New Strength For A New Season

We have been talking about change in this summer series that I have called, “Rooted For A New Season”.

We anchored the series in Jeremiah 17…which says that a person who trusts in the Lord is like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots into the streams and continues to grow and be fruitful even when seasons change.

We talked about how the new thing that God is doing is first and foremost a new thing in each one of us.

We talked about how God is God in every season…even when things change.

But, sometimes we can romanticize change. Sometimes we can speak as change is all glory and glamour. Roses and sunshine.

But, sometimes change is not like that. Sometimes the thing that instigates change is a hard thing.

A loved one passes away…now the change is trying to figure out life without them.

I got laid-off from my job…now the change is trying to understand who I am outside of the context of my work.

My body is aging, and I’m beginning to recognize that getting older is not for the faint of heart.

Adulting has hit me like a ton of bricks…and I am realizing that growing up is not easy.

Somebody might be excited about transitioning to a new leadership structure at Chicago City Life Center, but not me. I’m trying to get with it. But, I don’t like it.

What do I do, brother preacher, when the change that I’m navigating is unpleasant? Is there a word from God for me?

Beloved, all of us will have to navigate unpleasant change. I believe that most of the time there are at least some unpleasant aspects of change even when it is overall a good thing.

So, I want to talk today about the new season feels like its too hard.

I recently thought I needed a new phone.

My phone would not stay charged. Apps kept crashing.

I assumed that the phone was too old to run the new operating system and the newer apps properly.

But when I chatted with Apple Care online, they told me to check my battery health.

What I discovered is that I did not need a new phone. I just needed a new battery.

The phone was working as hard as it could to operate with the new OS and the new apps…but it just could not run the new stuff with the worn out battery.

I thought there was something wrong with my hardware. But, I really needed a new power supply.

Beloved you cannot run a new season on old grace. You can’t run a new season on old power.

The reason you keep crashing out is not because there’s something wrong with your faith…or your character…

The reason you keep crashing out is not because you are in the wrong place…

You just need to receive a new power supply.

I want to talk for just a few minutes from Isaiah 40:27-31 in a sermon I’ve called “New Strength for a New Season”

27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? 28 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean God is not in it.

Look at where God starts. He doesn't start with the promise. He starts with the complaint.

"O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?"

Before God ever says one word about eagles' wings…

before He says one word about new strength…

God repeats back to His people what they've been saying.

“God must not see me.”

“God has forgotten about my situation…for some reason He isn’t paying attention to what I'm going through.”

And isn’t that the math we do?

We assume if it's hard, God must be absent.

We assume that God's presence would feel like ease. So the moment it stops being easy, we start looking around as if God has left us.

What I love about this is that God does not rebuke them because of the complaint.

He doesn't say how dare you.

In repeating back to them, God is not just saying “how can you say that?”...He is reminding them that he is close enough to hear it.

BELOVED, never be afraid to tell God the truth about how you feel.

He knows anyway…

But deep spiritual work cannot take place while we are still in denial and dishonesty about what we are experiencing in our soul.

Now, God doesn’t rebuke the people, but He also does not answer their complaint by changing their circumstances.

God does not say I'll get you out of Babylon by Friday.

He answers by reminding them who He is.

I am the everlasting God.

I am the Creator of all the earth.

No one can measure the depths of My understanding.

In other words — you think I don't see?

I'm the One who made the ends of the earth.

I do not sleep and I do not slumber.

I have my eye on the smallest sparrow, so you can know that I am watching over you.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean God is not in it.

Just because it hurts doesn't mean you're out of the game.

Now. When we make peace with the fact that it's hard, we still have to consider what the hard thing has done to us.

Beloved, it's one thing to be in a difficult season.

It's another thing to look down and realize the difficult season has taken something out of you.

You're tired in a way sleep doesn't fix.

You're showing up but you're running on fumes.

You used to bounce back fast, now it seems like you don't bounce at all.

And the worst part isn't the exhaustion — it's the shame of the exhaustion.

Because you look around at everybody else who seems to be handling their change just fine,

and you start to think something is wrong with you.

Verse 30. "Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion."

Not the elderly. Not the sick. Not the weak.

The prophet points to the youths.

He points to the young men… 6’2…180…6% body fat…the demographic that is supposed to be inexhaustible…the ones with the fresh legs, the ones who can go all night and get up and do it again.

And Isaiah says: they will become weak. They will fall in exhaustion.

The Hebrew there is a word for stumbling or collapsing to the ground.

The picture is not somebody who was never strong.

The picture is somebody who ran out of strength.

What Isaiah is telling you is that fainting is not a character flaw.

Fainting is a human condition.

The strongest person you know has a limit.

The smartest person you know has something they can’t figure out.

The richest person you know wants something that their money cannot buy.

So when you hit the wall, that is not the moment to conclude that you were never qualified.

You may be struggling in your ministry right now, that's not evidence you were never called.

