Are you struggling with anxiety, loneliness, or uncertainty? If so, there’s only one source you can trust to bring you comfort, and that is almighty God. In this message, Dr. Stanley informs us that anyone who has a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ can be confident that the Lord will provide strength to endure through hardship.
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>> Dr. Charles Stanley: Somebody
hurt you badly and you can’t get
over it, and they don’t even
seem to care.
Or maybe you’ve been injured and
you’re having a very difficult
time with pain and you don’t
quite understand why God doesn’t
do something about it.
Or it may be one of your close
friends, very close friends, and
maybe one of your loved ones
passed away, been very difficult
for you.
You don’t understand what God’s
up to.
You feel depressed.
You feel sort of having a
setback in your life and you
can’t quite get through it all.
You went to work; they told you
when you got there you weren’t
needed anymore and told you
goodbye, and you went home and
you began to think about it.
You owe on your mortgage, for
your automobile, you have
children in private school,
you’ve got food and clothing and
insurance and all the other
things, and suddenly you don’t
have a job.
They didn’t even thank you for
doing a good job at what you
were doing.
It just all passed by.
Maybe your dreams got shattered.
You had some big dreams, they
got shattered, and now you look
at your future and it looks like
this long, dark tunnel, and at
the other end of it is a big
shadow.
You don’t know what’s going on,
you don’t seem to have any real
hope for anything exciting in
your life.
Well, no matter who you are,
whether young or old, and no
matter what you’re going through
in life, there are times when
all of us need the same thing
because whatever the situation
may be, there are times in our
life when we need to be
comforted, we need to be
encouraged, we need to know that
somebody cares, that somebody’s
sort of looking out after us and
that we amount to something and
we’re important to somebody,
somewhere, somehow; especially
when this distress has brought
us down to the point of almost
depression.
Then who do you turn to?
Who do most folks turn to?
Where do they go?
Most folks turn to whatever
seems to be the quickest fix.
And without stopping to ask what
are the consequences if I go
this way, they just choose to go
this way because that seems to
be the shortest route to the end
of their pain and their hurt or
their sorrow or their heartache.
Who do you go to?
Well, there are a lot of things
you can try, but there is one
sure help for your pain and hurt
and difficulty, and that is
Almighty God Himself.
He is the comforter of all
comforts.
He’s the eternal comforter,
there’s no one like Him.
And He promises to comfort us in
any and every circumstance of
life.
And that’s what I want to talk
about in this message, “God Our
Comforter.”
And in a few moments, I’m going
to have you turn to a chapter;
but before we do, I want to
remind you of what Jesus said
the night before He was
crucified.
He was encouraging his
disciples.
He said, “I’m not going to leave
you as orphans, now.”
He said, “I’m going to send you
Halos,” in the Greek, that means
one just like.
“I’m going to send you somebody
like Me.
I’m going to send you a helper,”
and the very word He uses for
helper is the same word in the
Greek of Paraklatos, which
means one who walks beside us,
one who stands beside us.
He said, “I’m going to send you
the comforter.”
That is the same word.
And then if you’ll recall, in
second Corinthians chapter one,
the third and fourth verses.
Paul is talking about God being
our comforter, the God of all
comfort.
And He says that God comforts
us, and one of these primary
reasons for comforting us is
that fact that you and I can be
comforters to others.
And I think all of us will agree
that we’ve been through some
circumstance or situation in
life where we needed somebody to
come and hold us up a little bit
and to assure us and to comfort
us.
And no matter how long you’ve
been a Christian and no matter
what you believe about the Word
of God, no matter how long
you’ve been to church, there are
times when everybody needs
comfort, depending upon the
nature of the cloud and the
shadow they’re living in and
living under.
Well, there is one chapter in
the Bible that exceeds all the
rest of them when it comes to a
description of Almighty God who
is our great comforter.
And that chapter is sort of
almost in the middle of a great
prophet in the Old Testament.
So, I want you to turn to Isaiah
chapter forty, and what I would
like for us to do is I would
like, in the light of what we
have just said, I would like for
us to look at this chapter in
the light of who God is because
if I were to ask you who He is,
you could give me some
reasonable or explanation from
your mind who He is, but the
issue is this: what is He really
like?
So, I want you to follow me, and
if you happen to be at home or
wherever you may be with a
Bible, get your Bible out, turn
to the fortieth chapter of
Isaiah, get a pencil, if you
might, and I want you to go
through this with me because you
will need it.
