Waiting Upon The Lord

Good morning! Well, that was beautiful. You know, it's our responsibility to unearth our God-given gifts and to grow them and then to use them for God's glory. And I think we just witnessed that. And through God's gifts, we reveal our purpose. And God's gifts are the means by which we glorify Him. So it's wonderful. So I really appreciate that. It is wonderful to be with you with all of you, but let's get right to it. I'm excited for our scripture study today. The title of our study today, Waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord might seem like a simple phrase, but I assure you it's packed with meaning.

So let's open our Bibles together once again, and let's turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 31. This will be our scripture focus today. Isaiah 40-31. As here today, we in unison wait for the Lord. We wait upon the return of our Savior. We wait upon the ushering in of a new era, a new world. We wait together for this future millennial reign of our Lord. And here we find the prophet Isaiah speaking to this very endeavor of waiting.

So we're going to see what Isaiah says and what his words are that are spoken to those waiting of God's people then. I believe it will give us great insight to us today as we wait. Isaiah 40 verse 31. Let's read this together. The prophet Isaiah says, 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. Let's stop there. Now, you'll notice that first and foremost Isaiah speaks of a renewing of strength for these men and women who were waiting. And the renewal of strength is a crucial part of this process. Let me just set the scene here. Times were tough for God's people then. If you carefully read the surrounding context here of this verse, you will discover that the people of Isaiah's day, God's people, they would have found themselves identifying with such events such as war, events such as recession, disease, ominous warnings of racial strife, and even environmental disruptions.

Sound familiar? So Isaiah's day, God's people would have awakened to these very issues, and they needed renewed strength here. So God speaks to them through the prophet Isaiah, in an age of anxiety and fear, to those who wait upon the Lord, and he's going to speak a word of comfort. And in fact, this was Isaiah's responsibility, because you'll notice going up to the opening verses of chapter 40 here, God charges his prophet with this very responsibility of speaking comfort to God's people, allow your eyes to go up to verse one here.

Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received the Lord's hand from the Lord's hand, double for all of her sins. So the directive from this prophet was for God to speak a word of comfort to those who wait upon the Lord, because I'll tell you that at this time, many had lost sight of God in the struggle. They had lost sight of His greatness.

They had lost sight of the fact that God had a plan and a strategy for the immediate and for the future. God had a plan. God, in it all, had provided a future great comforter to come to be announced by one John the Baptist. In a remarkable prophecy here, Isaiah speaks to this very thing, this future comfort. Look at verses 3 through 5. Here's Isaiah speaking of John the Baptist. Verses 3 through 5, he, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. So would God's people in Isaiah's day, would they hear this? Well, we hear this today. Again, unfortunately, so many had underestimated God. They had judged God by the moment. They had judged God by their own desires.

They wanted a God who would essentially serve them. They wanted a God who would make sense to their own human reasoning. In other words, they wanted to bring God down to their level where they lived and make God answer to the charges that they would bring to them. And in doing so, they robbed God. They reduced him and they exalted themselves.

Now, one doesn't have to have too much insight into the culture of our day to realize this. To realize this, this is not very far removed from our own environment, is it?

Here are some of the complaints, some of the cries here in verse 27. Look at this. Allow your eyes to go down to verse 27, speaking to God's people.

Why do you say, O Jacob, verse 27, and speak, O Israel, saying, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God? Stop there. So the people of God have put themselves in a position where they succumbed to the notion that God no longer listened to them, and that he was no longer there to help him. Where are you, God? They cried, somehow began to think that God had lost sight of them.

And sadly, sadly, today, perhaps many of us make our way to worship with such a notion.

Where are you, God? Why is my way hidden from you?

Why aren't you hearing my cries? I'm here to tell you that Isaiah 40, verse 31, comes to address all those questions of the heart, to all those who are waiting for the Lord. And it does so in quite a remarkable way. So what I'd like to do this morning is to examine this verse closely, this verse 31, with the hope that in the end we'll be given the ability, as God's people, to fly, to run, to walk in this way. Okay, so we're going to ask two questions today. Two questions. Question number one, we will ask, is, who is the Lord? Who is the Lord? You know, if we're to wait on this Lord, we need to know who we're waiting upon, don't we?

