hours. Expansive ideas and soaring ideals that would require thoughtful effort seem to have died with preceding generations. Such deep thinking has lost its forceful urgency in this era of constant bad news and debt well past the double digit trillions. Not a one of us can really grasp the concept of one trillion dollars. Other things seem too big.

Now and then, somewhere on this planet, nature wreaks a devastating tragedy upon mankind and the general population suddenly awakens from slumber for a few days before the work-a-day world closes our collective mind once again. Even the godly among us, those who truly know the real God, do not think upon God as we ought. To adequately communicate the enormity of a trillion dollars is child’s play compared to the task of communicating the reality of the omnipotence of God to mankind, yet every Christian is tasked with just that mission.

Isaiah’s inspired words lead the way. Written to follow the disturbing prophecy of foreign domination found in Chapter 39, Isaiah would have believers remember that God is always in control of events and therefore should be foremost in their hearts. This lesson is very needed in our day!

This chapter’s three main points are: God’s purpose to redeem (vs. 1–11), God’s power to deliver (vs. 12–26), and God’s promise to sustain (vs. 27–31). It is the middle section that occupies our attention with the concept of the omnipotence of God. Omnipotence is simply having unlimited power and authority, all powerful. Indeed, He is unique in all of His excellencies and person!

Isaiah begins the middle section with the words, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured the heaven (set the limits) with a span (the width of the hand) and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in the scales and the hills in a balance? (verse 12)” God’s uniqueness in all the expanse of the universe is beyond our comprehension. Find a place to spend a dark night away from city lights and observe the expanse of the heavens. Captivate your thoughts with the immense, unfettered, boundless, brilliance of the Almighty God! You will find your day-to-day affairs will be put in proper light, clarified, and humbled.

The next section expresses the omnipotence of God above all the aggregate powers. Wealth, machinations, and prestige of nations are nullified before Him (verses 15–17). Additionally, all the gods springing out of the minds of men cannot be compared to the reality of the Lord God of the Heavens (verses 18–20).

What is amazing about our text quoted above is the perspective Isaiah grants us as He hammers home the omnipotence retained by God. He states that God is enthroned over the sphere of the earth (no flat-earthers here). All mankind is as the grasshoppers in God’s sight. Then he states something truly awe-inspiring: the heavens are like the curtain of a tent spread out and erected by God. Talk about temporary! All we behold in the heavens as vast, unshakeable, eternal—these mysterious heavenly bodies, massive and beyond our reach and our strength to change—is only as a tarp, a tent, a temporary shelter in God’s eyes. The “curtain” is literally a gauzy, transparent filament or sheet, like the “dust” of verse 15. Our God is an awe-inspiring God. He is nothing if He is not Almighty. He is able!

When you find yourself focused on the struggles of life, return to Isaiah’s words, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things…by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power.” Let those words inform your faith. Trust and obey.