And what you and I need in times
of hurt and pain and sorrow and
distress, we need to know who is
this we’re going to and can He
truly help me?
And when you read this passage
and you understand who this God
is, you can come to Him with
confidence and assurance in your
life, this God of mine is going
to see me through this.
So, let’s begin in verse one.
He says–Isaiah speaking to the
people of God, and he’s already
given them some pretty tough
prophecies of things that are
going to happen, and then God
says at this point to him,
here’s what you’d say,
“‘Comfort, O comfort my people,’
says God.
‘Speak kindly to Jerusalem and
call to her that her warfare’s
and their iniquity has been
removed that she has received of
the Lord’s hand, double for all
her sins.'”
And then he goes on, and what I
want you to do is to move all
the way down to verse eight, to
a verse of Scripture that you
ought to underline in your Bible
or circle the number or
something because it’s a very
important verse, because it
relates to the fact that our God
is eternal, when he says, “The
grass withers, the flower fades,
but the Word of our God stands
forever.”
Now, once in a while, somebody
will ask me, “Well, why are you
always holding that Bible?”
One simple reason: this is the
authority, not me.
And no matter who’s talking to
you and who’s preaching to you
or who’s teaching you, this is
the authority; not man, but the
Word of God.
And the Word of God is the
eternal Word of God.
When we say that God is eternal,
that means that there’s no time
in the past when He was not.
There will be no time in the
future when He is not.
There’s no time right now that
He is not.
And when Moses said to God, “Now
God, you want me to send my
people this message of who gave
me this message, that I’m to go
and talk to pharaoh, who shall I
say sent me?”
And God said to him, “You tell
them I Am that I Am has sent
you.”
Well, it was interesting this
past week, and I was sitting in
a doctor’s office that I enjoyed
being with, and he’s a Jewish
man and very, very smart about
most anything that I’ve ever
heard about in life.
And oftentimes, he’ll ask me
something about the Scripture,
and he brought up that passage.
He says, “What does it mean, I
Am that I Am?”
And I could say to him that the
God in whom you believe, and I
called his name, the God in whom
you believe is a God who has no
beginning and no end, that at no
time in the past did He not
exist and no time in the future
would He not exist, and I Am
that I Am.
He couldn’t say I was, I am, or
I shall be; but I Am that I Am,
the eternal God.
Every man, every woman, every
person will one day bow their
knee and admit and confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God the Father, God
Almighty, the great I Am.
He is the God that is the
subject of this whole chapter,
this is all about Him.
It’s not all about man.
It’s all about Him, so that when
you and I get into those issues
and difficulties of life, we
understand who it is that we’re
going to.
So, he says, “The grass withers,
the flower fades, and the Word
of our God stands forever.”
That’s why the very idea of
departing from the Word of God
is suicide.
Because listen, all of man’s
wisdom and knowledge and
understanding, think about this,
think about all the hundreds and
thousands and thousands,
probably millions of volumes of
books have been written about
this one.
And no person who’s ever
preached the message, no person
who’s ever written a book, no
person who’s ever written a
commentary about any one of the
books of the Bible or all of
them would ever say, “Well,
finally, I’ve got it all down, I
understand it all, I know it.
Don’t need to read anymore
because I have discovered what
it’s about.”
Never, because what this is is
the infinite mind of God.
By His grace that He’s spoken
through men and guided them
through the Holy Spirit to do
what?
To write, to record who He is
and how He has dwelt among and
acted among men all these years.
This is the book.
When a nation departs on this
book, they are headed for great
trouble.
When a person departs from this
book and lays it aside, they’re
headed for trouble.
I have never met a person who is
a member of this fellowship who
backslid; that is, they were
coming and then they decided not
to come for some reason, next
thing I know, I mean, “Well,
what happened?”
“Well, hum, hum.”
Every single one of them admits
when I say to them, “Did you at
some point sort of stop reading
the Bible?”
“Well, yes.”
When you stop reading the Word
of God, you lay aside your
compass, you tear up the map of
life, and you’re headed for
trouble.
You’re going to sin against God,
you will suffer the
consequences.
This is God’s road map for life
and, listen, there are no wrong
turns in here.
There are no mistakes in here.
It is absolutely God’s Word.
So, if–with that in mind, let’s
look at this God that he
describes here.
