The Dependable Lord

Isaiah 40:27-31

Introduction

Isaiah 40 begins and ends with some of the most well-known & well-loved verses

Comfort, yes, comfort my people & they shall mount up with wings as eagles

You can find Isa. 40:31 on 1000 different products all with inspiring images of eagles

Why wouldn’t we find this inspiring?

We are ubiquitously busy & tired

We want to effortlessly, magnificently sore above it all

How do we get there?

Answer to that is as convicting as it is comforting

READ Isaiah 40:27-31

The overture of this section (Isa. 40:1-11) revealed the comforting Lord

His ability to comfort was supported by revealing the incomparable Lord (Isa. 40:12-26)

These combine to lead us to trust the dependable Lord (Isa. 40:27-31)

To get to the confidence of Isa. 40:30-31 we must be convicted about our complaint and then hear the cure for our complaint

Remember, our goal is not to see ourselves as majestic eagles soaring the skies

Our goal is to see the Lord who holds us up there

Our Complaint in Times of Trouble

Isaiah 40:27-28

Questioning God’s Character

Why is God so slow to act?

Isa. 40:27 is the question that underlies much of this chapter

Remembering this is written to people about to go into exile but who’ve been given a promise that God will rescue

The statements made here are 2 reasons people suggest for why God seems so slow to act in times of trouble

Firstly, God doesn’t see me, look at me, He overlooks me

Secondly, God doesn’t act on my behalf

Both suggest, in different ways, that God ignores me in my times of trouble

Who do you think God is?

These aren’t innocent questions

They are questions that attribute motive to God

They are accusations against God

They are accusation about character

These aren’t complaints that come from unbelievers

These are complaints made by people God has covenanted with

People to whom God has revealed Himself

They assume 2 reasons for why God is apparently slow to act

God doesn’t wish to act

God is unable to act

Isaiah has addressed both accusations

God doesn’t wish to act - Isa. 40:11

God is unable to act - Isa. 40:12

God does want to act and He is able

Statements like Isa. 40:27 go to the heart of God’s character

They express what we think about God

And my just claim is passed over by my God is an accusation that God is unfair & not doing what is right

These statements say, not only does God not care but He’s not good and just

Ignoring the Truth Revealed

Why are you asking this question?

Given all that’s just been said about who God is, how can you say God doesn’t care?

Given everything God is and all He has done for you, how can you say God isn’t just?

To Isaiah these questions of God seemed crazy

‘Yeah but Isaiah was a prophet, he was special, different’

Really? Is it fair to call a guy to a ministry & tell him it will be for nothing because they won’t listen?

Have you missed what has been shown?

Why could Isaiah think their questioning was unreasonable?

Too busy being focussed on their own problems they had not paid attention to all that God had shown them about Himself

After all God has revealed, after all you have heard, how can you rightly accuse God of this?

Times of trouble often expose who we think God is

The Cure for our Complaint

Isaiah 40:28-29

Revelation of God

Remember what you have known

True to God’s character He doesn’t discard them or nullify His promises

He directs them to see the truth and find the comfort He has promised

‘Have you not...” is a call to remember

Remember, relearn what you have known

Same counsel is given to the Church of Ephesus

Revelation 2:4–5 “4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works...”

And again to the Church of Sardis

Revelation 3:2–3 “2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent...”

Listen to what you have been told

Open your ears & hear what you’ve been told

Let truth sink back into your heart

Don’t rush over it like, yeah I know that

Don’t brush it off

There’s a reaon you’re not seeing God rightly and to correct it you need to humbly listen carefully

Power of God

Your God doesn’t get tired

Directs us back to the previous section of God’s majestic power

Draws us to consider it more deeply

e.g. If I work hard I can accomplish a great deal but by the end of the day I will be tired

God’s strength is never diminished

Trials & troubles of life overwhelm me and cause me to be weary

God is never wearied no matter the size or number of trials that come upon His people

Your God is God

His understanding is unsearchable

Another way of saying, there is no-one like our God

Truth believers have always held to

e.g. The First Hymn (Christ Tomlin / Ben Fielding)

‘to God, the only giver of all good gifts’

Deliberate ‘taunt’ to pagans that their gods were not God

Grace of God

Isaiah 40:29

He gives power

This God who is all-powerful & all-knowing gives power

He dosn’t need to conserve strength for Himself

He is infinite in power & therefore is free to give power

This is one of the great blessings of His grace

It is a promise God makes over & over to His people

Psalm 29:11 “11 The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

Philippians 4:13 “13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

He increases strength

weak - speaks of crumbling under life’s pressures

To have no might is to be without vigour, vitality

To those who feel lost, hopeless, helpless

To those who have lost all joy in life & living

God gives the strength to stand when the pressures of life crush from every side

To those who have lost energy for life He gives vigour and vitality

2 Corinthians 4:7–9 “7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—”

Strength He gives isn’t just enough

e.g. Like a weightlifter shaking with the load of the weights

strength speaks of stability

He strengthens so you can have stability

He is your stability

How does God give this strength?

