Hope When You're Feeling Hopeless
Notes
Transcript
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.
Introduction
Introduction
Isaiah - prophet
Judah - during Uzziah’s 52 year reign developed into a major area of commerce with a port on the Red Sea. While it was gaining in worldly power, it was also a time of extreme decline in the spirituality of its citizens and rulers. As we have previously studied, Uzziah reign came to an end when he assumed the role of priest and burned incense on the altar.
16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
17 But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor,
18 and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.”
19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense.
How often do we see these same actions today - when either countries as a whole or those who are given the authority and responsibility to conduct business on behalf of their constituents get overcome with their sense of power and take on the attitude they can do whatever they want. However, without some accountability they can soon step over and beyond what is acceptable to man and to God in their actions.
When his son Ahaz began to reign, he found himself in a tough situation where there was civil unrest from Israel and Syria and a war resulted. Ahaz formed alliances with Assyria, leading to a pagan altar being set up in Solomon’s temple.
10 When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.
11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.
12 And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it
13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar.
14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.
15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.”
16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.
Notice who built the altar - the priest…as the moral decline of the nation occurred, as they relied on their own accord more that relied on God, the found themselves falling further into ungodly actions leading to a further moral decline of the nation. Once Ahaz died and Hezekiah took over reign, the Assyrians forced Judah to pay heavy tribute to them. As the Assyrian empire weakened, Hezekiah refused to pay and Assyria invaded unsuccessfully.
At times, I think the United States is similar to Israel, a divided nation, seeking it’s own desires instead of God’s, looking to its own ability to fix problems instead of petitioning God for His direction, and allowing idols to undermine the importance of God and His influence on our nation, maybe not graven images or false god statues but things that rob our time and focus away from the one true God. At times, I think when we see the division within our nation we are certainly concerned for the future of America and what our influence will be, or how influenced we will be by other nations. At times, we may look at some preachers and wonder whether they are like the priest Uriah - just doing whatever to garner support of the masses. Yet many of us pastors also feel like Isaiah, wondering why the Word of God is being preached time after time, only to be ignored by the people.
This is a serious time for Judah and the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people were divided, even to the point of threatening to take up arms against each other, not seeking Godliness, but only looking for selfish desires. This is just as serious a time for the United States, as we are deeply divided as a nation, there has been civil unrest from both sides of the division, and both sides are condemning and criticizing the other. There is no Godliness being sought, only trying to fulfill selfish desires.
While I have been concerned, as many others have, about the direction of our nation, I have been reminded, through scripture, that none of this has come as a surprise to God. We have been told that God is still in control and has been from eternity past and eternity future. That we are will grow weary when we rely on our own knowledge and desires, but for those who rely on God we will see a renewed strength.
No Need to be Unaware
No Need to be Unaware
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.
Even while we may be concerned with the events of this virus, with the climate we have in our nation, we must never forget that God is still on the throne, God is still in control, and none of this surprised God. This was not something new, but something God was reminding His people of, something that had been taught to them throughout the ages. So why the problem? Why the reminder? Because they had turned their eyes away from God, they had gone about their own desires and ways, had put God’s behind, and had FORGOTTEN the promises from God.
Everlasting - ETERNAL - meaning God is the God stretching from beyond our comprehension of the past all the way past our comprehension of the future. He forever has been, and forever will be! God has always existed, He always has been, He still is, and He will always be the Creator.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
But remember the trend of Israel, they were in God’s graces, they chose to disobey God, God would warn them, they continue to disobey, they were punished, they repented and turned back to God…and repeated the process. Isaiah has been warning Judah of what God’s punishment will be if they do not turn back to Him. They continue to disobey and would find themselves overcome and in Babylonian captivity. These verses deal with the deliverance from captivity - God had told them they would suffer for 70 years, but that there would be an end - and to comfort the captives until they were delivered, as God had plans for Israel in the future. God would not forget His people, and certainly knew the condition they were in.
As Christians, we are God’s people, at times feeling like we, too, are captives as a result of the un-Godliness going on on around us. But He is not asleep, He is not resting, He is not even tired, He is caring for His people, and even though we cannot understand what is going on, we must remind ourselves that we can’t comprehend God’s thinking and by faith we must find peace knowing He is still in control. He still speaks these same words to us in comfort today, have you not know, have you not heard, we serve an EVERLASTING GOD!
