OPEN: The Civil War went on for 4 long years, and at one point President Lincoln was asked if God was on the side of the Union. He replied: “I am not at all concerned about that, for we know that the Lord is always on the side of right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and the nation should choose to be on the Lord’s side.”
Our favorite passage for this week is found in Isaiah 40:30-31 (in fact this is one of my favs) “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.”
Now, there are people who tend to look at passages like this and see them as saying that God is “ON THEIR SIDE.” Too many people see God as serving them… rather than the other way around.
ILLUS: In our newsletter this month, I compared that kind of thinking to buying INSURANCE. I have car insurance, house insurance and life insurance, and I bought those policies “just in case.” I mean, who plans to wreck their car or have their house burn down. We buy the insurance “just in case those things happen. And frankly, I have no plans to die any time soon but I bought the life insurance … “just in case” it happens.
Now, there are some people who do the same thing with their relationship with God. They get baptized to get “fire insurance” (fire/hell, get it?). They get baptized to escape hell but really have no intention of changing their lives. Or they go to church, as a kind of insurance policy to get God’s blessings. But they have no intention of doing more than showing up on Sundays. They just want to be there in case God is handing out blessings that day… and they want some.
Isaiah 40:30-31 says “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.”
So if I want God’s strength, there are a few things I need to do. 1st – I have to understand my need for God’s help. And I have to believe He can supply that need. Notice, the promise is for those who are faint and weary… who have no strength. They KNOW they can’t make it on their own and so they’re looking for God to help them in their lives
Jesus said something very similar to us in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
He knows how frustrating life can be. He knows there are times when life is just… NOT good. Times when we feel so burdened we don’t think we can “go on.”
And Jesus says “I know about that… just COME TO ME. I can do stuff in your life. I can help you carry your burdens. I can give you strength! But you have to COME to ME! You have to believe I can do stuff.”
Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
He rewards us when we seek Him
So (PAUSE) I have to believe that I NEED His help, and I have to believe He’ll REWARD me when I seek His help. But I can’t come to Him looking for fire insurance. It’s pretty much all or nothing. In the Old Testament 2 Chronicles 16:9 tells us “The eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”
God’s promise of strength is given ONLY to those who have already decided to be FULLY His.
Romans 10:9 tells us it’s the same with our salvation: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
To confess Jesus as LORD… you’re saying that He now owns you and everything you have. To become a Christian means to be fully committed to /owned by Christ. It’s all or nothing. But ONCE you’ve done that… once you’ve turned it ALL over to Him, NOW you have the promise of His strength and His comfort.
ILLUS: My dad once met Don DeWelt (he was a powerful preaching and leader in our brotherhood) but dad didn’t know who he was. DeWelt was so well dressed, dad asked if he was an insurance salesman, and DeWelt replied: “No, I’m an ASSURANCE salesman”
When we come to God for His strength we’re not looking for “insurance” (just in case) - we’re looking for ASSURANCE of what He’s promised to those who love Him.
So God has promised us (who love Him and are sold out to Him) STRENGTH. But what kind of strength do we receive?
The 23rd Psalm describes it as being under the protection of the SHEPHERD “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
You see, this idea of being strengthened is that God protection of us is our strength. You can’t survive in this life without God! He is your STRENGTH… because He is your PROTECTION.
ILLUS: Charles Spurgeon once wrote this about our need for God’s strength “There is nothing to hold me up if I am left to myself; but if, confessing my liability to fall, confessing my liability to be seized by the lion, and the bear, and the wolf, I can still say, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” I am safe! The sheep is not safe because it says, “I am stronger than the lion;” or, “I am able to escape from the bear;” or, “I shall always be able to avoid the wolf.” Silly sheep, what canst thou do to protect thyself from thy foes?”
Someone else said: “The only safe place for a sheep is by the side of his shepherd, because the devil does not fear sheep; he just fears the Shepherd.” (A. W. Tozer)
It’s in knowing that God is there (that He’s near) that we gain our strength.
ILLUS: There’s the story about the Alpine Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. The sky was dark and there were strong gusts of wind and they were warned about potential tornadoes in the area. It was too dangerous to send the children home, so instead, they were taken to the basement, where the children huddled together in fear. The teachers were worried too. To help ease the tension, the principal suggested a sing-along. But the voices were weak and unenthusiastic. Child after child began to cry – they could not calm them. Then a teacher, who was a believer in Jesus, whispered to the child closest to her, “Aren’t you forgetting something Kathie? There is a power greater than the storm that will protect us. Just say to yourself, ‘God is with us.’ Then pass the words on to the child next to you.” As the words were whispered from child to child, a sense of peace settled over the group. You could still hear the fierce wind blowing outside, but it didn’t seem to matter now. Inside, fear subsided and tears faded away. (Phyllis I. Martin, teacher)
What made the difference? How could the children face danger with courage and calmness? Well, they KNEW that God was near - the shepherd was with them - and that gave them the strength they needed to face the storm.
It isn’t in personal strength that we gain confidence. Rather, its in HIS strength.