So, he says, beginning in the
latter part of verse 9, “Here is
your God.”
So, Isaiah is saying,
“This–here’s the comforter.”
And he begins by saying, “Behold
the Lord God will come with
might, with His arm ruling for
Him, behold His reward is with
Him.”
And so, here’s what he’s saying:
that God is sovereign.
He is in control of all things
at all times and all situations
and circumstances.
Somebody says, “Well, I don’t
believe that.”
Well, why don’t you believe it?
Because your mind cannot reason
why God allows certain things to
happen; and because you don’t
understand it, you want to bring
God from lofty position of being
sovereign down to something or
somebody you understand.
He’s greater than that.
He’s mightier than that.
He’s higher than that.
He is the God of this universe.
He rules and reigns.
He says He’s established His
throne in the heavens and His
sovereignty rules over all.
So that when you and I come to
Him with our heartache, our
burden, our trouble, our trial;
remember we’re coming to one
who is in absolute control.
He has the power to fix.
He has the power to change.
He has the power to heal.
He has the power to uplift us,
no matter what’s going on.
Then He says, “Behold the Lord
God will come with might, with
His arm ruling for Him, behold
His reward is with Him and His
recompense before Him.”
Then He says–I want you to
understand the heart of this
awesome God of sovereignty, and
so He says–here’s His heart.
“Like a Shepherd He will tend
His flock, in His arm He will
gather the lambs and carry them
in His bosom.
He will gently lead the nursing
ewes.”
What does a Shepherd do?
A Shepherd provides for the
flock.
A Shepherd guards, watches over,
cares for, protects the flock.
The Shepherd leads the flock in
the right direction.
Here’s what he is saying: this
God of ours whom you and I say
we believe and we trust and
worship, He says I want you to
see Him as a Shepherd, so that
when–if I’m going through some
difficulty or hardship or
problem in my life, I know who
to go to.
I go to the one whose heart is
that of a Shepherd and who says,
“He picks them up in His arms,”
and what does, “He carries them
in His bosom, He will gently
lead the nursing ewes.”
What kind of awesome God is
that?
Now, then He says I want you to
notice something else.
He says I want you to notice who
this God is in the light of the
following things, because we see
here the fact that He is the
creator, and then if you go back
over to on over to verse
twenty-eight just for a moment,
“Do you not know and have you
not heard?
The Everlasting God,” no
beginning and no end, the
everlasting I Am, the Lord, the
Creator of the ends of the
earth.
So, back to this twelfth verse,
listen to this, “Who has
measured the waters in the
hollow of his hands, marked off
the heavens by the span,
calculated the dust of the earth
by the measure and weighted the
mountains in the balance and the
hills and a pair of scales.”
He says this God of ours, now
watch this, God is transcendent;
that is, that is not only is He
the creator of it all, but
transcendent means He is above
and beyond it all.
So that when God looks upon this
globe of ours out in space, He
looks upon it and sees it all.
He sees it in every single
perspective.
This is the God who created it.
And so, when He says here that
he’s measured the waters in the
hollow of his hands.
When we think of the Atlantic
Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, we
think, “What vast, vast, vast
expanses of water this is.
Miles deep and hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of miles long and wide.
He says, “In the hollow of his
hand.”
He says from God’s perspective,
He’s got it all in the hollow of
His hands.
That’s how great He is.
And then He says, “And marked
off the heavens by the span.”
How do you measure the heavens?
How–in other words, well, you
and I can just see from horizon
to horizon, He sees it all.
It’s all within His grasp
because He is above and beyond
it all because His might, His
power, His wisdom, His
knowledge, His understanding is
beyond man’s comprehension.
And so, He simply says, “That
he’s calculated the dust by the
measure and weighed the
mountains in the balance.”
Now, think about this:
calculated the dust.
For example, we say if, for
example, if you had all the
sands in the world, piled them
all up and took one grain off of
that pile of all the sands in
the world, then eternity would
just begin.
Think about dust.
Dust doesn’t weigh anything.
And what he’s simply saying
here, listen, that God is
knowledgeable, listen, He is
knowledgeable, in control of,
aware of, sees, listen, and He
is enabled to know exactly
what’s happened in your life and
my life.
That is, when He says, for
example here, when He says that
He has, “Marked off the heavens,
calculated the dust, weighed the
mountains in the balance and the
hills and a pair of scales,”
what He’s just done is said,
“Look, anywhere you look, in the
heavens, which I have created,
the waters are in my hand.
