ISAIAH 40:25-31 A MESSAGE FOR THE WEARY2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 40:25-31 A Message For The Weary

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well this morning, as we look at Isaiah chapter 40, I've entitled the message this morning, A Message for the Weary. And I would ask you this morning, are you weary?

You could replace that word weary with maybe discouraged, depressed, downtrodden, stressed out, worn out, a variety of things. But you get the point. Are you weary? Well, this message is for you. Now, we're deviating from the Gospel of Luke this morning, not really because it's Father's Day, but well...

The main reason why I believe God wants me to share this with you this morning is because I need to hear this message. This is a portion that I shared a few weeks back at Calvary Chapel Into the Light over in La Habra. And I shared it with them and, you know, God, you know, worked and used it. And I know that God wants to minister to you as well. And that's part of the reason why he's having me to share it. But one of the main reasons why I'm sharing this with you is because

I need to hear it. But I'm very familiar with this idea of weariness, discouragement, difficulty. Kim and I, this past week, experienced our second miscarriage. And it's been a difficult week. The first time, you know, there was a glimmer of hope because after six years of being married, we were like, well, difficult time, painful experience, but now we know that

She can get pregnant. We might be able to have kids. It's possible. This time it's a whole different experience. Still the same, you know, physical aspects that are painful and difficult. Still the emotional parts of, you know, that hope for a few moments of having a child, but then now it's no longer there and that's difficult. But now there's the added element of, well, what about the future now?

Do we even want to try again and have this happen again? I mean, do we put ourselves through this over and over? How much more do we handle? How much more can we take? And this week has been a tough week for us. It's been difficult. And as we've been wrestling with these things and working through the difficulty of it this past week, this portion that I shared a few weeks back continued to minister to my heart.

and continued over and over. And again, the Lord said, you need to share this message because you need to hear it. And so God, I know wants to minister to you and I know he has some things to share with you, but also just to let you know, this is for me. I'm preaching at me this morning because I know very well what it's like to be weary and hurt and discouraged. I know what it's like and the Lord wants to minister to you through that.

Well, there's three points I'd like to share with you this morning. Looking at those who are weary, answering the question, are you weary? The first thing we see in verse 25 and 26. Point number one, your God is greater.

Your God is greater. Now, I know I kind of started out the message and you're like, man, that's a bummer. Wow. It's Father's Day. I thought it would be something uplifting and encouraging this morning. Now listen, I'm not here to bum you out. This is a good message. There's great things in store and it begins with this idea. You and I, we need to understand your God is greater than

And you might say, well, greater than what? Well, I left it blank on purpose because you can fill in the blank. Whatever it is that you're facing, whatever difficulty or hurt or pain or sorrow, whatever it is that you're struggling with, you need to know that your God is greater than whatever happens in your life.

Verse 25, we start out. It says, to whom then will you liken me? Or to whom shall I be equal? Says the Holy One. God begins this portion asking a question. Saying, who will you liken me to? Now, I love it when God asks questions. Because you know that God is not seeking information. Right? I mean, you know that God's not saying, I wonder who they would liken me to. I have no idea. Why don't you tell me so I can know?

God is not seeking the information. That's not why he asks questions. He's asking the question because he wants you to think. He wants me to think. He wants us to evaluate, to calculate, to consider. It's not for his own benefit that he asks the question, but for our benefit. To cause us to think through, who do we compare to God? That word liken, it means to compare. And so who would you compare to God?

Who would you consider to be comparable to our Heavenly Father? Now the context for this question and this passage, here in Isaiah chapter 40, God's been addressing the issue of idolatry within the nation.

They were worshiping these idols, these images that they fashioned and created. They were worshiping these false gods, but then he's also addressing their trust in princes and in nations, in rulers and leaders. And these are all things that people trust in. And so as he's addressing these things that people trust in, he asked the question, who would you compare me to?