Secondly, we'll ask, what does it mean to wait upon Him? That'll be the second question we come to today. What will it mean to wait upon Him? So, two questions. Number one, though, who is the Lord upon whom Isaiah says that we should wait upon? Well, you'll notice twice in this great chapter 40, this question is asked first in verse 18 and then in verse 25. Look at verse 18. Here's the question. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? So, you know, who is the Lord? And then verse 25, you'll notice, verse 25. To whom then will you liken me? Or to whom shall I be equal? Says the Holy One. So stop there. So these are the questions. And really, the futility in coming up with an answer lies in the fact that God is indescribable in so many ways, isn't He? He's incomparable, incomparable. And it is that God is unique. You know, some of you English teachers may get on to me after this, I'm not sure, but in thinking about God's uniqueness, I believe it's wrong to use adjectives in conjunction with this word, unique. You'll have to check me on that. Because something is either unique or it's not unique. It's not very unique or rather unique or quite unique. Unique is unique because it's unique. Right. That sounded like a Dr. Seuss quote, I'm not sure. Because when we speak of God as being incomparable, we've said it all. He is not somewhat. He is not rather. He is not very. He is the one to whom we can compare no one or nothing. We need to know who we're waiting upon. It's of great importance. And when the Bible comes and it stands and addresses our day today, it allows us none of the notion of speaking in vague generalities about God. We cannot apply to God vague generalities. For example, the Bible encourages no one to simply wait upon a higher power.

The Bible doesn't speak about God as merely being a higher power, you know. Why? He can't be compared to anyone or anything. It's not that you have this high power, okay? Oh, and then God's a higher power. No, no. The Bible speaks all of an incomparable God. Nor does it speak the Bible encourage us to have an opinion about God, where people say to themselves, oh, you know, my opinion is, you know, God is this or God is that. You know, God is whatever. He's all. He's anything or my favorite. God is to me. God is to me. You hear that often. God is to me. And then insert whatever new age nonsense you want to insert there. You know, my own opinion about God. God is not subject to our opinion. Rather, God is revealed to us by those to whom he's chosen to reveal himself through. And the prophet Isaiah is one of these. So let's look and see what Isaiah says concerning the Lord to whom we wait. And I'll tell you, first and foremost, Isaiah reveals God as the Creator. The Creator. He is the Creator of all that we know and see. We see this fact in verse 26. Allow your eyes to go to verse 26, if you will. Listen to these words. This is awesome. Verse 26. Lift up your eyes on high, Isaiah says, and see who has created these things. Who brings out their host by number? He, God, calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one is missing. Stop there. You know, if it's a clear night, and we've had some beautiful days and beautiful nights, we're able to go outside and look out and look up upon the starry sky. And I don't think you have to be a philosopher to realize just our own infinitude, our own smallness, compared to the grandeur of the stars, to just stand there and gaze up into the the vast beyond. And then you have these questions start to reverberate in your mind. And Isaiah actually brings out some of these questions here, but the overarching question is, who created all these things? Look back at verse 12. You have these in verse 12, you have these series of rhetorical questions. And verse 12 is great poetry here, and it's great truth. Look at verse 12. Here's the questions that arise in us. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, or weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Stop there. Hold up your hand. Hold up your hand if you're able. So take a look at this hand. Take the span here.

How broad are they? You know, often we can't even hold a decent-sized cup, you know. I took forever as a youth trying to palm a basketball ball. I could never do it.

That reminds me, you know, whenever I go into through a fast food drive-through, maybe you'll relate to this. But, you know, I'll be there, and I'll order the combo, you know, give me this number, combo, whatever it is. Inevitably, the nice man or the nice woman asked me, well, what size drink do you want? And I don't know why, but every time large comes out of my mouth, that's just what I say. Give me a large, you know. Because I think back in my day, kids, back in my day, a large drink would be about that size. I could actually hold on to a large drink. But now, today, I pull up to the window, and there she is, and she's handing me this bucket, you know, large today. And I grab it from her, and I got to kind of tilt it to get it through the window. And I'm looking at my drink holder there, and I'm looking back at her, you know, with disdain. But such a small hand in relation to the waters of the ocean, which man can stand and scoop the ocean to measure it?

Which man can raise his hand and cast the east from the west to calculate the dust of the earth? Of course, no one. No one. But Isaiah's God, our God, the Creator God, He is the one who has marked off the heavens.

You know, you see those guys on the side of the road? One guy's looking through a telescope kind of thing, and he's on one side, and the other side, the other side, there's this guy with a stick and a wheel. I know you've probably seen that. I have no idea what they're doing, but I hope they do. But what they're doing, of course, is they're measuring off their project there.