Our Confidence in God’s Strength

Isaiah 40:30-31

Recognising Our Weakness

We are only human

youths - possible word not just referring to being young

When you’re full of vitality, hope, strength

May refer to young men as soldiers

That is, men at their peak physical & mental strength

Even at our strongest we get weary

Weary = overcome by circumstances

Undeniably we are limited in power

We are also limited by time

Not just in we are finite & bound by time

Also, we are subject to the passing of time

We can’t go backward & alter time

We can’t go forward, we must wait

That means that God’s work in this world is worked out in time

That means we experience His work in stages

We are subject to the weaknesses of humanity

What makes us faint & weary?

Like Judah, we try to escape our situation on our own but without success

Like Paul (thorn in flesh), we’re wearied by trials both inwardly and outwardly

Like Solomon, we’re wearied by our selfish pursuit of satisfaction in things under heaven

We’re weary from lack of spiritual nourishment from God’s Word, the bread of life, & prayer

As David reminds us, weariness comes with aging

And even as Spurgeon expressed, we’re weary often in ways we can’t explain or understand but our ‘spirit itself is sinking’

All these things tell us that we are weary because sin has obstructed our source of life

So, how then do we find this strength that God says He will give?

Learning to Wait

Waiting is active faith

Bible waiting isn’t like sitting in the doctors office for an hour flicking through 5 year old magazines or aimlessly scolling Insta to spend 5 minutes with a doctor who’s not quite sure what we have but try these drops

True, waiting on God may mean (probably does mean) there’s nothing you can do to fix the problem

Waiting is an active faith in God

That is, it’s not while I wait for God I’ll keep looking for other options

Waiting is to fully believe God’s Word

Waiting is seeking

David says in Psalm 27:1 “1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Where does he find this courage?

Psalm 27:4 “4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.”

Is this not where Isaiah has directed us to look?

To behold the beauty of the Lord

To seek God, to be in His presence, to know Him

Waiting is expecting

Waiting/hoping isn’t wishing that God will do something

It is the confident expectation that God will do what is good and right

Psalm 34:10 “10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”

Waiting is worship

As Ps. 27 reminds us, waiting is worship

Leads us to change our focus from the trouble to fear the Lord

It calls us to fill our gaze with the excellence of God

Brings us to remember God’s goodness, faithfulness, strength, salvation and light

Lamentations 3:25–26 “25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. 26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.”

Finding His Strength

What strength does God give?

Not our own strength

He doesn’t expect us to rely on our own strength

To summon up all that we have and lift ourselves up

He gives strength

He gives strength to those who wait on Him

1 of great lies is that God will never give you more than you can handle

Of course He is

In fact, sometimes God gives us trials so that we will remember that exact point

2 Corinthians 12:7 “7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.”

Sufficient for our need

He gives strength that is sufficient for our time of trouble

2 Corinthians 12:9 “9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

My grace is enough & will always be enough (sufficient)

Uplifting to our soul

Psalm 40:1–2 “1 I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.”

Poetic nature of ‘rise up with wings like eagles’ leaves some ambiguity on its exact meaning

Possibly, the ease with which the majestic eagle is carried by the wind to soar at great height

Perhaps it represents the renewal of their feathers each year

No matter how we take the symbolism, the message is clear

It is God who lifts us above the pressures of life

It is God who strengthens us and carries

When you are crumbling under the pressures of life God will raise you up

When you have lost your joy & vigour of life God will renew you

When you feel like you can’t stand God will lift you to a stable place where you can run

They shall run & not faint. Why?

Because the one who never faints gives His power

Conclusion

Weariness and trouble are part of being human

Particularly, being sinful humans in a sin cursed world

Our weariness begins because we’ve been cut off from the source of life through our sin

Cure to that is to be reunited with the true source of life

This is Jesus’ invitation to you:

Matthew 11:28–29 “28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Will you come to Jesus today?

Will you put your trust in Him to do as He says - save you from sin and give your soul rest forever

Believer, you have help for the things that weary your soul

Look to your God

Remember what you have been taught about God

Hear His truth

If you do, you will find you have no reason to think that God doesn’t want to help or that He can’t help

Your shepherding, all powerful God is dependable

He is your comforting, incomparable, dependable God