And I would extend that question, the Holy Spirit would extend that question to you and I this morning. Who would you compare to God? Now it's not very common in our culture today to bow down before statues and images, but there is still idolatry that goes on. There is still idolatry where we give our devotion to things other than God and we pursue things

careers or material things or families or relationships or whatever the case may be and we pursue that that's our first priority instead of a relationship with God and anytime there is that passion that is devoted somewhere that belongs to God but is devoted somewhere else that's idolatry it's us worshiping these other things when we are devoted to things other than the Lord and they're given a higher priority

in our hearts and lives. It's idolatry. And what we are declaring and worshiping those things and devoting ourselves to those things and making those the priority of our life, we're saying in our comparison, we've determined, we've evaluated, these things are more important than you, Lord. They're more important than a relationship with you. They're more important than what you have to offer, what you can provide. God says...

Think about it. Think about what you're saying. Think about what you're doing. Who would you liken me to? Who would you compare me to? Some type of idol that you're trusting in or worshiping, or maybe a prince. That is the idea of rulers and leaders. You know, we're heading into the next presidential election, right? And there's going to be all kinds of hope that's built up on our next savior. The one who's going to fix everything for us.

The one who's finally going to give us the life that we deserve and, you know, right the wrongs that have taken place and do all of those things and all those promises will be made. And it's very easy for us to put our trust in that person, the person that we think can do that, the person that promises to do that. Is your trust in Obama? Do you think he can give you the same kind of life that God can give you? Who would you liken to God? Would you liken the president to God?

Or our nation. You know, people flock to our nation. People come here to have a better life. It's called the land of opportunity. And even in our recession, our economic downturn, still the poorest of us here in the United States are wealthy compared to much of the rest of the world. We're greatly blessed to be here within this nation. Although we might not see it that way all the time. But is that where your trust is?

Is that where your faith is? Would you compare the United States to the Lord? Do you think that this nation can provide for you better than the Lord can? Do you think that this nation can give you joy and peace and happiness better than the Lord can? God wants us to evaluate, to consider and calculate, where do you rest if the United States falls tomorrow? Where's your God? Who is sustaining you?

The point is, as you do this evaluation, as you consider who's comparable to God, you'll come to the conclusion your God is greater. No matter who you compare to our God, you'll find that your God is greater. He's greater than the celebrities. He's greater than the political leaders. He's greater than the nations. He's greater than those passions and devotions that are idolatry and false gods. He is greater than

than all of those things. He continues on asking the question saying, to whom shall I be equal? So who would you compare me to and who is my equal? I like this word equal. It gives us a good picture. It literally means to balance out a scale. So if you would picture, you know, the old-fashioned scale. It's got the post, the arms, and then the two baskets, right? To balance out the scale. So you put something in one side of the scale and boom, it drops down and the other side goes up.

And to balance out the scale, you have to put something in the other basket that weighs the same. And when it weighs the same, then it balances out. Then it's even again. That's what this word equal means. And so God's giving us this picture. Who's comparable to him? Who is equal to God? So you put God in one side of the basket. Now what do you put in the other side to balance out the scale? Who has the same weight?

as God. Who compares? Who's his equal? What can you put on the other side to balance it out? I was thinking about some different illustrations to kind of help us picture and understand this. And so I thought of the idea of boxing. Now in boxing, they have different divisions so that when there is a match, when there is a fight, they're evenly matched. It's a fair fight.

even if the judges are crooked. So you have the heavyweight division. You have the lightweight division. You don't put, you know, a 250-pound guy with a 100-pound guy. They don't match. They're not in the same division because that would not be a fair fight. So they create the divisions to try to make it fair so that they're equals, in essence, and able to have a fair fight. Now, if you think about God in those terms, who could...

Be in God's division. Who could go toe-to-toe with God in the ring? Who would you put up against him in a fight? The greatest opponent that God has is Satan. But Satan is not God's equal. He's not God's opposite. He's an angel, a created being. He doesn't come close. It's no competition. It's not even a fight. There's no one that could go toe-to-toe with God.