The–I know so much about every
single thing, it’s like the
dust.
You put it on the scales, it
weighs absolutely nothing.”
There is nothing that He does
not know.
In other words, you and I would
never come to God to inform Him
about anything because He knows
it all.
Now, sometimes we get in
a–maybe a tough place in our
life and we want to say, “Well
now God, haven’t You seen what
I’m going through?
Don’t you understand, God, where
I am?
Where are you, God?”
And of course, we have to work
through that till we finally
admit the fact, yes, God, I know
that you do know, please forgive
me for acting like you don’t.
What He’s saying is this: when
I need comfort, look who I’m
going to.
He has it all in such control,
He’s so mighty and so powerful
and so awesome.
All the water, He says, in His
hands.
He weighs the mountains and the
hills and scales.
He knows all about everything to
the point of dust.
That is, you can’t think about
anything He doesn’t know
everything about.
And He knows things about things
that man will never be able to
comprehend.
So He says, beginning in this
13th verse, “Who has directed
the Spirit of the Lord?
Or as His counselor has informed
him.”
So, let me ask you this.
Have you ever informed God about
your life, anything about your
life that He didn’t already
know?
Absolutely not.
Because He’s omniscient.
And listen, He is a God who is
adequate to guide us and lead us
in every circumstance of life.
And so, then He says, “With whom
did He consult and who gave Him
understanding?”
And what He’s doing is simply
saying to us look, here is the
comforter of comforters.
He doesn’t need any guidance.
He doesn’t need anyone
counseling Him.
He doesn’t need any information.
This is omniscient God.
And when you and I, for example,
even take the Word of God and we
think, “Lord, there are so many
things here I’d like to
understand, I wish I could
remember it all.
I wish I had a photographic
memory so I could quote every
verse and understand all of it.”
God has put so much in this one
volume that man will never be
able to comprehend it all and no
man in his right mind will ever
say, “Well,” as we said before,
“I think I think I have that
down.”
And so therefore, if He is that
awesome in His knowledge, think
about this: you and I may come
to Him and confess our sin.
Do you think you are informing
Him about it?
Oh no, He knew all about it.
He knew about it before you sin
and, listen, sometime we come to
Him confessing, and by the time
we get it polished up and the
time we get it sort of
camouflaged, it doesn’t even
sound like sin from our
perspective, but He sees the
heart and the nature of it.
He, listen, the reason He hates
it is because you and I are His
prized possessions.
Think about this: there’s not a
single thing God has ever
created that, listen to this,
there’s not a single thing He
has ever created or you could
put it all together and weigh it
on divine scales, you weigh more
than everything in this chapter.
That’s who you are from God’s
perspective.
Because think about this: you’re
the only thing, you’re the only
part of creation that can
worship Him, that can sing to
Him, that can praise Him, that
can adore Him and can obey Him.
Everything else works in this
way in which God has fixed in
the very beginning.
So, when we come to Him, I want
to come to somebody who knows it
all.
I want to come to someone who
knows my hurts.
I want to come to somebody who
can help me, who knows why I
hurt.
I may think I know why I hurt, I
may blame it on somebody else,
but God may know it’s all inside
of me.
I want to kind, listen, when you
are going to have an operation
on your brain, who do you want
to go to?
Somebody who finished high
school?
No.
You want to go to someone who
not only has finished medical
school, but who has operated on
a lot of other brains before
they got to you, amen?
Because you want knowledge and
understanding to be there.
When you and I come to Him, we
come to Him with someone who has
full knowledge.
And then if you’ll notice, He
says in verse 15, behold, now
watch this, this is awesome, He
says–because here is His
omnipotence again.
“Behold the nations are a drop
of a bucket, like one drop of
water in a bucket.”
He said, that’s what all the
nations are like.
Then He says, and, “Are regarded
as a speck of dust on the
scales.”
God is so awesome and so great.
Think about this: let’s take
this continent and Europe and
all the east and all the south,
all the continents that we know
about, let me just say this: He
says, “They are regarded as a
speck of dust on the scales.”
That is, in light of who He is
and His awesomeness, and at the
light of who you and I are and
our importance to Him.
He said, “All those nations are
like a speck of dust on the
scales and that doesn’t even
move a scale.”
Then He says, He goes, “Behold
He lifts up the islands like
fine dust.”
