Waiting on God’s Strength

Isaiah 40:27–31 (ESV)

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Big Idea: God gives His unfailing strength to those who trust and wait on Him.

Introduction:

In our journey of faith, we often face moments of weariness, doubt, and discouragement. We may feel as if our strength is failing, and the challenges before us seem insurmountable. But in the midst of these struggles, Isaiah reminds us that God is always near, ready to renew our strength and empower us to overcome.

Transition: Isaiah gives us four principles for waiting on God’s strength. The first of which is . . .

Trust God's Heart (v.27)

“27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?”

Isaiah addresses the complaint of the people of Israel, who were despondent and discouraged because they felt God had ignored their prayers. Israel has suffered exile because of their disobedience toward God and now assumes God is no longer concerned with them. One commentator suggests that “the people of Jacob/Israel complain that their plans and rights are not as prominently in God's plans as they would like.” This is a challenging time for them, seeing how they are God's chosen people. They are terrified that, somehow, God has placed them on the back burner. Listen to their complaint, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded from my God." Israel seems convinced that God refuses to see their troubles and will not avenge them against their enemies. Israel speaks as if God had forgotten and left them without His care. Another commentator suggests "that the people were bringing God down to their level, thinking him either forgetful or tired.” To this, Isaiah responds that to think this way is to have much too low a view of God. He reminds them of who God is.

The prophet Isaiah questions their audacity to suggest that God is uninterested in their plight. In previous verses, Isaiah spends time describing the greatness of God. Isaiah reminds them that no one is like God and that God is sovereign. That is to say that God answers to no one. He doesn't need permission to be God. God knows all and sees all. There is no way above God's way. God is just, and God is righteous.

Isaiah is asking them, what do you mean your way is hidden? The point is that Israel seems not to understand that God's way should be the way they seek. They judge God as being unjust even as they complain about not receiving justice. They are impatient and fail to trust God's heart. Israel desires results now, but God is not in the practice of being pushed around and moved by impatience. God desires them to trust and love Him because of who He is. That is what this portion of the text is mandating. Trust the heart of God. Isaiah desires this nation to come to their senses and recognize that God's heart is not so cold and distant. God hears the prayers of His children. God has not forgotten nor forsaken those who trust Him.

Illustration: As D. L. Moody said, “Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.” Luther gave a similar testimony when he said, “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000).

Application: Likewise, you and I can trust God's heart. God does the right thing always. Maybe you feel like you are going it alone, and your prayers are going unanswered, but I assure you that God hears you. Trust God's heart and believe that God knows what is best. Ensure, though, that your prayers are in the will of God and according to His way and not your own. Have you done all that God requires of you? Are you being faithful to God? We must consider these things when we pray for things in our lives. When you pray for your children, remember that God requires that you rear them according to His standards. When you have transgressed against God, your prayer should not be arrogant but one that realizes the necessity of repentance and forgiveness. Trust God's heart enough to know that God will do what is right and just.

This passage further advises us to secondly, trust God's character.

Trust God's Character (v.28)

“28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

Isaiah asks Israel a rhetorical question to remind them of who God is and how God operates. Isaiah asks, don't you know who God is? How could you say such things about God when you know perfectly well who he is and what he is like? He knows your situation perfectly and can and will do something about it. God is the everlasting one; He is the creator of all things. Isaiah shows that the character of God is incomparable to anyone and that He is the one true God. Isaiah explains that God does not falter in who He is. His attributes and character are dependable and can be trusted. God is not fickle and feeble like a man. So, what is this character to be trusted?

God is Eternal (v.28b)

“The Lord is the everlasting God”

God has no beginning or end. God is alive and ever aware of all that occurs. He is God today, tomorrow, and forever. His eternity is before the world. God created the world and will exist when the world no longer exists.

God is Creator (v.28c)

“the Creator of the ends of the earth”

Since God created the world and everything within it, He can take care of it. To know God as the creator of the world in its entirety is to know that God controls all of it. The problems of Israel are not so big that God cannot fix them. Isaiah reminds Israel that they are God’s creation, and as creator, He has prerogatives that needn’t be questioned.

God is Inexhaustible (v.28d)

“He does not faint or grow weary”

God does not get weary and tired. Life does not wear God down. There are no situations or predicaments that will cause God to give up. God is not so bogged down with ruling the world that He loses focus and forgets anyone. He does not get weary, and He will not lose strength.

God is Inscrutable (v.28e)

“His understanding is unsearchable”

Isaiah cautions that Israel cannot think for God or read His mind. God cannot be figured out as though He is some object designed by man. God is beyond the thinking of man, and his intellect, man has not discovered. There is no one with the level of wisdom that God has. God’s wisdom is above the wisdom of man.

Isaiah’s overarching point is that God can be trusted, and His character speaks for Him.

Illustration: The profound theologian, David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, When speaking of God’s Character says, “I cannot believe that he who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible; it would be inconsistent with the character of God.”

Application: You are in good hands with God. He is the same God today as He was for Israel. Do not allow doubt and fear to cause you to doubt God’s capabilities. God knows what we don’t know. You are attempting to make things work alone, but you will fail. Place your problems in the hands of God and allow God to solve them. Cancer is not an issue God cannot resolve. With all their medicine and know-how, the doctors may give you the most dreadful prognosis, but God always has the last say. Trust God and believe in His abilities beyond your abilities. You can never burden God with too much or cause Him to burn out. God is available and accessible.