No one in his same division. Or I was thinking about it this way. If you and I were to race, I would hope you would consider giving me a head start to make it a fair fight, a fair competition. Because, you know, I'm still recovering from a broken foot. So I need that edge, right? Give me a head start and then it's a real competition. Then I have a chance of winning. Well, if you're putting God on the track, who could you put there next to him

You're in lane number two. Who could stand there and compete with the Lord? It doesn't matter what kind of head start you give me. I can't outrun God. And it doesn't matter if I have the Millennium Falcon or the Enterprise. Anything real or imaginary. It wouldn't matter. God would win that race. Who compares to God? Who's His equal? There's no one that can match Him. There's no one that compares. There's no one...

Even giving us a head start. Even giving us some type of advantage. There's no one that compares. There's no equal to God. Whatever arena you put him in. Of all the things that people put their faith in. There's no one, nothing that compares to putting your faith in God. You can trust in a lot of things. You can put your faith in a lot of things. And people do. You and I, we have.

And we've been disappointed when we've trusted in other things besides God. But when your faith and trust is in God, you'll find that there is no equal to Him. Who would you look to for provision? You can look to your employer for provision. But you know, there's no one who could provide for you like our God. There's no one who's equal to Him in provision. He can take care of you. He can meet your needs. You can look to

and lots of different things to help find joy or peace, but nothing compares to the joy and the peace that God is able to provide for you. Nothing compares to God. It's interesting though, quick side note, Jesus compares to God. It's one of the ways that we know that Jesus is God.

Because Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Nothing compares to God, but Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I'm his representation. I'm just like he is. I'm exactly like him. The Jews in John chapter 5 verse 18 tried to stone Jesus to put him to death because he made himself equal with God. That was Jesus' claim. And of course it's true because Jesus is God. There's no one

Apart from Christ, who's equal to God, who compares to God. Your God is greater. And so he wants you to consider, he wants you to evaluate, ask yourself the question, who would you liken to God? Who is God's equal? And to help you answer that question, in case you're struggling with it, still not sure, well, I don't know. He goes on in verse 26 and calls our attention upwards. Verse 26 says, lift up your eyes on high.

And see who has created these things. Who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one is missing. Here he calls us to look up. And he begins to ask us to consider the stars, the heavens, and the heavenly host. And he says, see who has created these.

these things? Who has created these things? This word created, it means to create something out of nothing. There's a different word for creation. It's the idea of, you know, taking materials that already exist and fashion it together and make something. But this is bringing something into existence. God says, look up at the stars and consider who brought all of that into existence?

Who created it? Who spoke it into existence? Of course, we know it's Him, but He wants us to consider and evaluate. He gave us this permanent and constant reminder that anytime we can go outside during the night and look up and be reminded that there is a Creator, a God that is so big that He created the heavens and the earth. He brought it forth out of nothing.

He goes on to say, who brings out their host, that is the host of stars, by number, he calls them all by name. And so in asking us to consider the stars, he says, he brings out their host by number. How many stars are there? Do you know? Have you ever tried to count them? I think I've tried a few times. You get one, two, three, four. Did I count that one already? Let me start over. One, two. You ever done that? You can't keep track of them.

But he brings out their host by number. A few years back, a university in Australia sought to do a calculation to determine how many stars there are. They did not attempt to count them all, but they took a section of the sky, and they counted the stars in that section, and they figured it's probably about the same ratio of stars for the rest of the heavens.

And so they did this calculation to come up with their best estimate of how many stars there are. The conclusion they came to was that there were 70 sextillion stars. Now if you're not a mathematician, that number looks like this. It's 70 with 21 zeros after it. In the study, they estimate that to be about 10 times more than the grains of sand that are upon the earth.

Now, this is not an exact count. It's a calculation based on their estimates. But let's just work with this number for a moment. This is how many stars there are. And God says that he brings out their host by number and he calls them all by name. This should give us a little bit of an understanding, a little bit of a grasp of how big our God is.

The reality that our God is greater. Now this number is quite large. We can't really understand numbers that big. So I wanted to break it down and help us understand it a little bit. So let's do it this way. If you were to, would you just pretend with me for a moment, okay? Let's pretend that you are an expert professional star counter. You're the best of the best. Your accuracy, it's unparalleled.

