Wings Like Eagles
Isaiah 40:28-31
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
02-12-2023
On E
There are two types of people in the world. Those that fill up their gas tanks when it hits half full (like Maxine) and those who drive until the low fuel light comes on (like me).
Maxine has never run out of gas. I have…several times.
The solution to an empty gas tank is easy - fill the tank at the gas station.
Running out of gas is frustrating but can I ask you another, more personal, question?
Have you ever run out of hope?
Maybe it’s a financial situation, a health issue, an addiction, a wayward child or grandchild, depression/anxiety, fear of the future, hurt from your past, an unfulfilled dream, or a lingering question of whether you want to keep living at all.
Maybe you are wondering where God is and if he cares about the craziness that is going on in your life.
What do you do when your hope tank is running on fumes? Where do you look when you are sick and tired of being sick and tired?
This is the first week of our HOPE series and I’m going to ask you to think about the people in your life that need hope and invite them to join us on a Sunday.
As always, we will turn to God’s Word to see if there are answers to these honest questions.
Turn with me to Isaiah 40.
Prayer
Comfort, Comfort
Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet who wrote of the coming judgment on the Jewish people in the 6th century Bc during exile. For the first 39 chapters, Isaiah writes of doom and gloom that awaits them due to their rebellion against God. God would use the great empires of Assyria and Babylon to judge their disobedience.
But, at the beginning of chapter 40, the book takes a sudden turn of hope:
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
The exile is over. The people would return to the land. God would restore their hope.
Let’s pick it up in verse 27.
I can have HOPE because God hears my complaints
“Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?” (Isaiah 40:27)
They were in limbo. They were waiting and waiting. They were losing hope. They were tired.
And what do we do when we are tired? We complain. And that’s what they were doing.
They felt like God was playing hide and seek with them. They complained that God wasn’t being fair.
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that God seemed to disappear when you needed Him most? When you needed Him to speak, He was silent. When you needed to feel his presence, you felt more of His absence.
Have you ever gone through situations and wanted to scream at heaven - this isn’t fair?!
Pastor Alistair Begg makes the point that there is nothing wrong with asking God questions. Abraham did it. Noah did it. David did it. Job did it.
But we end up in dangerous territory when we begin to question (challenge God).
When you feel like God isn’t living up to His end of the bargain, you need to remember:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
When we cry out God hears us. He listens. He cares. In times of doubt and questions, we have two choices. We can run away from Him or we can run to Him.
Paul and Silas could have grumbled. After being beaten and put in prison, I certainly would have been whining. But what did they do?
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25)
Instead of complaining, we can worship God because we know He is working everything out for His glory and our good.
That’s what Isaiah writes next. He reminds them that God is worthy of our worship.
I can have hope because He is God and I am not
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
This was not new information. They had been taught these things from their youth.
But when the going gets tough and our hope meter is running low, we need to be reminded who God is and who we are.
Eternal - He is the Everlasting God
We want things done NOW! We want to know what’s going to happen NOW! We hate to wait.
The great country theologians Alabama sang:
I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh, I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
Even I'm in a hurry and don't know why
But God is above time and knows the beginning to the end.
Moses begins Psalm 90 with these words:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:1-2)
God is never late but He is rarely early. His timing is always perfect. You can trust Him.
Sovereign - Creator of the ends of the earth
God is the creator and sustainer of the entire earth. He is Sovereign. He is in control. Nothing happens by accident or chance.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
He has a purpose and plans for you and He is working all things out. You can trust Him.
Omnipotent - He will not grow tired or weary.
Can I let you in on a secret? People will let you down! But God will never get tired of you or weary of your struggles.
David writes:
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:1-4)
God has unlimited strength and you can trust him to use that power to take care of you.
All-wise - His understanding no one can fathom
Earlier in this chapter, Isaiah writes:
“Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14)
There are times when we are tempted to question God. But God has all wisdom and we do not. His ways are higher than our ways. He can be trusted.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”
He can have HOPE because God provides strength when we are weak
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall…”
God is not stingy with His power for those who are in need. But there is one prerequisite. We must admit that we are weak. We must confess that we are needy. We must understand that we are not eternal, sovereign, omnipotent, or all-wise.
