“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned” (Isaiah 50:4).

The prophetic words of our text were spoken by the Lord Jesus in the context of His suffering: “I gave my back to the smiters . . . I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (v.6)—and His attentiveness to the will of His Father despite the suffering—“The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back” (v.5). The amazing love of Christ is seen in the fact that, in the midst of His intense personal pain, He could still continue, even on the cross, “to speak a word in season to him that is weary,” as He comforted His mother, spoke salvation to the dying thief, and even sought forgiveness for His executioners.

In all this, He was “leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (I Peter 2:21). How easy and natural it is to complain and rebel when we are suffering. We seek comfort and counsel from others, when we (like our Exemplar) should be comforting others with “the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (II Corinthians 1:4).

Though we cannot comprehend it fully, we must simply believe the mystery of the incarnation. God became man, in Jesus Christ, and the omnipotent One “learned . . . obedience” (Hebrews 5:8). He was omniscient, yet somehow, He “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52), as well as stature, and as He studied God’s word, wakening “morning by morning,” He learned (!) to hear the voice of the Father, thus receiving “the tongue of the learned,” that “gracious words” might proceed out of His mouth (Luke 4:22).

May the Lord grant each of His younger sons and daughters this gracious “tongue of the learned,” as we, like His Firstborn, awaken each morning to hear His voice. HMM