You're able to count stars like no one else. And so let's say with your accuracy, with your expert on this subject, your expertise on this subject, let's say you're able to count 20 stars per second. That's a lot of stars per second. But let's say you're able to count 20 stars per second every hour, all day long, 365 days a year. Non-stop, no breaks. That's your job. You count 20 stars a second for the whole year.

Well, after a year of counting stars, you would reach a little upwards of 630 million stars that you can count. Now, I'm going to round that up to 700 million just to make the math a little bit easier. So let's pretend, let's assume, let's presume you can count 700 million stars a year. How long would it take you at that rate to count all of the stars if there are 76 trillion stars?

700 million, that's a number we can grasp a little bit, right? Some concept of how much that is. That's how many you can count each year. How long? Till that adds up to 70 sextillion. Well, counting 20 stars a second, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it would take you about 100 trillion years to count the stars.

It's a big task. Yeah, you better get started. You're already behind. It's a big task. Now again, it just gives us a little bit of a glimpse of how big God is. We could not. It would be impossible. Even if we all grouped together and got all of the technology, we couldn't count that many stars. But God, not only does he bring them out by number, he brought them into existence. And it says that he calls them all by name.

That's a lot of names. Can you imagine trying to name that many stars? Again, the point is, your God is greater. This is just looking at one aspect of creation. There's much more that we could consider. But the point is, your God is greater. It's by His greatness, by the greatness of His might, He says, and the strength of His power, not one is missing.

So there's 70 sextillion stars. He knows them all by name. He holds them in place and not one of them is missing. That's how big your God is. That's how great your God is. He's explaining, look, the universe is not self-sustaining like a top, like he just spun it and said, well, let's just watch and see what happens. No, that's not what he did. By the greatness of his might, by the strength of his power, not one is missing. He's holding them together. He's

causing them to persist. He's sustaining the heavens and the earth. That's how big your God is. And so as we consider the heavens and how big our God is, then we look back again at our problems and it doesn't fit really on the scale. And you realize that whatever troubles you have, your God is greater. Whatever opposition you face, your God is greater.

Whatever situation you're in, whatever hurts you have, whatever difficulties you have, your God is greater. Whatever it is that wearies you, you need to know today and each time as you look up at the heavens that your God is greater than whatever you face. Your God is greater. Well, not only that, as we go on into verse 27, we find not only is your God greater, but your situation is known.

You see, as we consider all these stars, we go, wow, that's a lot of stars. He knows them all by name. And I think there can be a little bit of a tendency in our hearts to say, no wonder God's forgotten about me. He's got all of those stars to keep track of and to keep in place and make sure not one of them is missing. Now it makes sense. Now I understand why I'm in the situation I'm in because, well, God's got more important things to do, bigger priorities, much more to take care of. And

I'm not high on the list. I got lost in the shuffle. I think it's common and normal for us to feel that way. That God's really not paying attention. He doesn't see what's going on. The hurts, the hardships, the difficulties that we face. Feels like we've been lost in the shuffle. But you need to know, your situation is known. Look at verse 27. God says, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel?

My way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God. So as God's addressing them about their issues of worshiping these other gods, and he says, look, you need to remember that I'm the greatest, that there's no one greater than me. No one compares. No one's equal to me. He also asked them, hey, you guys have this saying among you. You're talking about, you're declaring that your way is hidden from the Lord. Why do you say that? Why do you think that way?

Now this idea of your way being hidden from the Lord, the word way, it speaks of the walk or the journey, the path of life. And this was not like a victory statement that they were trying to get away with sin and they were like, yeah, we did it. Our way was hidden. We got away with sin. That's not what the people of Israel were saying. They were saying, God doesn't see the difficulty that we're facing. He doesn't see the hardship that we're in, the things that we're going through.

My way is hidden from the Lord. God says, why do you say that? Why do you feel that way? Israel was saying that God wasn't paying attention. They were saying that God did not know how hard and how difficult it was. Implying, because if he did know, then he wouldn't allow it or he would do something about it. Another translation puts it this way, the Lord is not aware of what is happening to me. Do you ever feel that way? Do you know what that's like?