And we think about all the
islands of the world, He said,
“It’s like fine dust.”
Our minds cannot comprehend the
awesomeness, the greatness, the
power, the wisdom, the
knowledge, the understanding,
and the love and devotion that
this indescribable God has for
us.
And when I think about how
people act sometime and they
talk about this and that and so
forth, strutting around, and
then I think about, my, my, my,
as soon as you get the message,
you’re going to realize one
grain of sand, one grain of sand
in the eyes of God.
Then if you’ll notice He says,
“Behold He lifts up the islands
like dust.”
And then, verse 16, “Even
Lebanon, this whole nation is
not enough to burn, nor is beast
enough for a burnt offering.”
What He is saying is Lebanon
with those giant trees, He says
if the whole nation were a
forest, that would not be enough
to sacrifice adequately for Him
because of who He is.
“All the nations are as nothing
before Him, they are regarded by
Him as less than nothing and
meaningless.”
That doesn’t mean He–they don’t
count.
But it means this: that in light
of who He is and His greatness
and His power and His genuine
love for us, notice how He
started this chapter: comfort
ye, comfort ye my people.
That is, in light of who He is
and His love for us and devotion
to us and willingness, listen,
in all of His power, He’s
willing to answer your prayers.
He’s willing to hear your hurt.
He wants to hear you cry, and He
wants to hear you call out to
Him.
In other words, personal
interest in you.
If you didn’t believe that, then
you wouldn’t worship Him.
And He says what He wants us to
see is who He is.
Then He says–He asked this
question, He asked many
questions here, He says verse
eighteen, “To whom then would
you liken God?”
For example, who else, who in
your life is like God?
And the Israelites and the other
nations around them, they built
all these statues and gold this
and silver that and high places
where they worshipped.
How absolutely ridiculous to
turn away from the God of the
Bible to anything else or to
anyone else.
And so, He says, “Now look, to
whom then would you liken God?”
What likeness will you compare
with Him?
And so, then He says, “As for
the idol, a craftsman cast
it–goldsmith plates it with
gold and the silversmith
fashions chains of silver.
He who is too impoverished for
such an offering, selects a tree
that does not rot.
He seeks out for himself a
skillful craftsman to prepare an
idol that will not totter.”
How useless, think about this,
when you turn away from Almighty
God, you are making the biggest
mistake in your life.
You are turning away from the
One who rules and reigns, who
owns, possesses, who knows you
perfectly, who knows every need
before it come about, who can
heal you of all diseases, who
can strengthen you, provide for
you, every single thing you
need, far more than any of us
could ever deserve.
That’s who He is.
Why would you even think about
turning away from Him, for what?
Something you drink, you can
spill on the ground and be gone
forever?
Money that comes and goes?
The Bible says, that money is
like a bird: it’s here and it’s
gone forever.
That is, why would you want to
serve yourself?
When you are so limited and so
minute, why would you want to
serve anything or anybody else?
Some cause that you think is so
great, you turn away from God
for some cause that will
absolutely finally just
disappear and I want to show you
that in a moment.
So, He says, in verse 21, “Do
you not know and have you not
heard, has it not been declared
to you from the beginning?”
Reminding us, listen to this
now, “Have you not understood
from the foundation of the
earth?”
Listen to this, “It is He,” God,
“who sits above the circle of
the earth.
And its inhabitants are like
grasshoppers.”
God isn’t impressed by man’s
pride and arrogance and
accomplishments.
And He says, “Who stretches out
the heavens like a curtain and
spreads them out like a tent to
dwell in.”
Then He says, “It is He who
reduces rulers to nothing, who
makes the judges of the earth
meaningless.
Think about this: I think
about–go back to the pharaohs,
who ruled and reigned the
greatest civilization in the
world.
You know what, the pharaohs came
and the pharaohs went.
And all through the Old
Testament, you know,
Nebuchadnezzars came and
Nebuchadnezzars went.
Alexander the Greats came and
Alexander the Greats left.
Napoleons came and so forth,
Stalins, Hitlers, you name it,
listen, God hates pride.
And here’s what He says if
you’ll notice here, he says He
reduces rulers to nothing.
So, here’s what happens.
Oftentimes people, you know,
they start out with a humble
spirit and then, watch this, and
then they begin to be successful
and God begins to bless them and
more and more success, until
finally they get where they are
no longer useable.