Well, God measured off the universe, the scope of the entire universe.

And man says they don't know God. They are without excuse. God has revealed Himself in a mighty way, in the way that the rivers run to the sea, in the toes of a tiny child, in the creation of the galaxies, in the placing in just the right place the orbit of the sun and the moon and the earth. And that's what God is about.

But we can be so small in our thinking, can't we, when it comes to God? Who are you waiting upon?

Are you thinking too small? When man thinks too small, man inevitably exchanges the God with all kinds of smaller G gods. And that's exactly what Isaiah is referring to, and quite satirically here. Look at verse 18 and 19. Allow your eyes to go to verse 18 and 19. We're speaking about small g gods and idols. Verse 18, to whom then will you liken to God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? Verse 19, he says, the man says, the workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and then the silversmith casts silver chains. I'll stop there for a moment. So this is speaking of making idols. So once the goldsmith has made your idol, he's overlaid it with gold, then wonderfully the silversmith comes along and he makes change for it and ordains it. And if it's made in an equality way, you know, that God should last you a while on your mantle or on all your dresser. But you might be wondering now, well, I'm not a financial status to afford a golden god ordained with silver chains. Well, that's okay. We have the right kind of God for you. What about a wooden God? Look at verse 20. A wooden God, verse 20, whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution, then chooses a tree that will not rot. Because you don't want your God rotting on you, of course, now. Continuing, he seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter. We'll stop there. Careful, Jimmy! Careful when you go in that living room. You know, my God is in there. I don't want to want you to knock him over, of course. You know, he's everything to me. He's mighty. Oh, Sue, could you watch the kids? You know, let's not have a play around the gods in there.

So, think of the futility of this. Quite frankly, think of the stupidity of it. And what is this? Well, it's when man loses sight of the grandeur of their God, the God, turns his back on a creator, inevitably forced to create other gods of their liking. And make no doubt mankind does this today. Who's your God? Who's your God? Who's your God?

Is it the God of riches?

It'll topple. That God will topple. You're not always going to be rich. Is it the God of vanity or maybe self-image? You're not always going to have looks or status.

Name your God. There's a small gee God for anything you'd like to elevate above the true God.

And so, is this small gee God going to be the God that you're going to wait upon? Is that the God you're going to choose? I ask myself all this time, when I find myself elevating things above what they should be, ah, this question reverberates in my heart. Is that the God I'm waiting for? Again, we're called on by Isaiah to wait upon the Lord. So, if he's not this, who is he? Well, he's a God that won't topple. I'll tell you that. Verse 10. Look at verse 10, the first part of verse 10. There is no toppling of this God. Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Stop there. That's a great picture. And I gotta tell you, the people, God's people, on Isaiah's day, they needed to know this. They were in such a need for a strong hand and a ruling arm. They were intimately knowledgeable about their dire circumstances that they were in. They needed to know that it wasn't always going to be this way, and that a great comforter was coming. And Isaiah comes to remind them, your Lord is sovereign. He's got a ruling arm. And that arm may be opposed, currently, by a great enemy. It's never, ever going to be ultimately obstructed. I'll tell you that. His sovereign, strong hand, ruling arm. Able to subdue whatever enemy that you and I are up against. And this was a word that the people of God in Isaiah's day, they needed to hear this. Think of all that this would mean to the exiled people. They were aware of the destruction of Jerusalem and a glory day that was gone. They were hanging their harps upon the willows, and they were saying, we can't sing songs to God in these circumstances. We can't sing songs to God in this strange place.

But the Word comes through the prophet Isaiah, and he says, oh no, change your thinking.

I believe some of us here this morning need to be reminded of the God upon whom we wait. Are you worried about the nations, the nation's affairs? Verse 15 is for you. Look at verse 15.

Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket and are counted as the small dust on scales. Look, he lifts up the islands as a very little thing. You worried? The nations are like drops hanging from a bucket. So before you get out of shape about China or North Korea or name your nation, while we do need to be necessarily educated and be watching in our world today, we realize that the future of humanity doesn't lie there, it lies here.

And with our almighty God, the nations are as small dust on the scales. He lifts up aisles as if they're a very little thing. You see why this is so important? Because if we're going to wait, we need to have confidence in the one upon whom we wait. And we need to know that he's worthy of our waiting, don't we?

