A Word to the Weary

Introduction

Sometimes life can become so hard that we wonder what is God up to. We say to ourselves, “what did we do to deserve this.” Everything seems to be against us. Times are turbulent; storm after storm after storm floods our soul. The harder we try, the worse things seem to get and there is no relief in sight. When life hits you hard repeatedly it easy to get wore out. I am here to tell you if you feel that way you are not alone. Saints throughout history have ask the question, God how long must I endure the pain, God how long before you deliver me, God where are you. Although some of us are too spiritual to admit it, we get weary. By weary I am talking about emotionally spent, mentally depleted, spiritually run down, physically tapped out. The people in this passage know the feeling. They were in captivity, under Babylonian oppression. Life was extremely hard, the people were ready to give up on life and God. These people were emotionally spent, physically worn out, they had lost the ability to even cope with life. Because circumstances were so painful they reasoned that God had forgotten them. They were weary. But God had a word for His people back then, and He has a word for us today. There are four things God wants us to understand that will help us through our dark valley’s of weariness.

I. Reconsider Your Opinion

27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

The first thing that God wants us as Christians to do is reconsider our opinion about how God is working in our lives. Look at the passage; the children of Israel were claiming God was not concerned about them. Lets take a closer look at what they are saying. They claimed that their “way is hid from the Lord” The word “way” here is speaking about their condition, their manner of living, their present painful and oppressive circumstances.

They claim that the way is “hid. ” This means that God is ignorant of it, or that he does not attend to it; and the complaint here is, that God had not regarded them in their calamities, and would not intervene to save them.

Basically they were saying despite all this pain that they were experiencing, all the heartache they had endured that God had not even noticed what they were going through. We claim the same thing. We claim that God does not see that we are being mistreated, he does not see that we are being abused, he does not see that I am being exploited, and manipulated, and despitefully used, that they are being murdered and slandered by people spreading false rumor and accusations.

Notice also that the children of Israel also claim that their “judgment is passed over from my God.” They were alleging that God had forgotten about their cause. They were claiming that God would not vindicate them judicially for the wrongs that were being done to them.

They were simply saying that God had let them down. They were asking the questions: God where are you? Don’t you see the painful situations that I am facing? Don’t you understand how I am hurting? If you really love me God, why don’t you show up and deliver me? Why don’t you change my circumstances? If you are a God of love why don’t you do something?

Let me tell you something God has not forgotten about you, nor has he forsaken you. He sees you and knows you and he is with you in your pain to help you. Check out these passages.

2 Chron. 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

Prov. 15: 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Psa. 34: 15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

God not only sees, he knows and he cares. He is looking to help you, His ears are sensitive to pick up your faintest cry. Don’t make the mistake of attacking God when things are not going right in your life. He is our help

II. Recall My Majesty

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Have you not known?

The people had laid out their complaint and basically they accused God of willful neglect. In essence they were saying that God did not care about them. God’s reply to them is you need to recall my majesty. Look back and search the record. You have had abundant opportunities to learn that I love you and care about you. Over and over and over again God displayed great power to miraculously rescue them. He repeatedly rebuked, defeated, destroyed, and delivered them from their enemies. No other people group on the face of the planet had as much evidence of God’s loving tender care as the Jews had. God manifested himself to them on a daily basis, day and night, fed them every morning with heavenly bread, and now they had the audacity to insinuate that God does not care! What God was telling the people was that they needed to recall all the miracles that he had performed for them proving that he cared for them.

Many of us feel the same way, we believe God does not care about us, that he has abandoned us, and He is powerless to change our situation. We forget all the goodness God has shown us in the past. But just like the children of Israel, God has been faithful to us, he has rescued us, delivered us, and carried us. It is funny that as soon as time turn bad we tend to forget what God has done for us.

Hast though not heard.

God asks them, “What have you been taught.” What have your ancestors taught you. Maybe you did not eat the mana, maybe you did not see the pilliar of fire by night or experience the cloud that shielded you from the desert sun in the heat of the day, but they have been recorded for you. Your forefathers taught you about my character, your ancestors experienced my miracles, you know these things. He ask them- Have you forgotten my character? Have you lost sight of my KSA= Knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Everlasting

Have you lost sight that I am the eternal, everlasting God? Before there was a universe, before there were stars and galaxies, before there was a planet earth, before there were mountains and streams, and oceans, I am God. I eternally watch over my people.

Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Yahweh

Not only am I the everlasting God, I am the God who is in covenant with you. Did I not cut a covenant with Abraham, reaffirmed it with Isaac, and reaffirmed it with Jacob. Did I not cut a covenant with you at Mt. Sinai? I keep my covenants.