God hates pride, and what does
He say: man has no reason to be
prideful because God removes the
prideful ones.
He removes rulers.
And then, watch this, He says in
verse 25, “‘To whom then will
you liken Me, that I would be
his equal,’ says the Holy One.
‘Lift up your eyes on high and
see who has created these
stars.'”
You know, I love being out in
the wilderness because I
love–not too close to the fire,
but far enough away from it,
that I can look up in the sky
when there is no light anywhere
around, and here’s what happens:
when you do that, it’s like at
first you see some stars, then a
few more, and then the longer
you look, the more you see; and
then at some point, it looks
like they are all coming down on
you.
There are millions of galaxies
where the stars are all together
and billions of stars.
Anytime you think you’re
somebody, you just walk out and
lie down and look up and you’ll
realize, you know what?
One drop of water in the ocean
may be more like what I really
am.
That’s this awesome God.
And He says He’s put them out
there.
It’s interesting, in the
creation story, when He talks
about the sunlight, and He says,
as if it were an afterthought,
and the stars, He made the stars
also.
And look how He uses the stars.
Another world says, “Well, you
know, if you’re this or that and
your horoscope,” that’s a bunch
of stuff.
There’s not–you can’t put
your–you better put your faith
into God who made the stars, not
in those who are trying to
interpret them and use them for
something that God never
intended.
Now, listen to this, He says,
“He created these stars and the
One who leads forth their host
by number, He calls them all by
name, because the greatness of
His might and the strength of
His power, not one of them’s
missing.”
God says, “Every single star is
numbered and they’re all in
their place.”
Now, listen to what He says, He
says not one of them is missing.
“Why do you say, O Jacob and
assert, O Israel, ‘My way is
hidden from the Lord, And the
justice due me escapes the
notice of my God?'”
He said, in light of who He is,
how could you think that didn’t
hear you?
How could you think that somehow
you can keep some secret from
God?
You know why?
Because oftentimes we don’t
realize where God is.
We think about God being up
yonder or out yonder.
Let me ask you a question: if
somebody said to you,
“Where is God?”
What would be your first
reaction?
You’d say what?
He’s in heaven, right?
Now, you think I’m going to
trick you; come on.
If somebody says, “Where is
God?”
What would you normally say?
He’s in heaven.
Is that the correct answer?
Yes, it is.
Now, watch this; yes, it is.
He is in heaven, but he’s also
in my heart.
You can’t limit God.
For example, when somebody says,
“Where is God?”
That’s not the right question.
The issue is this.
Everything is in the presence of
God.
Everything is in the presence of
God.
Now, God is on His throne in the
heavens, Jesus sitting at His
right hand; but you remember God
the Father, God the Son, God the
Holy Spirit, person of the
trinity just like the Father and
the Son, different
responsibilities, different
tasks on earth.
And what I’m–He lives in the
heart of every single believer.
So, think about this: living
within you is this God whom we
are in the process of
describing, and you’re afraid
of what?
You’re worried about what?
What can affect you apart from
the knowledge and the power of
God?
Nothing on the face of this
earth.
Does that mean that He’ll not
let things come our way that
hurt us?
It doesn’t say that.
But He’s there as God.
“Do you not know and have you
not heard,” listen to this now,
verse twenty-eight, “that the
Everlasting God, the Lord, the
Creator of the ends of the
earth, He does not become weary
or tired and His understanding
is inscrutable.”
Think about this, watch this,
God is never, listen, He’s
never without a job.
He’s always employed,
doing what?
Working in your life, my life,
and the life of those who are
wicked and the life of those who
are believers.
And notice, He says He’s never
weary or tired.
And have you ever thought to
yourself, I’m sure I’ve said
this, “God, I know You get tired
of hearing me come to You, come
to you with this same situation
or whatever it might be.”
God does not tire.
He, listen, if He is infinite,
He is infinite in wisdom and
knowledge, energy, strength,
power.
You have to–you–something has
to go on that there’s an
energy leak.
Not with God.
And so He says, “He does not
become weary and His
understanding is inscrutable.”
Which means you’ll never be
able to fully comprehend.
Now, with that in mind, listen
to the promise that He gives us
on the basis of who He is.
So, we’ve spent most of our time
talking about who He is.
Now, listen to what He says, He
says, for example, verse 29, “He
gives strength to the weary.
And to him who lacks might He
increases power.”