You may be struggling in your marriage, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t belong together.

It is only evidence that you are a human being who has been carrying something heavy for a long time.

Look at the text: "He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless".

The qualification for receiving God's power is not being strong.

The qualification is being weak.

God isn't looking to see how much you still have left in the tank.

He's looking for the ones who are empty.

Your exhaustion is not disqualifying. Your exhaustion is what qualifies you for new strength.

So then what do we do? If it's hard and God's still in it — if it hurts and I'm still in the game — what do I actually do with an empty tank?

Verse 31. "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength."

There is a word in there I don't want us to walk past…”New”.

Not more. Not extra. Not a little something to get you through the week. New.

The Hebrew word underneath that phrase is a word that means to exchange.

To trade in.

It's the word you'd use for changing your clothes — taking off the garment you've been wearing and putting on a different one.

It's the word for swapping something worn out for something fresh.

Isaiah is saying, this is not a recharge. This is taking out the old battery and putting in a new one.

That’s what I needed for my phone.

I could charge it myself…but it kept running out of charge faster and faster.

I needed to take it to the Apple Store. I needed the intervention of the maker.

Somebody in this room, You need an exchange today…not just a recharge.

Beloved, you cannot run a new season on old grace.

You cannot run a new season on old power.

And notice how the exchange happens.

It doesn't say those who work harder for the Lord.

It doesn't say those who figure out some new revelation about the Lord.

It says those who trust in the Lord.

The older translations say those who wait upon the Lord.

The Hebrew there carries the sense of expectant looking,

It means “‘wait’ (patiently) and ‘rest’ (trustfully). And here it is a participle, pointing to a “maintained relationship”

THOSE STAY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD WILL KEEP ON PUTTING ON NEW STRENGTH

You need new strength for a new season. And God is in the business of giving it.

Just before we pray, I want to make sure we don’t miss this part about “keep on putting on new strength.”

Look at how the verse ends: "They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."

Now on the surface, that looks like it's going the wrong direction.

Soaring…then running…then walking?

That sounds like a downgrade.

That sounds like the anointing is wearing off.

But beloved, Isaiah is not shifting down. He's going deeper.

You have to keep on putting on new strength because you are going to need fresh grace for every phase of this thing.

The best example I can give you…or at the least example I felt led by the Spirit to give you is dealing with grief.

Mount up on wings like eagles…that’s the part that everybody knows you have to do and everybody sees you do it.

Grace to go to the funeral home and confirm the body.

Grace to pick out clothes and songs for the service

Grace to show up and sit on that front row and to watch the coffin slowly lowered into the ground.

But then there are things that only some people and a few people acknowledge. That’s the running grace.

Grace to clean out the bedroom.

Complete all of the paperwork…from the post office to the life insurance company and everything in between.

And then there is that walking grace. The grace to do that part that hardly anyone sees, and nobody knows how difficult it is because it looks so common.

Grace to wake up in the morning and brush your teeth, without them being a part of the routine.

Grace to the next Thanksgiving dinner without that person at the table.

Grace to see their birthday come up on Google Calendar and your Facebook memories.

Beloved, Soaring Grace is what God gives you at the launch. Running Grace is what God gives you for the initial work. But, Walking Grace is for the ordinary day when nobody's watching.

And church, that's where most of us faint.

Everybody knows we need grace for the launch phase.

Most of us know we need fresh grace to that initial work.

But, we can forget that we need fresh grace for the part that doesn’t feel like a miracle…but just another day.

God is saying through Prophet Isaiah, “I will strengthen you from the wings all the way to the walk”.

But, remember what we said a few minutes ago. This process of receiving new strength is an exchange.

The Apple store can’t put a new battery in my phone if won’t let them take the old battery out.

God really does give beauty for ashes…joy for sorrows…praise garments in place of mourning clothes.

But you have to be willing to give Him the old in order to receive the new.

Now, I am not suggesting that you deny what you are experiencing in your soul. I am suggesting that you bring that brokenness to Jesus.

The psalmist says in Psalm 55:17: “In the evening and morning and at noonday, I complain and lament, and He hears my voice.”

I’m not telling you to stop complaining…I’m telling you to bring your complaint to the Lord.

I’m not telling you to stop being angry…I’m telling you to bring your anger to Lord.

I’m not telling you to stop being sad or frustrated or confused…I’m telling you simply this…bring it Jesus.

I brought these little, black journals. Because I want you to have a “give it to Jesus journal”.

Write it out.

Your worries.

Your anger.

Your fears.

WRITE EVERYTHING…this starts with being honest with Jesus.

Don’t write to the journal “dear diary”, write it to the Lord.

Then give away. Give to Him

Burn it.

Pitch in the lake.

Take it to a state you’ll never visit again and bury it.

Whatever you do, let it be an outward symbol a real internal commitment, “Lord I am releasing this stuff to you.”

And then watch God begin to flood your heart with new strength.