Do you say the same thing as Israel? My way is hidden. God doesn't see, He doesn't know what's happening in my life. I know we do. Even if we don't say it out loud, it is an issue that we wrestle with in our hearts. It goes on to say, as God is asking them, why do you say this? They're saying that their way is hidden from the Lord, but also they say, my just claim is passed over by my God.

My just claim is passed over. In other words, Israel is saying, God, I'm crying out to you and you're ignoring me. You're not paying attention. My way is hidden. You don't see what's happening. So I'm trying to get your attention. I'm calling out, God, look, look what's happening. Look how hard this is. Look at what's going on. Because you don't see it. But even though I'm trying to get your attention, I'm trying to call out to you. You're passing over my claim. You're passing over my cries.

And it's a just claim is what Israel was saying. Now a just claim is a claim that's right, that's righteous. In other words, Israel is saying, God, this isn't fair. I don't deserve what's happening in my life. This isn't right. And I'm crying out to you because this is not right. And you're ignoring me. You're not dealing with this situation. You're not resolving this. You're not fixing it. My just claim is passed over by my God. You ever feel that way?

You say, man, this is not fair. I'm working so hard and someone else gets the promotion and the raise. That's not right. I'm doing their work for them, but they got the promotion. I need the money. I got to pay the bills. I got to make rent. God, it's not right. I'm working so hard. I'm trying to honor you and be faithful in the workplace and other people are getting rewarded for my labors. It's not right. It's not fair.

My just claim is being passed over by my God. Or some will look around and say, God, you let that person get married and that person get married and that fool over there even found a wife, but here I am still single. I'd be a way better husband. I'd be a way better wife. Lord, it's not fair. Why am I still in this position? Why am I still in this situation? Or on the other side of the fence, you got the married person saying, Lord, it's not fair. How do I get stuck with this one?

And you're crying out to God, it's a just claim. Or you're in the position where you lost the job. Now you're unemployed. God, it's not right. It's not fair. How could you allow this? Why are you passing over on this? We lost our home, God. We're crying out to you, but you didn't provide the money, the resources to save it. I don't deserve this.

Now, if we're honest, we would testify we've experienced this. We've cried out to the Lord in this way. We do need to be careful though, because very quickly this can become blasphemous, accusing God of injustice. It's normal for us. We all share the experience of having the question, but when it becomes an issue of bitterness,

It's because we're accusing God of injustice. We're saying, God, it's not right what you're doing. And if I was God, I wouldn't do it that way because you're not doing it right. God says, why do you think that way? Why do you have that heart? Why do you say that? When that becomes the attitude of our heart, it develops in us what I refer to as the Christian Eeyore. We've got our own personal rain cloud wherever we go. We're gloomy all the time.

Always complaining. Always bummed out. Always discouraged. God says, why are you that way? Why are you behaving like that? Why are you thinking like that? Why is that your attitude? Why are you saying that God is not paying attention? That he's passing over your claim? Saying, I don't deserve this. Or perhaps you're saying, God is out to get me. Or God is judging me. And so we become just the Eeyore, just trudging around, just surviving, just barely making it through.

I would ask you to consider what Jesus said. In Luke chapter 12, verse 6 and 7, Jesus says, Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. Jesus says, think about it this way.

Sparrows, they're inexpensive. You can buy five of them for just a couple coins. They're a dime a dozen, Jesus says. And yet, your father has not forgotten any of them. They're not valuable, even by man's opinion. They're not costly. They're not expensive. But Jesus says, not one of them falls to the ground except the father knows about it. He hasn't forgotten. He hasn't lost track of any of the sparrows.

Now you start to think, well, he's got all the stars and all the sparrows. And again, no wonder I'm in the situation that I'm in. But that's the opposite of what Jesus is saying. He goes on to say, the very hairs of your head are all numbered and you're much more valuable than sparrows. Jesus says, look, God knows about all the sparrows. He hasn't forgotten one of them. Not one is lost. Where did that sparrow go? Man, I can't find that one.

I'm supposed to feed him, but I can't find him. God hasn't lost any of them. And you are much more valuable. You're much more precious to him. And here's the main point of why I'm sharing this. He's intimately involved in the details of your life because the very hairs of your head are numbered.