That is, when we get into those
distressful, painful times in
life, He says He’s the one to
give us strength.
And you think about this: pain
de-energizes us, stress,
depression, those things, they
sap our energy and our strength.
We don’t have the getup and go
that we’d like to have because
of whatever that may be going on
in our life.
Now sometimes, God may take away
your strength in order to teach
you how to replace it with His
strength.
Sometimes God takes away
material things in order to give
us spiritual things.
And sometimes, because He
doesn’t react to my
instantaneous request, “God,
here’s what I’m needing and I
need it now, Lord, and you know,
the calendar says this and the
clock says this and the watch
says this,” and you know what?
He’s unmoved by that.
And what’s He doing?
He’s waiting for His timing, and
sometimes He’s waiting for us to
get so desperate, we can’t
depend upon ourselves or anybody
but Him.
That’s when He does His most
awesome work in our life.
It’s not that He’s tired.
It’s not that He’s not
listening, it’s not that He
doesn’t care.
It is the fact that He wants, in
the process of teaching us and
growing us up because remember,
we are the only ones who are
going to worship Him.
His followers, He’s not
concerned about mountains and
trees and fish.
And He’s not concerned about
oceans and lakes or anything
else.
He’s concerned about you and me
worshipping Him.
So, he’s going to work in our
life in such a fashion, to do
what?
To bring us to Him and to
recognize that He’s the source
of our strength.
And so, He delights to do that,
and because He doesn’t answer
every time we think He ought to,
we say, “Well, where’s God?”
And then, listen to this, the
next time you have a feeling of
saying, “God, where are you?”
Open your ears and see if you
can’t hear Him say, “Right where
I’ve always been, right in your
heart.
If you will listen to Me, if you
will seek Me, if you will ask
why I’m allowing this to happen
in your life.”
And so, what happens is He
delays for His own benefit.
The second thing I want you to
notice, God gives strength to
the weary.
To him who lacks might, He
increases power so that if I’m
down for whatever the situation
may be, I have Him to go to and
He’s ready to do whatever we
need for Him to do for us.
“Though youth grow weary and
tired,” we all do, “vigorous
young men stumble badly.
Those who wait upon the Lord
will gain new strength.”
Now, when He says wait for Him,
what does that mean?
It means I must be patient while
I persistently pursue whatever
He’s calling me to do,
persistently pursue that,
be–listen, be patient for Him
to work in His way and His
timing because He will.
God will never show up late.
He’s never going to show up
tired.
He’s never going to say, “Oh,
I’m not answering the phone
today.”
He’s not–doesn’t have to pull
out a calculator and find out
how much you and I owe or what
we’re going to do financially.
None of that.
But listen to this next phrase.
He says, “Though youth grow
weary and tired, vigorous men
stumble badly.
Those who wait for the Lord will
gain new strength.
They will mount up with wings
like eagles.
They’ll run and not be weary,
walk and not faint.”
Somebody says, “Now, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,
this eagle business.
I heard what you said about
eagles having wings 6 to 8 feet,
they can dive at a hundred miles
an hour and eyes that can see 40
miles away, I’ve heard all that.
I don’t have any wings.
So, what do I do?
So, is that a mistake?”
No.
Because the truth is every
single child of God has a set of
wings.
Now, I’m not talking about
flaps, like this.
Here’s your set of wings.
Your set of wings is your faith
in this God.
That’s your set of wings,
because here’s what happens: you
rise in your life on the basis
of your faith.
You succeed on the basis of your
faith, you’re able to accomplish
and to achieve on the basis of
your faith.
God works in you, for you, and
through you on the basis of your
faith.
And what happens?
When you are down and you’re
tired and you’re worn, and maybe
it’s physical pain or whatever
it might be, and what happens?
You begin to exercise your faith
and you begin to trust God.
What does He do?
He lifts you, He gives you
energy, He responds, listen, God
is a responder to our faith.
He’s the responder to our faith,
and the next thing you know,
what?
We’re not down in the mouth
about anything, we’re not
complaining and moaning and
groaning, and we’re up and
moving and God is blessing, and
what happens?
You just began to fly.
And now what are you doing?
You are maybe in the same
circumstance, but you’re not
hindered by it.
And what are you doing?
You are soaring above it, and
that’s why He used this phrase,
He says, “You’ll mount up with
wings like eagles and soar above
it all.”
