1. Introduction
A. Dog movie (Hachi) with Richard Gere
B. Hachi was lost at the train station and Richard Gere adopts him
C. Richard Gere would go to work every day by train and hachi would meet him every day at 5PM
D. One day, Richard Gere dies of a heart attack. This is a true story: the dog waited for the rest of his life for his master to come back.
E. He waited for 9 years!!
F. That is patience. That is trust in his master
G. We also need to learn about waiting patiently on our Master
H. Turn your bibles to Isaiah 40. 26-31
I. Outline:
I. Lifting up your eyes (vs. 26)
II. Have you not heard? (vs. 27,28)
III. Those who wait (29,30,31)
2. Lifting up your eyes (vs. 26)
A. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created
I. Don’t close your eyes, lift up your eyes to God!
II. Notice what happens when your eyes are focused on high, to the mighty God: You don’t focus on self. If I’m looking up, I can’t look at myself. I become less selfish, because I can’t see myself if I’m focusing on God.
III. Also, if my eyes are focused on God, I can’t see what others are doing. I can’t become jealous. I can’t become angry that my rights have been violated.
IV. What a great, practical, relevant point right off the bat here in this passage.
V. We need to use our minds, our heart and the senses He gave us to serve Him best, to strengthen our faith.
B. How many Billions of stars are there?
I. Yet God knows each one and names them
II. As a general leads his men, according to who they are. God knows each star as a good leader knows each of his men.
III. Even if there are billions, none are missing. They are all there!! He doesn’t lose track any of them.
IV. Each star has a purpose.
C. Application
I. It can’t be said enough. So many of our problems, stress, and difficulties are caused by not focusing on God. When your eyes are lifted up, you won’t be jealous, you’ll forget about self and focus instead on God and serving Him
II. If God has a purpose for every STAR in the sky, would He not have a purpose for each one of us?? Those made in His own image?? Yes, He does. He has a purpose for each one of us. He doesn’t forget any of the stars, just like He doesn’t forget any of us.
3. Have you not heard? (verses 27,28)
A. the justice due me.
I. unbelief and distrust inGod
II. If God can see everything, why can’t he see my suffering? Why can’t He see what’s not fair??
III. My rights are violated !! (ESV “My right is disregarded by God”)
Iv. What a great example of what happens when our eyes aren’t lifted up. We start blaming God for not giving us what is our right!! (Matthew 5: poor in spirit =beggar)
B. Have you not heard??
I. How can you not know?? How can you have not heard.
A. Who is the president of the U.S.A.?? Everybody knows that
B. You’d have to be in a coma or living in a cave to not know that or to not have heard that
C. Same here: unless you’re living in a cave, you should know:
D. How?? You should have heard from the Scriptures, heard from others.
E. Several attributes of God are listed here:
I. Everlasting God. Our God is eternal (French = Eternel), we are but a vapor)
II. The Lord = having power and authority over someone. We are but servants, slaves.
III. Creator. My merely speaking the universe. Contrast with the destroyer.
IV. Never is He tired. We are tired. We are weary
V. His understanding way beyond ours
C. Application
I. Let’s not get trapped into thinking we have rights. We don’t. We have a king and we are His subjects. Subjects have no right.
II. God sees everything, knows everything, and he is perfect
III. What great attributes of God: eternal, Lord, creator, never tired, understanding much greater than ours.
IV. Within just a few verses, the Scriptures focus on 2 of our most important senses: to see and to hear. If we use them for the Lord, we will focus on him and by hearing we will know His great attributes.
4. Those who wait (29,30,31)
A. He gives strength to the weary
I. ASV “He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength”
II. Not only does He “Not faint” He gives power to them who do faint.
III. Have you ever felt like this? So exhausted that you feel like you’re going to faint.
B. Even the young strong men become weary
I. these youths = the best of the young, the choicest (“Those selected”)
II. Those that count on themselves only.Those that are self sufficient
III. Vigorous young men stumble. Not only do they stumble, they stumble badly.
C. Those who wait on the Lord
I. wait = hope =trust= faith in God.
A. If you have faith in God, you are able to wait on God.
B. persistence, longsuffering
C. opposite: distrust, impatience, doubt, despair, annoyance
D. We can learn from our faithful dog in the story. He waited for his master. We need to wait on our master.
II. Wings of an eagle.
A. Wouldn’t you love to be an eagle?
B. The imagery is a great one: the eagle is far up in the sky, closer to God.
C. They shall soar upward towards God.
D. they will run and not get tired…
E. they will walk and not become weary.
F. Imagine how great that would be: to have wings like eagles, to run and never get tired, and to walk and never become weary.
G. This is the promise. What a beautiful imagery of what we are given for being patient.
H. Christians, who continue to wait, will be given this in heaven.
I. But we must be faithful, we must be able to wait, we must be able to trust.
D. Application
I. He gives strength. Feel like you can’t take it anymore, that you will faint and he will give you strength.
A. He will give you the physical, emotional and spiritual strength that you need.
B. Those who wait
I. hachi waited 9 years for his master. He never gave up…
II. We should be as faithful, as loyal, as patient for Our Lord
III. Unlike Hachi’s master, our master is risen!! He is alive!! Hachi: Your master is alive.
Vi. We need to wait on the Lord, our Master, who is alive. He will come back. We will see Him again, but we need to trust.
C. In summary, our eyes need to be focused upwards, our ears need to hear and understand His great attributes and we need to be more like this faithful dog.