Let me ask you, the political scene, human affairs. I wonder if God is lord over all this these human affairs that we're seeing today. Verse 23. Verse 23.

He brings the princes to nothing and he makes the judges of the earth useless. Bring to mind a current ruler that's ruling from the world stage right now. Bring them to mind. Did you know that they will rule exactly the length of time that God wants them to rule? Did you know that? I assure you of that fact. Right wing, left wing, straight down the middle. He brings the princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth useless. So you look out upon the end of 2020 and on to 2021 upon our families, our hopes, our fears, the eventualities of life. We need to have comfort. Who is the Lord upon whom we wait? Today I commend to you the creator, lord, and all his glory.

Second question. Let's move on to the second question. What does it mean to wait upon him? What does it mean? That's a good question. To wait upon the Lord? Well, the word wait can also be translated hope.

So Isaiah 40 verse 31 could also be translated, but those who hope on the Lord shall renew their strength. And that translation might be helpful to you because it prevents us from thinking that the issue is supremely a matter of time. It isn't. The word here means far more than just merely time. The essence is in the translation of hope. It's certainly about trusting.

The sense of this verb is about dependence. It's the kind of a dependence that you might like into rock climbing. I don't know if you've ever been rock climbing or not. We do have that at one of our camps. And so if you're kind of a novice, you have the expert go out ahead of you on the face of the rock, and they go out ahead of you, and then they let down the ropes to you. He or she does that. They feed it down to us, and we wait upon this rope to be lowered. We take a hold of it, and we're asked to put our trust and dependence in that provision that's been provided to us. It's a remarkable thought. It reminds me of my first job. I had a job in high school. So my senior year, they allowed some of us to work half a day. No, go to school in the morning and then work in the afternoon. And I just happened to get a job at the cable company installing cable.

My first job there, somehow I was entrusted with that responsibility, but I'll describe a scene to you concerning this waiting and trusting. So if anybody knows about climbing telephone poles, the act in which you go through is you have your boots. You know, you're wearing your work boots, and they then ask you to take two leather straps and strap them around those boots. And on the inside of your boots, you have these steel, real pointed and sharp spikes, essentially, one on each of the inside of your foot. And then they ask you to go to the pole and start to make your way up. So you dig in the first gaff into the pole, and then you're off the ground, and you're digging, and you're digging, and you're digging, and you're shaking. I don't know what they were thinking, but then it gets worse. When you get to the top, then on your belt, you have this strap, and you unbuckle one part of the strap, and you put it around the pole, and you attach it to the other end, and then guess what you're supposed to do? Lean back so that you can free your hands to mess up the family's cable, whatever you're doing, you know. But lean back and trust on the provisions that have been provided for you.

I have so many stories I could tell you. I will give you one pro tip before we move on. One pro tip if you happen to fall from that elevated position, a pro tip is your first initial reaction, whatever reason, is to grab onto the pole, but then as you continue to slide, you realize, wow, there are some hefty splinters coming into my body at this moment. I think I'll push away from this pole, and of course, you would land. One time I landed on my feet, tools slide everywhere. I'm on my back. My first thought is not how much I'm injured, but my first thought is, did anyone see me?

You're worried about your image, and of course, you lean up your head, and there's the housewife there with just this shock look on her face, looking through the window, that she's holding this baby. The baby's just as shocked, you know. You give him this thumbs up, and you crawl on your way back to the truck. But I had to trust in my provisions, and those provisions that were put in place. So in the context of this word, weight, another thought that might help you is to liken it to the word weight. But we're actually going to spell it a little bit differently, so this might help you when you're thinking about really grabbing on to what it means to weight on the Lord. Maybe, perhaps, it'll help you to think about it in terms of spelling the word in a different way. Instead of W-A-I-T, maybe spell it W-E-I-G-H-T. Weight. And to think about is putting your weight upon the Lord. It is those who put their weight upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Those who put their trust upon Him. Those who put their hope upon Him. Those who rest in His promises.

I want to show you what this looks like in real time, and what it means to weight upon the Lord. And so I'd like to give you two illustrations here briefly of what this looks like. What weighting on the Lord looks like in a few illustrations for us in action. So keep your marker here, if you will, in Isaiah 40. We're going to come back. Let's just turn over then to Luke chapter 5. It's an amazing encounter that I want to show you what it looks like, weighting upon the Lord in action. Luke chapter 5, and we're going to begin in verse 1. Here, we discover an encounter between Jesus Christ and the disciples, and specifically Simon Peter here. Jesus is standing by the Sea of Galilee. Let's see what this looks like in action.