The passage also encourages one to trust God’s strength.

Trust God’s Strength (vv.29-30)

“29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;”

Isaiah reminds Israel that God will empower the weak and prevent them from collapsing. Isaiah assures them that God makes His strength available to those who trust God. John Watts describes v.29: "The description is apt, but God provides what humanity does not possess: power and strength. He gives it precisely to those who are weak and faint.” Did you see that? God gives strength to the weak. God’s strength is dependable and constant. God is the source of strength Israel must look forward to with patience and trust in God.

Verse 30 describes the necessity of God’s strength. Isaiah says that even the vibrant and robust youth get tired and weak at some point, but not God. God will strengthen them and give them power. Their strength is not enough, but they can depend upon the strength of God. Isaiah proclaims that there must be an understanding that God’s strength does not fail or diminish. This is good news Isaiah is giving to Israel: God has a strength reservoir that can be trusted.

Illustration: The folklore surrounding Poland’s famous concert pianist and prime minister, Ignace Paderewski, includes this story:

A mother, wishing to encourage her young son’s progress at the piano, bought tickets for a Paderewski performance. When the night arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on stage.

Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away. When eight o’clock arrived, the spotlights came on, the audience quieted, and only then did they notice the boy up on the bench, innocently picking out “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

His mother gasped, but before she could retrieve her son, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard.

“Don’t quit—keep playing,” he whispered to the boy. Leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

Serving the Lord is hard work. Using your own strength will exhaust you and you will be tempted to quit. But using God’s strength as you work hard will produce beautiful music.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2003), 89–90.

Application: Rely on the strength of God. God’s strength will not fail you. People may fail you, but God will never fail you. If you are struggling with an addiction, whatever addiction it may be, drugs, sex, pornography, or gambling, all is not lost. You have stumbled and been weak, but God can strengthen you. You can trust His strength to help you overcome your struggle. You cannot fight your fight alone. You need the strength of God to deliver you. Maybe you have insecurities about relationships and friendships. You feel like you are never good enough and no one will ever love you. Let me tell you that God loves you and will empower you with His love to walk confidently and courageously before others. Trust the strength of God.

Lastly, Isaiah helps us through this passage to come to a place in life where we will trust God’s timing.

Trust God’s Timing (v.31)

“31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah presses the issue about God’s strength for the people of Israel, but he does so by calling them to live with patience with God. Even though Isaiah highlights God's strength for the people in the previous verses, he challenges them to see that God operates according to his own time and will. Isaiah says, but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Isaiah informs them that God will restore their strength, but they must wait. They have lost some strength while under the hand of Babylon, and God is going to restore them, but they must wait. Isaiah says that God will mount them up with wings like eagles. This is a poetic picture of the eagle’s ability to fly into the eye of a storm and allow the wind beneath its wings to lift the eagle above the storm, and the eagle soars. But they will have to wait on God. Israel cannot soar without God. All the turmoil and affliction they have gone through and the pain they have yet to endure will end, but they must wait. They will gain new energy and run, not become weary, and will walk and not faint, but they must wait on God. They cannot be impatient; they must wait until God moves.

Application: You and I must also wait on God and trust His timing. The old folk used to say God may not come when you want Him, but He is always on time. This is true; you can always trust that God’s timing is better than yours. Are you waiting on God? Have you grown impatient with waiting? Know that you can only receive the full impact of what God has for you if you wait on Him. Trust God’s timing. Whatever your plight or predicament, wait on God. I hear you asking well, pastor, how do I wait? Here are a couple of options to consider. You can wait passively, or you can wait actively.

Passive Waiting

This is that waiting where you aren’t doing anything but expecting and a little praying. You are not bothering anyone. You are confident it will happen and will wait until it does happen.

Active Waiting

This is the waiting where you pray and prepare for God’s move, but you are also serving while waiting. You are not pouting and pondering. You are serving the Lord with your heart filled with joy because you know that the Lord has not forgotten or forsaken you. You are excited because God controls everything and will make it happen when the timing is right.

Application: Where are you? Are you waiting passively, or are you waiting actively? I encourage you to wait on God and while you are waiting, serve Him. Yes, while you are waiting for the new opportunities in your life, job, marriage, promotion, healing, or a new home, here’s what you do, serve God. Give Him your whole heart and trust His timing. God will not leave you hanging. He will answer even if the answer is no. You can depend on God. Trust His timing when life is dim and seems hopeless. God comes through. How do I know that? The Bible teaches that He came through for the world by sending His Son, Jesus, to be crucified for our sins. That’s God’s timing. It is not too late if you have not made Him your savior. You can do it today. God is waiting on you.

Conclusion:

Vance Havner said, “He who waits on God loses no time.” Look, I echo that, you don’t lose anything when you wait on God!

God will strengthen you. Trust Him and be faithful.

To be impatient with God, chronically, habitually impatient with Him because things are not to our liking, makes the Christian life a dreadful burden.—Eileen L. Guder

Wait on God! It may be tough now, but wait! He will not fail you! Wait on Him!