Creator

Not only that I am the creator. I am the one who speaks and things come into existence. I did not simply create a few things, I created everything; to the ends of the earth. There is nothing in it created that I did not create. The implication in God pointing this out to his people is that if he has the power to create the earth he is more than capable of taking care of them.

Sometimes our enemies look real strong, sometimes our circumstances look unchangeable. We think that because we have been in them for a long time that nothing will ever change but I can hear God saying “is there anything too hard for me.” Your situation has not worn me down, because you have not been delivered does not mean that I am tired, or can’t deliver you or that I won’t deliver you. My delay is not denial nor is it indifference.

God is perpetual, ongoing, infinite, inexhaustible, strength and ability. So you think that the God, who maintains order in the universe, is incapable of maintaining order in your life.

Have you not understood that my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts not your thoughts? God’s wisdom is Inscrutable- its not exam able, chronicalble, collectable, measurable, not even fathomable. It is not searchable, scalable, or sellable. One problem we have as Christians is that we try to figure God out. Well God is too vast and infinite to be understood by our very limited mind. Humans can only see parts, God sees the whole and thoroughly understands everything. His understanding is complete and perfect, there are no surprises or learning with him.

Contrary to what you are thinking, I care about you. Psa. 139: 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Psalms 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

III. Recharge By My Power

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

What God is saying is that He gives, He imparts, he endows, he puts, he ascribes power to those who are weak. This power means strength, ability, and capacity. He gives power to those who are faint: those who are feeble, weary, fatigued, exhausted. God promises strength, power and vigor to those who are tired. To those who have no physical strength, He increases fully their power.

Looking at this promise God is saying those who have no might, those of you who have no strength, those who have no ability, who recognize and depend on him; He will multiply (increase) your strength or (Potency). God is not talking about one time, the verb in this verse “giveth” implies a consistent, constant flow of His divine might into our lives

There are times in our lives when we need supernatural endowments of strength to make it through. Sometimes the going can get so rough that we simply don’t know how we are going to make it through another day. Fear grips us about tomorrow and we wish that life would just go away. We don’t have any more power to get us through, all of our resources are depleted and we have no place to turn. My brothers and sisters God will take advantage of these circumstances to grow us spiritually. It was never his intention that we live the Christian life by our own means. So what God does is he allows us to experience situations that strip us of our pride, deplete us of our resources and empty us of ourselves so that we come to depend completely and totally upon Him. This is why the Apostle Paul prayed that “He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man,” in Eph. 3: that you be “Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience, longsuffering and joyfulness in Col. 1:10

That is why the Apostle Paul could say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That is why the Psalmist could declare “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? But the key to appropriating God’s strength is to depend upon Him for it. This is why Paul admonishes us to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.”

You ask how do I make this work in my life? Good question. Let me put it to you this way. It is not in trying to live victorious, it is in trusting God to live victorious through you, it is not scurrying all over town trying to impress people with your “spirituality” but in resting. It is not in wondering how things are going to work out, how that bill is going to be paid etc. but in praying that you find the strength of the Lord.

IV. Revive in My Strength

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

God goes on to explain that in your flesh you will become tired. It does not matter if you have the energy of a toddler, or you have trained and conditioned yourself to be in top physical shape, you will eventually run out of fuel. He selects the two most energetic specimens to expound upon the fact. He says the even the youths- those anywhere from 2 to 18, even they grow weary and faint. We know how much energy a two year old has, those of us who chase these little blessings know that they simply don’t stop or quit, until they are completely wore out. But the fact of the matter is that they do wear out, and so will anyone who rely entirely upon the flesh. He goes on to say that those are choice men, the professional athlete, the policeman, the fireman, the solider, even with all of their training and conditioning, they will utterly fall.

But they that wait upon the Lord, what does it mean to wait on God?

The Hebrew word translated “wait” carries the idea of binding together by twisting. Biblical waiting is not simply sitting back so that you can observe what is about to happen, that is spectating. Biblical waiting means that we twist ourselves around God. We intertwine our lives with God in such a manner that his power becomes ours. Waiting carries the idea of wrapping yourself around God so that His strength is holding the burden and not you. Waiting carries the idea of meshing our lives with the Lord so that we lose our self-identities and become one with him. Waiting carries the meaning of patiently trusting, expecting His help, relying upon His deliverance, placing our hope and confidence in Him. Waiting is active, trusting, clinging, hoping, looking, anticipating. Think of it as some yarn and a thick rope. We represent the yarn, we were simply not designed to carry weight. But when you wrap that yarn around the thick rope the yarn will not snap because the rope is bearing the weight.

Shall renew their strength- this word for renew means to “exchange” it means that we exchange our frail, limited, impotent, human weakness, for the inexhaustible, power and might of the living Almighty God. God gives us strength to revive us, renew us, to cause us to flourish again. This means that the people of God who trust in him shall become strong in faith; able to contend with their spiritual foes, to gain the victory over their sins, and to carry out their spiritual duties, and to meet head on the trials of life. Instead of stumbling and fumbling through life they will have victory regardless of the circumstance.