ILLUS: When I was younger I went to Purdue University for a couple of years. My brother thought I needed to get the chance to sing in their men’s Glee Club and dad was willing to pay the freight. So I figured – why not? But I still wanted to go to Bible college so, when I saw a class listed in the syllabus called “Religions of the West” (dealing with Judaism, Christianity and Islam) I thought – “This will be great! I can take this class and get a leg up on my studies to be a preacher.” I figured they’d teach me all about these religions so I’d at least know something worthwhile to prepare for Bible College. That’s what I had in mind. Unfortunately, that’s not what the instructor of this class had in mind. The first day I walked into class it was apparent that this professor’s objective was to destroy people’s faith in Scripture. He started out attacking the Old Testament. He stated that Moses didn’t write the first 5 books of the Bible and started talking about a JEDP theory I’d never heard about before. Now, bear in mind, my entire theological education was what I had learned in Sunday School, but I raised my hand anyway. He called on me and I stated that this wasn’t what I’d been taught, and he just gave me a patronizing smile and said that “the majority of scholars agree with me.” Then he went on to the next attack and I raised my hand again “that’s not what I’d been taught” and again he’d say “the majority of scholars agree with me.” Do you remember the movie “God’s Not Dead”? Remember that college student who was so intelligent and skilled in challenging his professor? Well… that wasn’t me. I wasn’t nearly that smart. In fact, I was a bit on the slow side. But eventually I began to realize that if he attacked the Old Testament when dealing with Judaism, he’d do the same thing to the New Testament when he got to Christianity. So I went to the Campus House and got materials I thought would help me stand up against him. Sure enough, when he got done trashing the Old Testament he moved on to attack the New. He started out by saying that Matthew didn’t write Matthew and Mark didn’t write Mark and Luke didn’t write Luke and John didn’t write John. They’d all borrowed from something called the “Q Source”. This time I was ready. I raised my hand. He said “What?” And then I explained he was wrong because this scholar and this expert said this that and the other thing that debunked his statement (to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what I said that day, I just remember thinking it sounded good). The prof paused for a couple moments and then said “Well, the majority of scholars agree with me”… and we were off and running. Every time he’d attack the Bible I had a ready response. Then it came time for mid-terms and I sat down to take the test. At the bottom of the test I wrote that I was sorry to have challenged him so much in class, but he’d been attacking something that was important to me. I promised I’d never interrupt his lessons again. He was going into Islam and I frankly didn’t care about Islam. I was done with the professor… but God wasn’t. I swear, in the next class, this is roughly what he said: Islam got him to black Muslims. Black Muslims got him to racial prejudice and racial prejudice got him to WWII. And then he said the reason we dropped the bomb on the Japanese and not the Germans was because the Germans were white and the Japanese weren’t. Now I’m kind of history buff… and that didn’t sound quite right. But I’d made a promise I wouldn’t cause any more trouble in his class so I just kept my mouth shut. But people tell me that when I’m frustrated – I sigh. And I must have sighed at that point because the teacher looked right at me and said “Alright Strite. What’s wrong now?” I hadn’t said anything! But since he asked I responded that from everything I’d ever heard we didn’t have the bomb when Germany surrendered. He responded: “We did too. We had it in 1942!” You need to understand, this was in the era of the war in Vietnam… and the government lied about all kinds of things back then. I figured – well, maybe they lied about this too! And I just slumped at my desk – defeated again. And that’s when God nailed him. One row back, and about 4 seats over, a young woman raised her hand. She said “I’m sorry sir, but you’re wrong. My father worked on that project and we didn’t have the bomb when Germany surrendered.”
My point is this: I won! But not because I was clever or smart. I won because God was strong. I won because God fought for me and set this professor up to be exposed as a false teacher in front of an entire class who probably thought I was nothing more than a nuisance.
I want to close with an intriguing article I once read entitled “Bringing A Tent Peg To A Sword Fight” (by Andrew Wilson, Christianity Today, May 2019, p. 28… I’ve taken a few liberties)
“The battle against Sisera by Deborah and Barak was won – not with sword or spear, but with a peg and a workman’s hammer (Judges 5:26).” (A woman drove a tent peg through the Temple of the sleeping Sisera). Then the author told of other Old Testament battles - In the book of Judges, Shamgar, defeated the Philistines with a cattle prod (3:31). Gideon won against the Midianites with jars and trumpets (7:19-23). And the Philistine king Abimelek is killed by a millstone thrown over the wall (9:53). Then in Exodus… Moses brings the Israelites out of Egypt using a staff designed to steer sheep, and the book of Joshua tells of Jericho’s walls were brought down with musical instruments (Josh. 6). They blew trumpets.
God (he wrote) seems to like common-place tools. The stuff of cooking, building, farming, and culture, but not swords or spears or chariots. It’s the very strangeness of the weapons that’s the point: Nobody could win a fight with those kinds of weapons… unless God was with them. It could be a tent peg or a cattle prod. It could be a jawbone, a pebble, a stone, or an altar soaked in water that suddenly caught fire. Whatever the means of victory, it rams home the point that Israel’s success came “Not by might nor by power, but my Spirit’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zech. 4:6)
In other words, their strength came from the Lord.
Then the author added this interesting observation
The ultimate contrast, came at the cross. Rome, the most powerful military force the world had ever yet seen, gathered a battalion of soldiers to inspect Israel’s King. They were armed, he was stripped. They came with swords and spears; he came in nothing but the name of the Lord God. They carried the most advanced weapons available. He carried nothing but a rugged cross and a crown of thorns. And yet when the dust settled, the soldiers were no match for the King of Kings.
Jesus won the battle for our souls, not by the weapons of this world, but with His blood upon the cross.
CLOSE: I want to close by revisiting the words of Isaiah 40 “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. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 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.”
Notice… the reason we can trust God to give US strength is because HE CAN! He has power and wisdom beyond anything we can imagine. He is the CREATOR, the is EVERLASTING God. He doesn’t faint or grow weary… because He’s God. And He loves you so much He wants to share that power with you.
INVITATION