So it's not that just, you know, God loves you a lot, but he just, you know, he's busy holding all these other things and I'll try to look at you every once in a while, you know, but I'm trying to balance all this. No, no, no. He's intimately involved. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what you're going through, exactly what you face, because it says the very hairs of your head are numbered. And that's a moving target. You don't have, you know, one number. That's your number. And that's how many hairs you're going to have for the rest of your life. No, you're losing hairs.

You're pulling out hairs. You're growing new hairs. At each moment, how many ever hairs you have on your head, God knows that number. That's how intimately involved in your life He is. Your situation is known. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what's going on. And think about it this way. Your God, who can create and hold in place and call by name 76 trillion stars,

and not lose track of even one sparrow, and know all the numbers of the hairs of your head, your God who can do all of those things. Do you think that he is able to work all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose? Do you think he's able to do what he says he can do? Do you think he's able to fulfill his promises? A God who can create all things into existence.

and keep track of all these things and know all of these details and hold it all together. Do you think he is able to accomplish what he says he can accomplish? Of course he can. That's the point. Now I'm not saying that you should never sorrow or you should never grieve. You should never cry out to the Lord because things are hard. That's not what I'm saying at all. But it should not be the manner of our life. That should not be the sum total of our Christian life.

It can't be because our God is greater and he knows what's going on and he is able to fulfill his word. When it becomes the manner of our life, the attitude of our heart, then we have this Eeyore syndrome where it's just everything's doom and gloom. We're always bummed out and discouraged, always complaining. And we say that God has forgotten us, but when we are weary in that way,

When we are discouraged in that way, what's really going on, what we're really saying is that we have forgotten God. We've forgotten how big He is. We've forgotten how involved in our lives He is. We've forgotten the promises that He's given to us. But there are those seasons that we do sorrow. There are those seasons of difficulty.

And that brings us to the last point found in verses 28 through 31. In those seasons of difficulty and hardship and heartache, you need to know that your strength is from the Lord. Your God is greater, your situation is known, and your strength is from the Lord. Look at verse 28. He says, Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. This is an incredible verse. I love this verse. For me, as I read this verse, it builds such great confidence in the strength of the Lord.

It bolsters my faith. I really wish I had a good enough grasp of the English language to communicate to you how this verse impacts my heart and what it does within me. In my elementary thinking, I consider, well, maybe if I shout the verse to you, it'll help you understand how much this verse does in my heart. Have you not known? Haven't you heard? Haven't you heard?

The Lord, our everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth, he neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. This is our God. This is the one that we worship. Haven't you known? Have you not heard? Hey, Christian Eeyore, haven't you known?

Haven't you heard? Haven't you seen God work before? Haven't you seen his miraculous works? Haven't you heard of the great things that he has done? Haven't you experienced his incredible goodness? Have you not known? Have you not heard? We walk around with that great discouragement because we've forgotten. We have known. We have heard. But we've forgotten.

That our everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint nor is weary. This combination of fainting and weariness we'll see throughout our remaining verses together. They're important to consider. The word faint, it means to be tired as from wearisome flight. So the idea is you're tired from running, tired from working, tired

Not fainting from fear or from the sight of blood or shock or something like that. But fainting because you've pushed so hard because you're worn out. God says, look, I don't faint. I don't get tired. And I don't get weary. This word weary, it means to gasp. It's the idea of gasping for breath. You know, when you've worked so hard, you've been laboring so intensely.

That you're just trying to get the air into your lungs. You're so exhausted. So you're gasping for breath. God says, I don't faint and I don't weary. With all that God does, the universe that he sustains, he still does not faint and does not weary. And his understanding is unsearchable. His understanding is unsearchable. Think about that. With all the stars that he has to keep track of and he holds in place,

He's not tired. He's not weary. He knows them all. He knows all their names. He knows and is concerned with all of the sparrows that exist. And he knows all the numbers of hairs on your head. And he's not reached his limit. His understanding is unsearchable. And so this side of eternity, we really cannot say, oh, I understand why God did that. Because his understanding is unsearchable. You can't reach the end. You can't Google it and come up with an answer. You won't reach the end.