Luke 5, beginning in verse 1, we will read through verse 5. So it was, as the multitude pressed about him, Jesus Christ, to hear the word of God, that he stood by the lake of Gnezeret and saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Verse 3, Then he, Jesus, got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he, Jesus, sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Verse 5, But Simon answered him and said to him, from a human perspective, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. So let's stop there for a moment. At your word. In other words, because you say so, if you underline in your Bible, that's a phrase that I would underline there. At your word, because you say so. That is the all of it. That is the beginning of it. That is the end of it. Because here, Simon Peter had an opportunity to make a great discovery in what it means to wait upon the Lord. What it means to put his weight upon the Lord. Peter had that opportunity. This is what it means to wait upon the Lord. Because if you think about it, here, Simon Peter, from a human perspective, he knew everything about fishing. And frankly, at this moment, he knew of the futility of what Jesus Christ was asking him to do. The futility of this exercise here. This is futile, right? Even says so much in his tone, doesn't he? And yet, Jesus, because you said so, I will do it. And look at verse 6. Verse 6. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. This isn't just a few small minnows. This isn't where they could say, oh, you know, I think that net had some fish in the bottom of it anyway. No, he burst their nets. The Creator calls his fish forward.

But Peter first needed to put his weight upon the Lord.

One more illustration. Genesis 22, verse 2. Let's turn there.

Genesis 22, in verse 2. I'll give you one more brief illustration from the Old Testament. Not a surprise here. This is, of course, the story of Abraham and Isaac. And I got to tell you, what parent in this room cannot read this story without just marveling at the response of Abraham, waited all these years for his boy. Seeing his boy grow up, life's rolling along. Genesis 22, verse 2.

Then he, God, said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. Let's stop there. So let that settle in your mind for a moment.

Myself, and I think we can have trouble in the fact that we can come upon stories that are just so familiar to us, and we can sometimes lose the wonder of it here. But here God comes to his servant. He had waited for his son, hadn't he? This is what I want you to do. I want you to take him, and I want you to use him as a burnt offering. Can you imagine? Verse 3 and 4.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering, arose, and went to the place which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. I'll stop there for a moment. Can you imagine? I was just thinking about this as a dad. You know, every step, it would just be so painful because I knew with every step, I'm one step closer to the place where I'm going to sacrifice my son.

And then on this lonely journey, the inevitable happens.

Hey, dad. So far, so good. We've got the fire. We've got the wood. Here's the question. No father would want to hear. Abraham did not want to hear this question. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Verse 8, verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering. So the two of them went together. And God did. And we go on to read the story, and it's a terrific story, but I'll stop there. But I want to bring you to the end of the chapter here, and I want to bring you to a word that God gives to him, his servant Abraham at the end. This word is found in verse 18. Look down at verse 18. God speaks to Abraham and says, verse 18, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Why? Because you have obeyed my voice. Underline that. Because you've obeyed my voice. Just like Peter. Because you say so, God, I will do it. This is the issue in our lives today. It's the issue of all time. And this is the issue in relation to putting your weight upon the Lord, whatever it may be. We will never know the benefits of renewed strength. We will never know what it is to fly like eagles, to run without being weary, to walk without stumbling, until we first realize the primary element of waiting upon the Lord is the need for unfaltering obedience. Unfaltering obedience.

Because you say so, Lord, I will do it. Because Abraham believed his God, he trusted his God, he waited on God, he was going to put his full weight on God. What does it mean to wait upon the Lord? It means unfaltering obedience during it. The clarity here of Scripture. Unfaltering obedience, even when you cannot see how God is moving in your life.

Unfaltering obedience, even when he's asked you to face up to a particular challenge that's absolutely overwhelming. Some of us are going through incredible challenges right now.

