'therefore' is my new favorite word
in which I share a few thoughts about conjunctive adverbs and a few verses from Isaiah 30
Can we talk about conjunctive adverbs for a second?
I know, I know. But this isn’t boring, classroom grammar. This is like cool, fun grammar because I happen to really love grammar, and it’s my belief that when you are fully delighted by something that maybe, just maybe, a little of that delight catches.
So, conjunctive adverbs. It’s really just a fancy label for a specific kind of connecting word—the kind that shows a relationship between two different thoughts. However. Meanwhile. Moreover. And, the one I specifically want to focus on today: Therefore.
By definition, the word “therefore” means “for that reason” or “consequently.”
The storm clouds rolled in; therefore, the soccer game was cancelled.
The noise in the kitchen was frenetic. Therefore, she escaped to the backyard.
The reader had no interest in grammar; therefore, she asked me to get to the point.
The word “therefore” requires a before—it implies a cause and effect. [A] happened; therefore, [B] followed.
I read the word “therefore” in Isaiah 30 and now that we’re all on the same page about and equally delighted by conjunctive adverbs, that’s really what I want to tell you about.
In this particular chapter, God tells his people, the Israelites, what they need to do to be saved or, to put it a more accurate way, what they need to do so that God can save them. And honestly, very little is required of them. “In returning and rest you shall be saved,” God says. “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” In other words, “Come back to me and trust that I will take care of you.”
The Israelites of course reject this notion. “No! We will flee upon horses,” they say. “We will ride upon swift steeds.” And God tells them how far that will get them: “You [will be] left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.” To try it on their own strength—to reject God’s strength and promise—meant inevitable failure.
Then (then!) this is what follows the Israelites’ rejection:
“Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Do you see it?
God has every right to leave them there alone and vulnerable on the top of that mountain. They rejected him. They literally ran in the other direction from the rest and the salvation he offered. So, it would make logical sense for God to say, “Therefore you will die there” or “Therefore you’ll wish you had made a better choice when I told you exactly what to do.”
But God defies logic here. The Israelites abandoned God’s promise only to find themselves alone and vulnerable and for that reason God was gracious to them. It doesn’t make logical sense, and it is the goodness of God. It is another example of the undeserved favor extended toward us every day.
Therefore, conjunctive adverbs are worth thinking about sometimes, don’t you think?
Isaiah 30:15-18
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
”In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, and you said,
”No! We will flee upon horses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy
to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
I just love this so much. The insight and also the perfectly timed “therefore she wants me to get to the point” sentence that made me laugh out loud.
Makes me think of a theology professor I had in college who, whenever we'd come across a 'therefore' in scripture, would ask, "What's the 'therefore' there for?" and we'd all groan. Anyway, I like your spin much better :)