We aren’t nearly as strong as we think we are. All it takes is a phone call saying there has been an accident, or the tests came back and they are good, or divorce papers arrive at your door to show us how weak we really are.
When we are weak and tired, God stands ready to provide us with the power to keep going.
Have you ever been really tired? One time, I had a ministry stretch when I went to a conference, came home and packed, and then left for camp, came home and packed, left for a mission trip, came home and packed, and then went on vacation with my family.
I was running on fumes and it finally got the best of me standing for two hours for a ride that lasts less than a minute.
I lost it. I started yelling and crying and pitching a fit like a toddler. The hotel was far from the park and Maxine and the boys drove me back and tucked me into bed and they went back to ride the roller coasters. I woke up the next day.
The word weary in this verse is more than physical exhaustion. It is a soul tiredness from all the things that have happened to us.
Maybe you’re tired, soul tired and just can’t find the strength you once had.
Maybe you agree with John Coffey, in the movie The Green Mile:
“I’m tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we’s going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world, every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head, all the time.”
When we admit that we are weary, weak, and worn out, God works on our behalf.
One pastor wrote:
“The Lord takes us to Babylon, where we feel oppressed, constricted and closed in, so that we will recognize our weakness, and actively hope and wait on Him.”
"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you.” (Isaiah 26:3)
God gives strength to those who wait on Him
“…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
The word hope in this verse can also be translated as “wait.” It is a word picture of plaiting the hair. Braiding it in such a way that it isn’t blown around by the wind. It can also be a picture of a rope that is twisted to make it stronger.
Those that wait and hope in the Lord will renew their strength. “Renew” is another word picture of exchanging old clothes for new.
Simeon waited decades to see the Messiah. Noah waited for a century for rain. Abraham waited years for a baby. The Jewish people were waiting for Christ.
Soar
Eagles in the Bible are a picture of power and freedom. When a mommy eagle wants to teach her eaglets to fly, she pushes them out of the nest. They fall, desperately trying to flap their wings. Just at the last second the mother eagle will swoop down and catch the baby eaglet on her wings and take them back to the nest.
When the crisis of life comes, not if, and we are flapping our wings wildly, God will swoop in and carry us through the trial.
On the mountain, God told Moses:
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” (Exodus 19:4)
Run and not grow weary
This is the strength to keep going even when you don’t want to.
When I ran the marathon in Champaign, my ear buds died at mile 13. That section of the race is through neighborhoods, so you never knew when the next water stop would be. I was growing weary and my legs were feeling heavy.
Then at mile 15, spread across the entire road were volunteers with platters of fresh fruit - bananas, apples, pears, cantaloupe. I thought I was hallucinating.
The whole group I was running with stopped and gorged ourselves and that gave us the strength to finish the race.
The Christian life is not a sprint but a marathon and we need strength to run a “long obedience in the same direction. “
God promises to give us that strength to keep going over the long haul.
Walk and not be faint
This strength is for the day-to-day challenges we face. The word “faint” means “exhaustion because of the hardness of life.”
Have you ever seen a possum faint? Experts tell us that the reason they curl up in a ball and play dead is out of anxiety and fear.
Many people are like possums. The anxiety and fear of life get the best of them and they curl up and want to play dead.
But God says I will provide you the strength to walk with me day to day.
Phillips Brooks wrote
“Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
Charging
When your phone is running low on charge, what do you do? You hook it up to the power source and wait. While you are waiting, it doesn’t look like much is happening but the phone is receiving an influx of power.
Once it is fully charged, you take it off the charger. But during the day, the power will be drained. So what do you do? Reconnect it with the power source.
Life will drain you, it will exhaust you, will depress you, and challenge you.
We have to know where to go to get our tank filled with courage, confidence, and trust.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30)
Our power source is the Holy Spirit speaking through God’s Holy Word.
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his Word, I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:5)
Jennifer’s Baptism
I went with a group of Eastview directors to Quincy, IL to The Crossing Church. While we were there, we attended a Thursday night service and it ended with a baptism that you simply have to see to believe.
Show Baptism
Jennifer was hopeless but found hope. She was lost but was found. She was dying and now she’s alive spiritually forevermore!
Jesus gave her hope, joy, life peace, and purpose. As we sing this last song together, this is your time to fill your hope tank by trusting Jesus no matter what you are going through.
Ending Song: O Come to the Altar