He understands it. But you and I, we cannot. Our God is greater. Now, when you begin to understand who God is and how big He is, you know, it's not really a surprise that He brought the stars into existence.

When you know who God is, it's not surprising that he can hold them all in place and not one is missing and he knows all their names. It's not really surprising that he can keep track of all the sparrows. That's not surprising when you know who God is. You know what is surprising? That the God who keeps track of, who created all of these things, humbles himself to meet with you, to minister to you and I. That's what's surprising. That's what's amazing about our God. He humbles himself greatly to

to meet with us. And we see that in verse 29. It says, he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, he increases strength. He doesn't just have all power. He's not just almighty. Verse 26 says he's strong in power. That's true, but that's not the end of the story. Not only is he strong in power, but he also gives power. That's what's amazing about our God.

That's what's exciting about our God. Are you weak? Are you weary? Listen, God has power to give you. He doesn't keep all the power for himself. He gives it to you. Those who are weak, he gives power to them. And those who have no might, he increases strength. Are you lacking might that you're not able to accomplish?

What is set before you? You're not able to endure the path that is before you. You're not able to go through the heartache, the difficulty. You're not able to face the opposition. And you're weary because you've tried. But God wants you to remember your strength is from the Lord. He gives power to the weak. And when you're lacking might, He's able to increase your strength. You know, Paul the Apostle had to learn this lesson.

We see it in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where he talks about this thorn in the flesh that he had. And he cries out to God, Lord, please take it away. He says three times, I cried out to the Lord. I prayed, take this away from me. Now when he talks about crying out to the Lord three times, it's not the idea that he just, you know, repeated it three times. Lord, please take this from me. Please take this from me. Please take this from me. No, the idea, the picture that he's painting is

He's ministering. He's doing the work that God has called him to. And then this thorn in the flesh comes in and oh, it's hurtful. It's painful. Ah, I can't handle this, God. God, please take it away from me. And then some time passes and he's involved in ministry. He's doing the work that God's called him to.

And again, this thorn in the flesh, it flares up and all the pain, all it's renewed and all the difficulty, the hurt, the hardship. Oh, I can't handle this. I'm overwhelmed. God, please take this from me. And then a little bit more time passes. He's going along. He's ministering. And again, this thorn in the flesh becomes an issue. And he's overwhelmed. And he cries out, God, I can't handle this. Please take it from me. And God answered him.

In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, Paul gives us the answer that God gave him. Where the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul had to learn this lesson. He said, God, I don't want to be weak. I don't want to have this issue. And God said, I'm not going to take it away. I'm going to give you the strength to handle it. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Are you weak?

You can't handle the situations that you face. You can't handle the hurt, the hardship. You can't handle the difficulty. The stress is overwhelming. The burden is too great. Our prayer, like Paul, is God, just take it away. But God says, no, I give power to the weak. I'm going to increase your might. And I think it's interesting that God said, my grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in weakness. That God tells Paul, I'm going to give you strength. Not because you deserve it.

Not because you've earned it. Not because you're involved in such a great work in my name. That would be not grace, but works. He says, my grace is sufficient for you. Listen, God's grace is sufficient for you. It's not because you've been good that he'll give you strength. It's not because you're so worthy that he gives you power. It's because he's so good by his grace. Your strength is from the Lord. By God's grace.

Going on in verse 30. He says, Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Even the youths, the young people, young men, even they will faint and be weary, God says. He's pointing out that even in the prime of life, in the height of strength, you cannot measure up. You still will experience weariness and you'll become faint.

Even with the best resources that you can muster up. Even with the strongest bank account that you can establish. Even with the greatest backup plan that you have. With all of your resources, the best that you can muster up, still you will faint and be weary. The best that we can do will still be running, working, struggling, worn out, weary, and faint.

That's what happens when we try to endure, when we try to accomplish, when we try to survive on our own without the Lord. But verse 31, but those who wait on 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.