Strength for the Weak
Strength for the Weak
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;
Times like this can find us tired physically, mentally, and even spiritually. This sets us apart from God, he needs no rest because He is never tired of caring for His people and His creation!
faint/no might - a person who is exhausted, weary
power/strength - physical strength
We have all been around children who make the Energizer bunny tired! Even those who seem to have endless energy will still be tired of the ongoing condition they find themselves in. But while we may find ourselves tired and weary, we must remind ourselves that God is far greater than this world or anything in it or on it because, after all, it is His creation.
6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
While we may grow tired of the political clamor, the unrest among the parties, the constant reminder that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right, we still have hope in our Creator who still oversees His divine plan. When was the last time we asked the one who never grows weak to truly give us the strength to get through?
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Hope is waiting expectantly. This means we must patiently wait and have faith that Gods plan will occur.
Renewed Strength
Renewed Strength
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.
God will renew our strength. He will give us peace, He will assure us with hope, He will do what He said He will do - we just have to be patient and wait. I know it’s hard to do, we have grown into a society that is almost reliant on instant gratification. We want to push the computer button and have it respond. We want the person in front of us to pull out quicker when the light turns green. We can’t wait for the passing lane so we can go a few miles faster. We want to place our order and immediately have our meal delivered. We are impatient and generally unsatisfied people who have forgotten we are told to be still and know He is God. We have been so busy wanting and doing our own thing that many times we overlook what God desires for us - to slow down, to seek Him, so that He can strengthen us to the point we can run through problems, hardships, trials, and temptations of life without getting tired. We can walk through these tribulations knowing we are victorious through Christ. We must be patient, we must pray expecting God to answer, and we must be still awaiting God’s blessing of strength when we go through these trials of life. Paul is reminded of this in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 when he pleads to God about his handicap.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
9 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
You see, God expected His people, the Jews, to be patient and wait on His plan to be complete - even captivity. Christians, His Word has not changed today. The only way we can grow stronger and find strength with all that is going on in this world today is to be patient, to wait for His plan to be complete - and know He will always see us through.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God’s people should never feel as though He has left them. Sometimes, we have to be reminded of this that we can find our HOPE in what seems to be HOPELESS times if we put our faith and our reliance on Him. Just like the Israelites, we are reminded - Have you not known? This is not a new revelation! Have God’s promises never come through? We have confidence in God! But why might it seem that God has grown tired of America?
6 You have rejected me, declares the Lord; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting.
We must turn from our wicked ways. Oh church, it doesn’t matter how long we stay on our knees crying out to God, if we are still un-repented, if we are still harboring sin, if we have never asked God to forgive us, all we are doing is creating calluses on our knees. We are told, as individuals and that we must REPENT - turn from our wicked ways before God will hear and forgive the sin and heal our land. If we continue to reject Him, then we will never recover. We were told that He is not weary - but He is not weary of seeing His will and purpose carried out. He is weary of us continuing to disobey, of us continuing to live in sin, of us continuing to reject His ways.
Church, it is time to get serious about our desire to turn our lives over to and FULLY rely on God. We are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
We must get past this prideful soul that we have as a nation, and humble ourselves first. We must not on recognize but accept that we are not the ultimate authority, that God is. If we humble ourselves, but notice there is more required than just recognizing who is in control - we must pray and seek God’s face. We have to get past spending our time on everything else EXCEPT our alone time with God. He expects us to pray - spending meaningful time with Him interacting, petitioning, and at times pleading to God. I heard a great testimony this week of the prayer life of a person who had passed, that they could bring down heaven in their prayers. Christians, how many of us have that type of prayer life? Where are our prayer warriors? How will we ever be able to find the HOPE if we are not communicating with the one who can grant it?
God is greater than anything we face here on earth, believers can be set free and find hope in what seems like hopeless times if we continue to remind ourselves that this is part of God’s divine plans, if we taking rest and peace in this knowledge, and if we continue to seek His will for our lives personally and for our nation. Will you join me today in prayer as we pray for our lost, our churches, our leaders, and our nation?