Reading: Isaiah 40
Okay. So, really, this is actually only about verses 27-31, but you can’t tell me you regret reading the entire chapter. It’s good to stop every now and again simply to take in the awesome power of our God!
My focus today is on encouragement. Let’s face it, we all get discouraged. Right now, I’m going through some major stress–namely, unemployment. When I get discouraged and stressed, I often forget to share my frustrations with God. In the past, I thought that God was too busy/big/important to bother with my stress. Eventually, He showed that He is always there and wants me to come to Him with all my problems, no matter how trivial they seem. I realized that, instead of holding everything up inside me, I could release it to the one called The Comforter. I have since spent many moments at the stone bench pacing, throwing my hands in the air, and railing at God about one thing or another. Going on in a way I would never let myself go with another person. (A scary thought if you’ve ever seen me go off on someone.)
At first glance, this may seem like an awful, disrespectful practice. I thought so too for a long time. Until I realized this simple truth. GOD CAN HANDLE IT! And with those four words came such a release. God is not trapped in some hypothetical box unable to handle human emotion. After all, He is the one who created it! He will sit and listen to you as you cry, scream, beg, accuse, and question. Then, after the storm is passed, He reaches out to comfort. If you have children or have ever worked or spent time with children, you soon realize that after the initial outburst of words and emotions, if you stick around to listen, true feelings begin to leak out. Thoughts and feelings that were buried beneath the storm. Only by first pouring out the storm were they able to access the deeper, quieter emotions. I believe that is mostly true for any age. Including yours.
So, what happened after my outpouring of emotions earlier this week? After I cried and lashed out about the issues on my heart? God reached out His hand, and gave me Isaiah 40. Verse 27, “Why do you say….My way is hidden from the LORD…?” Have you ever thought that God has absolutely no idea about your life? Like He’s leaving you to flounder through on your own? That He is too busy? He has more important things to deal with. More important people to lead.
The answer in verse 28 begins with a question. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” What have we not heard? That, “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.” Oh. Yeah. We just got done reading about the awesomeness of God. He isn’t too tired to help. He isn’t weary of listening to us call upon Him. And, in case we didn’t get it, we can’t understand Him. I have recently discovered the wonderfulness called Corn Mazes. (Stick with me, I have a point.) I love following to the map to find each station. Imagine, though, being blindfolded and dropped into a maze of infinite proportions with no map. Finding the way out is impossible because you have absolutely no reference. You do have one thing, however. A radio. On the other end of that radio is someone watching you from above the maze. He can see the whole picture. Only by following his directions will you be able to find your way out of that maze.
Life is the epic maze we have been blindly dropped into. God is the one with the radio. God sees the whole. We do not. What seems like chaos and impossibility to us, God sees as a simple path through the maze. God never looks up to say, “Oops. I didn’t see that coming. What am I going to do now? How am I going to get her out?” We need to trust God to lead us through the maze. He knows the way out.
In verse 29, we are promised power and strength when we are weary. Everyone get’s weary. As I’m writing this, I am weary from twists in my life. But I cling to this promise, and remember the knowledge that I cannot do this on my own (v. 30).
In the meantime, we are told to wait on God. With that, we are promised a renewed strength, wings like eagles, and an end to weariness.
Blue Letter Bible gives me the definition of the word translated as “they that wait.”
Waiting sucks. That’s really all there is to it. I’m at a period of waiting, and, for someone who is used to doing, I’m really going crazy. But, according to this definition, it’s not just simply waiting. It’s “hope.” It’s “to look eagerly for!” We are not to sit around allowing our stress and discouragement to build. We are to be hopeful and eager. What do you know? That’s pretty much the opposite of stressed and discouraged! If we “wait for the LORD” He promises to “renew [our] strength” (v. 31).
The waiting and renewing process is something that needs to take place every day. Sometimes several times a day, especially if you’re like me. I woke up today on top of the world, but, within a few hours I was plunged back down in need of another renewal of strength. And that strength has always been renewed. Ask God to help you turn stress and discouragement into hope and eagerness. Ask God to give you eagle’s wings.
Thoughts from the Stone Bench 