So here's the contrast. With the best of the resources that you can muster up, getting the best advice from all the experts, getting all the strength, all the wealth, whatever you can muster up, even then you'll faint and be weary. But those who wait on the Lord, whole different experience. Those who wait on the Lord, they won't faint. They won't be weary. They'll mount up on wings or with wings like eagles.

And they're going to run and not be weary. They're going to walk and not faint. If you trust in, you rely upon, you look to your own resources, you're going to fail. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Wait on the Lord. This word wait, literally, the word means to bind together. But it's a specific type of binding together. It's a binding together that happens by twisting together.

You could think about a rope that's being made, twisted together. Individually, the strands are not very strong and they can easily be broken. But when you twist them together and they become united, bound together that way, then they become strong. There's that strength that comes from being twisted together. And so he says, those who wait on the Lord, those who bind themselves to the Lord,

Those who wrap themselves around the Lord, those who center their lives around the Lord, who twist up and bind themselves to God, they will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary and walk and not faint. It's those who bind themselves to God. The problem begins when we try to handle things on our own and we're just this little puny strand and we can't handle and easily we're broken and brought to weariness.

When we try to do things our way, using our ideas and our resources. But if you bind yourself to the Lord, you will renew your strength. Bind yourself to the Lord saying, I will only do what you instruct me to do, Lord. I'm not going to figure it out on my own and do what I think. I'm going to do what you tell me to do. I'm going to follow your ways. I will trust you to resolve this situation. I'm not going to try to tackle it on my own.

It's essentially the same thing that we see in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So many times we lean on our own understanding. We think, I understand how to fix this problem. I understand how to bring comfort in this situation. I understand how to handle this difficulty. I've got it figured out.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding, but in all of your ways acknowledge Him. That is, wrap yourself around Him. Bind yourself together to Him, to His ways, and He will direct your path. You'll renew your strength. You'll mount up. You'll run and not be faint or weary. The other option is to try it on your own. Use your own resources and quickly you'll become frayed.

spread out, thinned out, worn out, broken, weary, faint. Your strength is from God. Your strength is from the Lord. And when you wait on Him, no matter what you're going through, when you bind yourself to Him, you will have His strength. And because you've wrapped yourself around Him, and He has all power and all might, you will not faint. You will not be weary. You will have His strength.

I started out asking the question, are you weary? And as we finish up, I would say, listen, you don't have to stay in that condition. Bind yourself to the Lord because your God is greater than whatever you face. And He knows exactly what you're going through and how much it hurts and how difficult it is. The opposition, He knows it. And that's why He says, come to Me. Wrap yourself around Me. Bind yourself to Me.

Wait on me because I want to give you my strength. It's an invitation for you and I to come to the Lord, to look to Him and find that His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Let's pray. Lord, again, it is so amazing to consider how great You are. And yet as we understand who You are, it's not so amazing that You can create the universe and hold it all together and call all the stars by name.

What's really amazing, God, is that You desire to meet with us. That You loved us so much that You made provision for us to be forgiven. Even though we are sinful and wretched and unworthy, You loved us. You poured out Your grace and Your mercy towards us through Jesus Christ who died upon the cross in our place. You gave Him the punishment that we deserve today.

That we might have the opportunity to be forgiven. That we could turn to you in our weariness, in our faintness, in our brokenness and find forgiveness and strength. And so God, I pray for each one. Help us, God, not to trust in our own resources, not to pursue other things in place of you because we know nothing compares and we can't do it on our own. And so God, help us to turn to you

to intertwine our lives with yours, to intertwine our hearts with yours, to embrace you fully and wait upon you. And I pray, God, that you would be faithful to your word as I know that you will. Lord, as each one binds themselves to you and grasps hold of you this morning, God, renew their strength. Mount them up. And Lord, it's not that you just take away all the problems, but Lord, you

Will you cause us to have the strength to endure? So Lord, bolster our faith. Give us great confidence in you. Bring joy to our hearts. Give us the peace that passes understanding, God, because we wait upon you. We believe you at your word. We know you work all things together for good. And so we wait upon you. And we look to you to be faithful to your word. Not because we've deserved it. Not because we've earned it. We don't.

But Lord, because of your grace, give us strength. Restore us. Renew us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.