And you know what, storms, for
example, eagles love storms, and
here’s the reason.
Storms enable them to do what?
To fly higher and higher and
higher.
They’re just floating on those
air currents, and the stronger
they are and the higher they
are, the higher they can fly and
the stronger they can be and the
faster they can fly.
And sometimes it’s the storms in
your life and my life that God
uses to do what?
To build our faith, to get us,
look, up on a higher level of
living than we’ve been living.
He lets us go through something
to demonstrate His awesome power
in our life and to teach us to
trust Him and to follow Him.
And then if you’ll notice what
He says, He says, “They will run
and not get tired and they’ll
walk and not become weary.”
Now, what is He talking about?
There are situations and
circumstances in life that are
sort of monotonous.
In other words, listen, as long
as there is excitement and as
long as there’s pressure, it’s
amazing how we can keep going,
but when there is no excitement
and there is no pressure and
you’re doing the same thing day
after day after day after day,
here’s what He says: He will
enable us to pursue what he
would have us to do in life,
whatever it might be, and the
monotony is gone.
Listen, He says, “We will run
and not get tired, we’ll walk
and not become weary,” which
means we will walk and not
faint.
We won’t give up.
We won’t give up because things
aren’t exciting, we won’t give
up because we’re not being
complimented, we won’t give up
because we’re not making as much
as you ought to make.
We’re going to keep moving
because we have the capacity to
exercise our faith and do what?
To soar above it all.
And listen, what causes the
eagle to lift his wings and soar
out?
He sees something with that eye
that he wants.
And so, what does he do?
He sets his eye upon it, and
even while he’s circling around,
getting into the right wind,
just like an airplane when he
comes to land, He’s got his eye
on it, he’s looking at one
thing: what is the goal.
God wants us to soar, not sit.
He wants us to rise above
whatever we’re facing.
Why?
Because look, in most of those
verses, we talked about how
awesome He is and He gave us all
the truth about Himself, the
most truth about Himself of any
chapter in the Bible.
It’s awesome.
God says, “Here’s who I am.
And because I’m who I am, you
can run and not be weary.
You won’t give up, doesn’t mean
you won’t be tired.
You won’t give up, you won’t
quit; and besides that, when you
exercise your faith, you’ll come
out of it, you’ll soar above it,
and you will succeed at whatever
I’ve called you to do.”
Now, that’s living, and that’s
believing in the one true God,
Jehovah whose Son is Jesus
Christ who went to the cross,
and from the beginning of time
and before–all the way past
anything you and I can imagine.
The most awesome act in human
history is God taking upon
Himself human flesh, coming to
live in this world that He
created, to demonstrate who the
Father really is and to
demonstrate the Father’s love
and His tender care for us to
die on the cross and to shed His
blood to pay your sin debt and
mine in full and willing to say,
“All who believe in Me, those
who placed their trust in Me,
those who are willing to confess
their sin and surrender
themselves to Me become a child
of God, heaven is their home,
and I will live within them for
all eternity, beginning here and
now.”
There’s nothing to match that.
And if you’ve never trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior,
there’s no other way to live.
You’re just keep on going
through things and you may
scratch your way through and
buff your way through, but
you’re not going to enjoy life.
You have a conscience that
continues to bother you.
You may smile on the outside and
tell people it’s all so
wonderful.
God knows it’s not.
You’re not going to get by
with it.
Consequences of sin are
consequences.
It’s not that I’m being
critical, I’m just telling you
the truth.
The wages of sin is death, death
to your heart, death to your
spirit, death to your body; the
wages of sin is death.
The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is my prayer that God would
give you the wisdom to ask Him
to forgive you of your sins.
Surrender your life to Him, look
what you get.
Look what you get.
You get God in all of His power,
all of His love, and all of the
things we just described in His
Word.
And my prayer is that you’ll be
wise enough to do that.
Father, how grateful we are,
when we think about this book,
what You have placed in it that
is so absolutely indescribably
awesome.
I pray that you’ll increase our
love for it, all of us, that we
will begin to meditate upon it
more than ever before, and that
we will bow daily before you in
recognition of your Lordship in
our life.
And while compared to Your whole
creation, we seem to be nothing;
when we look at the cross, we
recognize that Your value upon
us is more than all the oceans
and all the mountains and all
the rest of creation.
What an awesome love.
We say thank you in Jesus’s
name, amen.
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