[They shall mount up with wings as eagles] This phrase depicts how God’s strength lifts the individual up above and over the turbulent winds that buffets the average person and carries them closer in communion with God. God’s power sustains them and upholds them and in his service we never faint. Sometimes God carries us out of the circumstance. To rise up from the bondage, to rise above the circumstance, to rise above the lie, to rise above the frustration, to rise above the irritation, to rise above the put downs, to rise above being worn out, to rise above being mentally depleted, to rise above being spiritually dry, to be elevated above the world and experience closer communion with God, and a nearness to his throne-as the eagle ascends toward the sun. You see the winds that buffet us God intends for them to be the avenue that brings us closer to Him.

[They shall run and not be weary] Sometimes God will not remove us from the circumstance but He allows us to remain in it but we must move quickly. Running here depicts the fact the believer is moving swiftly in obedience to God’s word fulfilling God’s will. It is fulfilling the assignment God has given to you. God’s assignment is often pictured as a race that we run. Running is not referring to sporadic obedience but lifestyle obedience. Running entails faithfulness in the middle of the trials, you have not been taken out of the trial but the bondage the trial would have placed you under mentally and physically has been neutralized so that you become undaunted by any difficulties you may be facing. Phil 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

They should walk and not faint. Sometimes we must move slowly, patiently through trial. This is when we walk. This depicts moving slowly through. It is moving on and on for long distances. Walking invokes the idea of daily activity, so what God is speaking to us is that he will provide us with daily strength. God is promising strength for the daily grind of life. It is the daily, relentless, repetitive tasks that tend to wear us out. We get tired of them, frustrated with them, fed up with them. God provides strength to us so that we can continue to walk when we feel like we can’t go on anymore. It has been found in the experience of thousands and tens of thousands, that by waiting on the Lord the heart has been invigorated; the faith has been confirmed; and the affections have been raised above the world. Strength has been given to bear trials without complaining, to engage in difficult duty without fainting, to pursue the perilous and toilsome journey of life without exhaustion, and to rise above the world in hope and peace on the bed of death.

Conclusion

My brothers and sisters, when life throws a curveball at you and it seems like all hell has broken loose, when everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, when the enemy comes in like a flood. When it looks like you are going to be carried away in defeat, when it looks like you are going to be carried away in dejection, when it looks like you are going to be carried away in despondency, when it looks like you are going to be carried away in defeat, when it looks like you are going to be carried away in disappointment, when it looks like you are going to be carried away in hopelessness: God is saying wait a minute: I got some wings for you.

I got some wings to help you soar:

· To help you soar above the problem

· To help you soar above the situation

· To help you soar above the circumstances

· To help you soar above the drama

· To help you soar above the negativity

· To help you soar above the lies

· To help you soar above the slander

· To help you soar above the misrepresentations

You will not have to struggle: You won’t have to pump yourself up.

· I will impart my power to you.

· I will impart my peace to you

· I will impart my provision to you

· I will impart my protection to you

· I will impart my joy to you

· I will impart my wisdom to you

· I will impart my victory to you

Because soon

· You are going to see your breakthrough

· You are going to experience complete deliverance

· You are going to be placed in a new position

· You are going to get that promotion

· You will walk in the divine purposes I have for your life

But you must stretch out the wings that I gave you

· You must stretch out those wings of faith

· You must stretch out your wings of trust

· You must stretch out your wings of reliance upon me

· You must stretch out your wings of dependence upon me

· You must stretch out your wings of surrender to me

I don’t know where you may find yourself this morning but God is speaking to you an letting you know that:

this is not the time or the place for you to question your faith.

This is not the time for you to be contemplating giving up,

This is not the time for you to throw in the towel.

This is not the time for you to doubt his character

This is not the time for you to doubt his presence

This is not the time to doubt His love for you

This is not the time to doubt His will for your life

This is the time for you to hold on,

This is the time for you to be strong

God is saying Reconsider your opinion of me, I see you

God is saying Recall my Majesty, I care about you

God is saying Recharge by my power, and I will empower you

God is saying Revive in Strength and I will elevate you

Let me help you

Let me energize you by my omnipotent Spirit in your inner man.

Let me exchange my strength for your weakness,

Let me exchange my might for your faintness

Let me exchange my ability for your frailty

Let me exchange my power for your exhaustion.

Let me exchange my potency where you are poop out.

This is my word to those who are weary,

I will do these things when you

Cling to me,

Rely completely upon me

Wrap yourselves around me

Believe in me

Trust in me and

Expect of me.