the grass withers

The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:7)

This isn’t normally the verse that is found printed on your coffee cup. Most people prefer verse 8, which begins the same way but ends with the word of the Lord enduring forever.

In context though, the statement is set against the frail nature of mankind, not grass and flowers. In verse 7 we are told that people are the grass that so quickly withers. God is mighty. God is everlasting. Even his words are everlasting. People wither like grass by comparison.

Not your typical coffee cup verse. Yet when God’s people are feeling the pressure of oppression, this verse is a great comfort to them. Later in the chapter Isaiah tells us that princes and rulers of the earth are brought to nothing by God. He blows on them and they wither like grass. But those who trust in the Lord are given his strength, the strength of the everlasting God!

We have no strength in and of ourselves, but when united to Christ, we are energized with the strength of “the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 40:28 ESV)

Now, that is a promise worth putting on a cup!