Faith in the Power of God

2/4/2024 Sunday School

Lesson is Isaiah 40:12-13, 25-31

Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?”

Near the end of the 70-year exile in Babylon. The people are beginning to doubt that God has the power to deliver them.

The writer asks a question much like a lawyer asking the individual on the stand a series of questions. A lawyer does not ask a question that they don’t already know the answer.

The questions are to prove the immeasurable power of the God of Israel over the lesser gods they had begun to worship.

The questions are meant to humble the Israelites and the reader. To show how Great our God is over all other gods.

Isaiah 40:13 “Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?”

Directed translated in Hebrew means to estimate (or calculate). Therefore, the question is Who can estimate the mind of the Lord?

Who can counsel the Lord when He is the creator of all intellect and being. He is a problem solver when no way seems possible.

Isaiah 40:25 ““To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.”

No one or nothing can compare to God.

God has a resume that has no equal

Isaiah 40:26 “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

Lift up your eyes. Look at this point, when you look down to the ground, your vision is limited, and you have the tendency to focus on small details. However, when you look at the sky, the view is without limits. In fact, you begin to think about what is on the other side of these skies. (Star gazers)

This verse illustrates how majestic our God is. He calls the stars by name and don’t miss a one.

Isaiah 40:27 “Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?”

My way is hidden from the Lord illustrates that they didn’t believe God was looking at their current situation.

My right is disregarded by my God (NRSV)....my judgement is passed over from my God (KJV): since they feel like God is not looking down on them...then maybe He will show some love/mercy toward them.

Isaiah 40:28 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

This verse answers verse 27.

Have you not known? means to understand. You understand by reading and studying God’s word.

The writer then encourages them to recall who God is.

Everlasting God

God is the creator of the earth.

God never grows tired or weary.

God’s wisdom and understanding is unlimited and beyond our understanding.

Isaiah 40:29 “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

Not only does God not faint but He gives power to them who do faint.

We have no might but in Him we have strength. The Lords strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9–10 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Isaiah 40:30 “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;”

Others may fail even when they are in the prime of their life.

We as humans burn out in life.

Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

You overcome all of these troubles by tapping into God’s strength by finding hope in the Lord.

Only when you have faith in God’s power will you receive the strength of God.

You have wings like an eagle to soar over your problems

Run this race with patienceWalk by faith and not by sight