Text: Isaiah 43:1-2, 18-19; Psalm 139:7-10
Friends, I’m so excited to travel with all of you, virtually, to Hawaii this morning.
As many of you know, these islands hold a special place in my heart because my family has been blessed with the opportunity to visit and spend time not only enjoying the sunshine… but also spending time with one another.
I was in first grade during my first trip to Oahu and have some incredible memories of playing cribbage, boogie boarding, luaus, building sandcastles, and dancing with my grandpa at the Chinese restaurant down the street…
It was always a long trek to get there, but it was always worth it and we never considered going anywhere else, because Hawaii is paradise… right?
It is always 78 degrees, the sun shines every day, and after every rainfall there is a rainbow.
You can hike in the mountains or lay on the beaches.
You can trek through rain forests and eat seafood until your belly is full.
It is full of abundant vegetation and life and culture.
Maybe not unlike the garden…
You know the one I’m talking about.
The paradise we find in the second chapter of Genesis, full of trees with edible fruit and flowing waters, and creatures of all kinds.
The paradise we got kicked out of.
Adam and Eve taste of the fruit from the forbidden tree and suddenly become aware of their nakedness and their shame.
And in the midst of that beautiful paradise, with everything they could ever need or want at their fingertips, they hide.
They hide from one another, by putting on clothing.
And, they hide from God…
Well, at least they try.
There in that place, where the Lord God walked in their very midst, they hoped the trees might conceal their bodies, their actions, their guilt.
But it couldn’t.
God was there.
And God knew them.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? the psalmist asks.
If we run to the highest heavens and find ourselves in paradise, God is there.
If we escape to sheol, the depths of death, hell itself, God is there, too.
The God who formed us, shaped us, molded us, breathed life into us…
Well, as we talked about last week, that God is faithful.
That God is constant.
That God doesn’t leave our side.
When we are overwhelmed by the ocean depths, God is with us and keeps us from drowning.
When the fires of this world threaten, God is with us and we will not be destroyed.
You know, on the surface level of Isaiah’s words here, it sounds like nothing can touch us.
We could literally walk through fire and not be burned, because God is on our side.
But I have to admit, I don’t think that is what God intends here.
On the Big Island of Hawaii there are plenty of places where the lava has flowed over the roads and anyone or anything caught in its path has been destroyed.
This isn’t a promise of divine protection or an invitation to test God.
Bad things happen.
People we know and love have been impacted by flooding and wildfires and some have lost their lives to drowning and severe burns.
Illness and disease and economic downturns come our way, too.
It doesn’t mean God has abandoned us.
In fact, if we look at the overall message of Isaiah 43, what we actually see is a promise that no matter what kinds of consequences or tragedies or punishments or terrors befall us, God is with us and God can redeem it all.
From the Message translation:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you… when you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end – because I am God, your personal God…. I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.”
God loves us so much and promises to make a way through the destruction.
Even the destructive tendencies of our own sin and rebellion.
God will make a way for life, new life, abundant life to spring forth.
We get a glimpse of this
And if we ever start to doubt that… maybe Hawaii is precisely what we need.
Every inch of this paradise is possible only because fiery destruction has come before it.
As Lyons and Barkhauer describe it:
Here, along the Pacific coast, you can see earth just a few years young, or, when lava flows freely from Kilauea, only hours old. As molten ground meets the shore and slowly cools, you can watch the ‘Big Island’ grow. Creating new earth is a smelly and surprisingly loud process with all manner of hissing, popping, and low rumbling of bass shaking the earth, assaulting the nose with the smell of sulfer and hot metals… steam screaming to the surface is a toxic cocktail of noxious gases to be avoided for your own safety…
yet, in the midst of a lava field, a single green plant takes hold and defiantly clings to life. Look above the crater’s rim and see the verdant vegetation of the tropics. This brutal, inhospitable landscape is the prelude to paradise.
One of my favorite things to do on the island of Oahu is to hike up the outer rim of the long inactive Koko Head volcano.
The hike is possible because of an old lookout at the top which was used by the military in the early 20th century. Each step up the old supply line takes you closer to an incredible view.
At the top, you can look out and see Diamond Head, the remains of the crater that now forms Hanauma Bay, and into the lush green preserve and arboretum inside Koko Head itself.
And yet none of this lush paradise is possible without the volcanic eruption that came before.
There was a time when this vibrant landscape was nothing but a monochromatic hellscape.
From the flaming crucible of the earth’s core, life has formed and taken hold… the distance between heaven and hell may not be as great as we suppose. And here, the cycle of life begins in death where the power to create overcomes the power to destroy.
So what do we learn from this paradox?
There are times in our own lives when we will stand in barren, inhospitable, and difficult places.
We will experience loss and grief.
Illnesses and disease will come our way.
Relationships falter.
The economy is out of our control.
Systemic injustices like sexism and racism and homophobia and lack of access for people with disabilities are real.
Heck, this entire year has been described by some as a dumpster fire.
One thing after another, piling up on top of each other.
But here is the thing.
Adam and Eve couldn’t hide from God in paradise.
God was there.
Right by their side.
And God is right here with us in the midst of this, too.
But more than that…
God is calling us to pay attention.
“Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.”
We are people of resurrection!
We are people who believe that the worst thing is never the last thing.
We are people who believe that the forces of life are stronger than the forces of death.
And there are signs of life and abundance springing forth from this mess.
Just this week, I read about how nearly half a million people have quit smoking in England as a direct result of the pandemic.
Doctors in Ireland and Denmark began to notice that premature births in their countries were falling dramatically… 75% decline in Ireland and 90% fewer preterm births in Denmark!
In both of these instances, more research is being done to learn more about the causal relationships and how what we are learning through this time could be used to save lives and improve our overall public health in the future.
We cannot flee from God and God has not abandoned us.
All around, the seeds of new life are blowing in and taking root.
We simply need to pay attention.