Do it all. Never waver. Never falter in doing what's right. On the strength of Scripture, I can tell you that. That's a certainty. That's how you should respond to it. Wait upon your Lord. Wait upon him. Let's turn back to Isaiah 40, if you will, in verse 31 again, as we will work to a conclusion here. Isaiah 40 verse 31, of course it does provide us this picture of an eagle, a runner, someone walking. Let's read this again. Isaiah 40 verse 31. Here's the picture. But those who wait upon 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 you have this picture of an eagle who without little effort, you know, an eagle can raise itself up and climb and climb into the sky. Here's a picture of a runner, perhaps a cross-country runner, if you like, and he's able just to run and run and run. He never gets tired. And the last picture of an individual who can walk, walk, and walk, and never faint. So you have this three-fold metaphor here. They will mount up with wings like eagles. In other words, they're going to soar in that way. This is the first image. And there's a dimension here, if you like, that is yet unrealized, isn't there? This looks forward to a future time, doesn't it? They will mount up with wings like eagles. In other words, they will be lifted up into realms that previously were unknown to them. And of course, in measure, of course today, this has happened to us. When we came to faith in God through Jesus Christ, we've been lifted up into realms previously unknown to us, of course. But the fullness of this fulfillment we know is coming when we rise up to meet Jesus Christ at his return, to usher in a new age. And so if you are here today and you are a faithful, called believer this morning, there is a coming a day in which you can anticipate, a day in which you will be raised to a new dimension in Jesus Christ at his return, to mount up with wings like eagles. This is a future that's offered to you today, to be raised up into the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. The day is coming.

Second picture here is in Christ is to run without fainting. Today, we have this fulfillment in it in that we're able to lay aside the weight, you know, of life, sin, and burdens, leave those at the feet of God, all that burns us to run with endurance, perseverance through this life. And so once again, today we can be transformed into rounds, transported into rounds that we've never reached before. But today, of course, we still get weary, don't we? One day, one day, the promise in the fullness of fulfillment, there will come a day when which we will never weary.

If some of you are runners today, I've heard that you can run and you kind of just get a second wind sometimes, and it just propels you forward to keep going further than you ever thought you could.

Perhaps today, your legs don't work like they should.

Perhaps today, your body's broken.

Can you imagine running like this? I hope you can. Just imagine maybe being on that beach and just running. It's, if your body's broken today, I want you to imagine that just running. And I don't mean any running. I mean a full-out run.

That day is coming. That day is coming. It's an awesome picture. God gives us His persevering power, His staying power, to those through Jesus Christ. This can be a reality for you. One day, we will fly like eagles. One day, we will run and never be weary. And the third image here from the prophet, walking without fainting. How can you walk without fainting? What is this walk?

I propose to you that perhaps this walk is the most important of all the images here that Isaiah paints for us. Because this is the walks for us today, isn't it? This walk, I think this walk can best be summed up in our hymn. It's a beloved hymn. Psalm 23. The Lord's my shepherd, all not want. He makes me down to lie. In pasture's green, He leadeth me. The quiet waters by. Now listen to the second verse. My soul, He does restore again. And me to walk doth make, Within the paths of righteousness, Inform his own name's sake.

You get it, the walk? Where do we walk? In Isaiah's picture, where do we walk? Today, we walk in the paths of righteousness. My soul, He does restore again. And me to walk doth make, Within the paths of righteousness, Inform his own name's sake. These are the paths we walk. These are the only paths we walk. These are the only paths we can walk where a believer can walk without fainting. The paths of righteousness, you see. You remember Simon Peter? Launch out into the deep. Let down your nets for a catch. Master, we've told all night. We've caught nothing.

Nevertheless, nevertheless, at your word, I will let down my net. And when they had done that, they caught a great number of fish where their net was breaking. You and I can walk the path of disobedience. We will faint every day. We can walk the path of self-reliance. We will fall every time. But walk the path of righteousness. Discover renewed strength. What's the second part of Psalm 23? Let me give it to you. Let me give it to you. Yea, though I walk in death's dark veil, I will fear no ill, for thou art with me, and thy rod, and staff me comfort still.

So, the psalmist said, we're going to walk down these valleys, these dark valleys. How could Abraham walk his son to the place of sacrifice and not faint? How is that possible? You tell me.

Yea, though I walk through death's dark veil, I fear no ill. I am not going to faint. Why?

Because the Lord leads me. And I'm going to wait upon him.

I put it to you this morning. Isaiah 40 verse 31 introduces us to a whole dimension of life, a whole new dimension. Because you'll notice in this descending climax, to fly, to run, to walk, the flying's the easiest. The walking's the toughest, isn't it? We can't control the flying. God's going to give us that. But we have to do our part in the walking. How has your walk been in our struggle over the last few months?

Let me remind you on the strength of Isaiah 40 verse 31, this is your Lord. And he's worthy of waiting upon. And they who wait upon the Lord, they will renew their strength, they will mount up like wings of eagles, they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint.